BOULDER — Conscience Bay Co., a Boulder-based private equity firm that invests in real estate, recently acquired two office and retail buildings in downtown Boulder for $16.1 million.

The properties, at 919-951 Pearl St. and 2005-2019 Tenth St., total 42,000 square feet and have 13 office suites and nine retail/restaurant spaces, according to Eli Feldman, president of Conscience Bay Co.

Tenants include Chipotle Mexican Grille, Bacaro Venetian Taverna and Porzak Browning Bushong LLP, a law firm.

The deal was an off-market transaction, Feldman said. The prior owner, 10th and Pearl LLC, let the tenants in the buildings know it was putting the properties on the market. Conscience Bay just happened to be a tenant there, Feldman said.

“The opportunity turned up, and we acted quickly to seize the opportunity and made a deal that was good for both of us,” Feldman said.

Geoff Baukol of CBRE represented the seller. Feldman declined to provide details about 10th and Pearl, but said the company was based in California.

The property is in a great location, in good shape and 96 percent leased, he said, and Conscience Bay is not planning any major changes.

“It’s primarily just an acquisition of a good asset,” Feldman said. “We don’t have any plans to change the structure or add any square footage.”

The buildings’ energy and water use will be audited, Feldman said, adding that the new owners could add a solar system at some point.

The buildings were purchased by 10th and Pearl in 2006 for $15.75 million, according to Boulder County property records.

Conscience Bay slowly is building its portfolio of properties. Earlier this year, the company bought four acres of land at the corner of 28th Street and Glenwood Drive in Boulder for $4.259 million. The lots, at 3150 28th St. and 3156 28th St., are occupied by Gebhardt Saab Inc.

Conscience Bay plans to redevelop that site in the future, Feldman said. The company also has a ranch in Steamboat Springs it is holding as a land bank and an apartment community in Westminster.


RENTS AT ALL-TIME HIGH: Apartment rental rates in the Boulder and Broomfield real-estate market have hit an all-time high, according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing.

Their quarterly survey of the apartment market found the average rent for a unit in the Boulder/Broomfield market climbed to $1,091.12 in the second quarter, up from $1,070.38 in the first quarter of the year. On a year-to-year basis, rents grew 7.4 percent from the $1,016.15 average in the second quarter of 2011.

The vacancy rate for apartments in the second quarter was 3.6 percent, down from 3.9 percent in the first quarter. The rate is just shy of the 10-year low of 3.5 percent, set in the third quarter of 2010.

Average rents in the Boulder/Broomfield market have climbed steadily since the third quarter of 2010, with each of the past seven quarters, setting a new record, according to the report.

The metro Denver area average rent is $979.80, up from $952.60 during the first quarter. The metro Denver area vacancy rate is 4.8 percent, down from 4.9 percent in the past quarter.


3-D ON THE MOVE: RealD Inc., a company that develops 3-D technology including projection systems used by cinemas around the world, will relocate within Boulder to a 64,425-square-foot space in Flatiron Park.

RealD (NYSE: RLD) is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, and its operations in Boulder serve as the company’s research and development center. The new office will be at 5700 and 5710 Flatiron Parkway. The company is relocating from 5335 Sterling Drive.

The company’s presence in Boulder began when it purchased ColorLink Inc. in 2007. ColorLink was cofounded by Gary Sharp, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Kristina Johnson, a CU engineering professor. Sharp is RealD’s chief technology and innovation officer.

RealD was represented in the leasing transaction by Jeff Pion, vice president of CB Richard Ellis’ office in Los Angeles. The landlord, Goff Capital Partners, was represented by Scott Garel of Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross and Becky Callan Gamble, Hunter Barto and Dryden Dunsmore of Dean Callan & Co.


AURORA ORGANIC: Officials at Aurora Organic Dairy Corp. have signed a lease for an office in downtown Boulder and will relocate the company’s administrative headquarters there in the first quarter of 2013.

The move, to a 12,811-square-foot office in the Colorado Building at 1919 14th St., will allow the company to consolidate its 35 to 40 employees into a single office suite, spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele said. Currently, they are split between two floors at 1401 Walnut St.

Aurora Organic Dairy might add staff to its office in Boulder incrementally, but it does not plan any major expansion, Tuitele said.

Nate Litsey and Chad Henry of the W.W. Reynolds Cos. represented the landlord. The company did not work with a broker, according to W.W. Reynolds Cos.


FLAGSTAFF HOLDINGS: Andrew Freeman and Dan Cohen are launching a new investment and management company that will focus on buying industrial, flex and office properties in Boulder and Broomfield counties.

The company, named Flagstaff Holdings LLC, hopes to build a portfolio investing exclusively in Boulder and Broomfield counties.

“We’re definitely a different player than the institutional players. We are much more focused on the local level, buying one or two buildings at a time in the $3 million to $10 million range,” Freeman said. That translates to about 30,000 to 100,000 square feet.

Flagstaff Holdings will look to acquire properties that are underperforming or need improvement and invest in upgrading them to attract new tenants, Cohen said. Flagstaff Holdings also will build properties.

Flagstaff Holdings has not yet made an acquisition, but it has offerings on four properties and is working on building an 80,000-square-foot building in the Colorado Tech Center in Louisville, Cohen said.

The companies founded by Freeman and Cohen will remain in business, Cohen said, and Freeman-Myre and Urban Investment Group are now sharing an office at 3000 Pearl St.

Freeman is president of Freeman-Myre Inc., a local brokerage and property management company. Cohen is president and founder of Urban Investment Group LLC, a Boulder-based real estate investment and development services company.


BROOMFIELD

TOLL BROTHERS: Toll Brothers Inc., one of the largest luxury home builders in the nation, has purchased 23.6 acres in the Lambertson Farms subdivision in Broomfield for $1.86 million and plans to build a 69-home development on the property.

Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) bought the property from McKay Shores Construction Corp., according to Broomfield records. The deal closed July 20.

The new development will be called the Enclave at McKay Shores, Toll Brothers Colorado division president Charles Bowie said. Properties are expected to go on sale in January. A price point has not been established, but the likely starting point is in the $400,000 range, Bowie said.

New homes in that price range in Broomfield are hard to find, Bowie said.

“The price point we’re in at the Enclave will be a little lower than what’s available up there now,” Bowie said.

Toll Brothers currently is building 45 homes in the Preserve at McKay Shores, also in Lamberston Farms. The homes in the Preserve are more expensive.

Toll Brothers acquired the property for the Preserve in two deals, one a $3.3 million deal with PI Holdings in May, the other a $1.2 million deal with McKay Shores Construction in March.

Based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, Toll Brothers has built several projects in Broomfield, including the Broadlands.


BUILD-TO-SUIT: McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc., a Loveland-based real-estate development company, is working with an unidentified company to build a $6 million, 80,000-square-foot manufacturing, office and research building in north Broomfield.

McWhinney presented its plans for the building at a Broomfield City Council concept review meeting. The building would be near the corner of Preble Creek and Sheridan parkways in North Park, the large mixed-use development McWhinney is building in Broomfield.

The one-story building would be on a 5.1-acre undeveloped lot and cost about $6 million to complete, according to the city.

Kim Perry, vice president for community design at McWhinney, said the project is build-to-suit, and McWhinney would retain ownership of the building and lease it to the tenant.

Perry told the Broomfield City Council that McWhinney and the tenant had signed a nondisclosure agreement. The company could bring 110 employees to Broomfield after occupying the building with plans to grow to approximately 200. The initial lease term is 10 to 15 years, she said.


LONGMONT

SPACE EXPANSION: ABSL Space Products, a company that develops lithium-ion battery systems for spacecraft, will expand its development and research facility in Longmont.

ABSL Space Products employs about 40 people and builds energy storage systems that keep satellites powered as they travel through space, said Kevin Schrantz, a sales manager at the facility.

The Longmont facility, currently in a 10,256-square-foot space at 2602 Clover Basin Drive, is a product-development and testing center, Schrantz said. The company is moving to a 29,111-square-foot space at 1751 S. Fordham St., which is in the Diagonal Tech Center.

ABSL Space Products is a division of EnerSys Inc., which is based in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The Fordham Street space is owned by Goff Capital Partners. Scott Garel of Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross and Becky Gamble of Dean Callan & Co. are the property’s listing brokers. Robert Kontur of UGL Equis Corp. represented EnerSys.


BUTTERBALL PRICE: The Butterball turkey processing plant in Longmont has been put on the market with a price tag of $16.5 million.

The listing includes seven parcels that total 27.6 acres near the corner of Main Street and First Avenue. Butterball also has put the 272,000-square-foot main plant at 150 N. Main St. on the market as a separate listing with a negotiable asking price.

Butterball LLC, a privately held company based in Garner, North Carolina, had said earlier this year it was quietly reaching out to potential buyers and hoped another food processing company would purchase the property. If the attempts failed, it would market the property.

The plant was built in 1951 as Longmont Foods Inc. Butterball announced it was closing the plant last September.

CBRE Inc. is representing Butterball. Jeff Counsell, Tyler Carner and Erik Abrahamson are listed as the brokers.

Michael Davidson can be reached at 303-630-1943 or via email at mdavidson@bcbr.com.