LONGMONT — The owner of a 19-year-old company that makes positioning components for aerospace applications has bought a building to triple its working space.

Left Hand Design Corp. had been run for nearly two decades out of the home of its founder and president, Larry Germann, in unincorporated Boulder County.

Early this year Germann bought a 12,000-square-foot building at 2021 Miller Drive in Longmont from Jim Beckley for $1.96 million. The building is east of Front Range Community College’s campus.

The new headquarters opened Feb. 16. Left Hand works in 6,000 square feet of the building with room to grow to 10,600 and leases 1,400 additional square feet to Akonia Holographics LLC, an advanced data-storage company.

In November, Akonia purchased intellectual property from the now defunct InPhase Technologies Inc., which had gone bankrupt.

Germann said he decided to expand in Longmont “because of the readily available technical expertise, the ability to attract top-rated employees with the high quality of life, the local community of high-quality support vendors and the availability of light-industrial manufacturing space.”

Left Hand has 12 employees, 10 of whom work on site. It has contracts with NASA, the Department of Defense, and aerospace companies including Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Its primary products are fine-steering mirrors, two-axis pointing mechanisms with servo-control electronics that perform fine-pointing, scanning and tracking functions for a variety of space-based, aircraft-based, mobile and fixed terrestrial optical systems.


BOULDER

PEDALING TO NEXT BLOCK: Realty firm Pedal to Properties has moved one block, from 1949 Pearl St. to 2014 Pearl St. in Boulder.

The nearly 2,000-square-foot space features exposed brick, high ceilings and an open work area.

Pedal to Properties is implementing a zero-waste initiative, and in keeping with the Pedal to Properties business model, houses cruiser bikes for clients and agents to use as they tour area neighborhoods.

Owner Tim Shea said he is looking forward to creating an innovative and energizing space for Pedal to Property Realtors and their clients. Shea purchased Pedal to Properties in 2012.

Chad Kollar of Denver-based CRESA Advisors represented the owner in the lease transaction. Chris Boston of Boulder’s Gibbons-White Inc. represented the lessee.


RE/MAX OPENS ON PEARL: Re/Max of Boulder Inc. is growing, with 10 real estate agents at a new office on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.

A formal grand opening was held Thursday, April 18, at the 1,700-square-foot office at 1320 Pearl St.

The office in the Cartwright Building looks out directly on the Boulder County Courthouse and the colorful scene of buskers, shoppers and others who gather there. Co-owners Tom Kalinski and his son, Jay Kalinski, expect the new office to take advantage of the heavy foot traffic on the mall.

The new office has numerous work spaces and meeting rooms but no assigned desks, Jay Kalinski said. Realtors at the existing 2425 Canyon Blvd. office also can use the office to meet clients downtown, he said.

“What we’re doing is the ‘new us’,” Jay Kalinski said.

Re/Max of Boulder’s office on Canyon Boulevard has been the Re/Max franchise with the highest volume of sales in the nation for the past six years, Jay Kalinski said. The firm reported $695 million in sales in 2012.

The two Re/Max of Boulder offices will operate together as one office, although technically the new office will be a separate franchise, Jay Kalinski said. The firm expects to lose its highest-volume ranking with the new office, he said. In all, the company has 105 Realtors.

“On a per-agent volume, we will still be very impressive,” Jay Kalinski said.

Realtors are excited about the change, said Todd Ulrich, a real estate agent who focuses on property management within the Re/Max of Boulder market area. Ulrich believes there is pent-up demand from both buyers and sellers in the region, which has made the market heat up in recent months.

Re/Max of Boulder also is focusing more on community nonprofit groups, sponsoring a “featured friend” on its website every month, Jay Kalinski said. The YMCA of Boulder Valley is this month’s “featured friend.”


SOLID STATE MOVES: Solid State Depot leased 1,650 square feet of industrial space at 1965 33rd St. in Boulder from Kreizel Perry Partnership. Solid State is moving from 5311 Western Ave. in Boulder.

Solid State calls itself Boulder’s hackerspace: a physical place where like-minded people get together and collaborate on creative projects.

It was founded in July 2010 by Dan Davis-Boxleitner and John English. The space will be used as a workshop and a place to hold meetings.

Tom Newman of Freeman Myre was the listing broker, and Jim Ditzel of Ditzel Properties represented Sold State.


LEASE: Putnam Accessory Group leased 1,285 square feet of office space at 3227 Walnut St. in Boulder from Kreizel Perry Partnership. Tom Newman of Freeman Myre was the listing broker.


BROOMFIELD

FLATIRON CROSSING UPDATE: Three trendy women’s clothing stores and a resale bookstore are opening at the FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield in the next four months.

A White House Black Market women’s clothing store opened Thursday, April 18, on the lower level of the mall in a space near the Apple electronics store, according to a FlatIron Crossing press statement. A White House Black Market store also operates at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping district in Boulder. The clothing retailer is a division of Chico’s FAS Inc., (NYSE: CHS), based in Fort Myers, Florida.

Resale book/media chain 2nd and Charles is slated to open a store May 30 in more than 25,000 square feet in The Village entertainment and restaurant area. The store will be near P.F. Chang’s restaurant in The Village. The first 2nd and Charles store opened in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2010.

A Victoria’s Secret PINK clothing store, which is tailored toward college-age women, will open Aug. 23 in the a free-standing store now housing a Bath & Body Works store, according to the press statement. Bath & Body Works will move to the lower level of the mall near the Apple store. Victoria’s Secret also operates a store at Twenty Ninth Street.

The Limited women’s clothing store is slated to open in August on the lower level of the mall across from the existing Banana Republic clothing store. No specific date has been set. Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and The Limited are all brands owned by L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD).

“The center continues to be a powerful draw for top retail brands and loyal shoppers from our expansive trade area,” said Kim Campbell, senior property manager at FlatIron Crossing.

GNC, or General Nutrition Center, vitamin store (NYSE: GNC) relocated to the upper level of the mall near Macy’s department store. An existing Things Remembered home decor store expanded, and the existing Justice clothing store was remodeled.

More than 200 shops and restaurants operate at FlatIron Crossing, which opened in 2000. Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC), a Santa Monica, California-based real estate investment trust, has had a stake in FlatIron Crossing since 2002, but in 2009 sold 75 percent of it – then bought back 100 percent of the 1.5 million-square-foot mall for $323 million in November.