Elway Dealership Group acquires Loveland BMW, Mini dealers
The Elway Dealership Group is returning to Northern Colorado.
After selling its Greeley store to Asbury Automotive Group earlier this year, the Denver-based auto group has purchased Co’s BMW of Loveland and MINI of Loveland from the Van Herwaarden family. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The two stores are southwest of the Interstate 25/Crossroads Boulevard interchange in Loveland.
Todd Maul, the group’s lead in Colorado, told BizWest that the stores will retain their names to comply with the advertising rules of BMW and its subsidiary Mini but will append the store names with the phrase “A John Elway Company.”
“I will say that putting John Elway’s name on it means a lot in the state of Colorado,” he said. “You’ll see that everywhere we can do that within the BMW advertising guidelines.”
The stores will also be remodeled to adhere to BMW’s most recent dealership image standards.
From an operational standpoint, Maul said the group has brought in a general manager for the stores and will use its larger marketing team to promote the stores more heavily in Northern Colorado and parts of Wyoming and Nebraska.
However, other operational changes would be first discussed with the store’s existing employee base, he said.
The acquisition is the group’s second this year, after its joint purchase of Salt Lake City Porsche in Utah with Schomp Automotive Group. The group also has two dealerships in California.
Maul said the Elway group has long been interested in getting into the German luxury market and intends to continue acquiring dealerships north of the Denver area and beyond in the near future.
Discovery Air developers add 110,00 square feet in lease for future NoCo Airport park
An amended proposal from the developers of the Discovery Air business park at Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland is requesting to increase the amount of land under contract by more than 110,000 square feet.
Airport director Jason Licon said the lease amendments were expected from the time that developer BA Group first signed a 50-year lease on the property in January 2019 and weren’t directly caused by the financial chaos created by the pandemic.
BA had a two-year period for due diligence and market research purposes and has now proposed a new lease agreement that would further stagger the lease increases baked into the original lease.
The original lease called for a 300% increase in 2021 and a 167% increase on top of that in 2029. Under the new proposal, the lease increases would be split up under four phases of development and kick in between 2021 and 2038, depending on when the buildings in each phase are certified to be occupied.
The new lease proposal also earmarks 253,595 square feet of new acreage on the east side of the park that could be developed as pad sites if BA wishes to do so.
Hotel occupancy falls amid second COVID wave; Loveland has highest numbers
As COVID-19 cases surged in November, Thanksgiving holiday travelers weren’t enough to keep hotel occupancy from diving throughout Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley last month, according to the latest Rocky Mountain Lodging Report as released Thursday by the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association.
Loveland had the fullest hotels in November with an occupancy rate of 45.3%. That’s down from 78.4% in October, when the Cameron Peak Fire was filling local lodgings with evacuees. The average daily room rate in Loveland was $90.48.
Other local cities saw similar declines, but occupancy rates regionally remained far higher in November than the single-digit rates recorded throughout the state in the spring.
Fort Collins hotels were 34.2% full in November, and rooms cost an average of $92.93.
In Estes Park, hotels were 27% occupied and cost an average of $134.44 per night.
Greeley lodgings posted a 43.7% occupancy rate last month, and rooms averaged $77.89.
Boulder hotels were 31.8% full last month and could be rented for an average of $102.47 per night.
Hotels along the U.S. 36 corridor were 28.6% occupied, and lodgers paid an average of $78.80 for a night’s stay.
Longmont hotels posted a November occupancy rate of 26.6% and cost an average of $77.75 for a night’s stay.
Swatch claims court errors in legal battle against Fort Collins watchmaker
Swiss watch conglomerate Swatch Group is challenging all of the results of its previous failed lawsuit against Fort Collins manufacturer Vortic Watch Co. over its claimed trademark rights.
In its brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City, Swatch claims the lower court erred on all of its rulings in favor of Vortic in the case decided this year.
Swatch claims that a “substantial number” of customers purchased the Vortic watches thinking they were produced by Swatch under the Hamilton mark, and the Fort Collins company’s disclaimers aren’t enough to ward off such confusion.
Swatch first filed suit against Vortic in 2017. It acquired Hamilton in 1974, five years after the American watchmaker shut down. The pocket watches that Vortic repurposes were produced decades before that acquisition.
In that case, a district court judge ruled that Vortic’s watches, some of which repurposed antique Hamilton pocket watch faces into wristwatches, were not likely to be confused with a modern Hamilton made by Swatch when compared to one another.
The judge also ruled that Vortic’s advertising was clear in that its product was not meant as a direct copy or competitor to the modern timepieces.
Vortic has 30 days to file its reply brief.
Beef Sticks program extended to Weld Food Bank
Weld Food Bank and Beef Bank Colorado, which does business as Beef Sticks for Backpacks, have formed a strategic partnership to help fight childhood hunger.
The partnership enables children in Northern Colorado who are in need to receive high-quality protein through backpack programs.
Weld Food Bank will serve as the distribution partner for Beef Sticks for Backpacks, which is currently providing beef sticks for McBackpack in Fort Collins, Kidspak in Loveland and the Weld Food Bank Backpack Program in Greeley.
The organization has distributed nearly 53,000 beef sticks to Colorado kids this year.
“We’ve seen a 130% increase in the number of backpacks requested since March,” said Bob O’ Connor, CEO of the Weld Food Bank. “We are now serving more hungry children than ever in the history of Weld Food Bank. Protein is the most difficult, and most expensive, item for food banks to procure. Thanks to the individuals who started this initiative, more than 2,000 beef sticks are being given to Weld County children each week.”
Beef Sticks for Backpacks is a nonprofit organization with the goal of distributing high-quality beef sticks to backpack programs that benefit children throughout the state of Colorado. The organization was formed by members of the Colorado agriculture community.
Beef Sticks for Backpacks partners with Colorado State University to manufacture the beef sticks. At the JBS Global Food Innovation Center, the CSU Meat Science Lab has played a role in ensuring that beef sticks can be produced safely and efficiently.
First National Bank, employees contribute to wildfire recovery
First National Bank of Omaha and its employees have contributed nearly $36,000 in grants to two Colorado organizations working on rebuilding and recovery efforts following the wildfires this year, Nathan Ewert, market president, said in a written statement.
FNBO named as grant recipients the American Red Cross, $5,800; and United Way of Larimer County, $30,000.
FNBO’s Employee Impact Fund was created this year to more effectively coordinate company and employee giving efforts to help the communities the bank serves across its seven-state footprint recover when disasters or other emergencies strike.
Recovery from the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome, Cal-Wood and Left Hand Canyon fires in Boulder and Larimer counties is the focus of the Impact Fund.
In Brief
• Fort Collins-based In-Situ Inc. has purchased Ajax Environmental & Safety Supply Inc. in Houston. Ajax will operate under its existing name and continue to serve customers in the Texas area seeking to rent environmental monitoring equipment. In-Situ makes equipment to measure water levels, flow and quality in a given body of water.
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The Reporter-Herald strives to include newsworthy business briefs for its readers each Sunday. The focus of business briefs is on Northern Colorado businesses, not business promotions.
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The Link LonkDecember 20, 2020 at 01:57AM
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Loveland-area business briefs: Elway dealerships; airpark; hotels; Swatch and Vortic; beef sticks - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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