Duane Duggan's Real Estate Blog

RE/MAX of Boulder, The Colorado Group and The Boulder County Business Report hosted the first annual Real Estate Conference and Fall Forecast at the CU stadium Club Level on November 20, 2008.

Some of the most exciting news came from Tracy Harlow from Conoco-Phillips.   Tracy said the Louisville site is planned to be a "signature site".  They really want to make it a showcase for their Corporate Learning Center and Global Technology Center.  Initial occupancy will probably occur in 2012 to 2013.  Eventually, it could house up to 7000 jobs, but she doesn't have an exact time table of who is coming or when.  Right now, they have begun the process of deconstruction of the buildings currently on the site.  They use the word "deconstruction" as they are planning on recycling as many of the materials as possible rather than just filling a land fill.  The Architect for the new buildings will be selected in December, 2008.  Permitting for the new buildings will hopefully begin in the second quarter of 2009. 

In addition to Tracy, there was also a distinguished panel of experts including Stephen Tebo, Bill Reynolds and Brad Blackwell.  Stephen and Bill are local commercial real estate gurus, and Brad is the National Sales Manager for Wells Fargo Mortgage.  According to Stephen and Bill, commerical real estate vacancies are falling and the market is getting stronger.  The two of them were very optimistic about having good times ahead.  Brad Blackwell has seen many different cycles in his career in the banking/mortgage industry.   He commented that "there have been some dark times in the industry, but when it seems the darkest, is when recovery is starting".

Overall, Boulder real estate has stayed pretty strong compared to many parts of the nation.  DB Wilson, the manager of RE/MAX of Boulder, presented statistics from the last year that that gave evidence that our market is not near as bad as the national media represents.  After all, a national real estate forecast is as silly as having a national weather forecast.  Both real estate and weather are local!