LONGMONT, CO - San Diego-based Pathfinder Partners, LLC, together with its development partner 150 Main, LLC, has closed the $4.5 million acquisition of Butterball Turkey’s former processing plant – seven parcels of land on 27.5 acres with 326,000 square feet of building space – in downtown Longmont, Colorado, northwest of Denver in Boulder County. The facility, which closed its doors in 2011 after the company was sold by ConAgra and processing shifted to China, will be redeveloped in multiple phases, potentially including multifamily, commercial and retail uses.
The site, at the intersection of First Avenue and Main Street (Highway 287) in downtown Longmont, was comprised of the main plant, lab space, storage and parking facilities. According to Lorne Polger, senior managing director of Pathfinder Partners, phase one of the development – the construction of a 250-unit, modern apartment community – will get underway following the demolition of the three-story main plant building. Pathfinder and its local Colorado operating partners have been working with the City of Longmont and the downtown redevelopment agency to finalize the development plans, with the ground-breaking slated for late 2014.
Polger noted that the property was an appealing buy on many levels. “We believe the City of Longmont is well positioned for future growth and development due to its affordability, gentrification, improving economy, population growth and proximity to both the Boulder and Denver job markets,” he said. Furthermore, “there are a number of successful technology companies in Longmont – including Seagate Technology, Amgen and DigitalGlobe – and nearby Boulder is home to a massive IBM Corp. facility and operations of Level 3 Communications, Oracle Corp., Covidien and other prominent companies.”