The North Ridge at Park Center eventually could have as much as1.5 million sf. North Ridge Investment LLC, based in Palm Desert,recently paid slightly more than $3.8 million for 105 acres atW.12th Ave. and Pecos St., just across the street from the 1.3million-sf former Lucent complex now the Avaya CommunicationR&D facility. Meanwhile, Avaya too has the building bug,expanding its site by 480,000 sf. pSituated five miles to thenorthwest is Interlocken Business Park in Broomfield.

North Ridge is sure to benefit from companies that want to beclose to Interlocken and Level 3 Communications and SunMicrosystems, both of which have massive campuses in the region,says Peter Wycoff, a broker with the Frederick Ross Co. of Denver."They should be getting activity from (Avaya), which is absolutelyhuge, as well as from Interlocken, where there's not much morespace available," Wycoff told GlobeSt.com. He says more and morepeople are moving to the north to avoid heavy daily congestion onthe Boulder Turnpike.

He estimates the new park will have 950,000 sf to 1.5 million sfwhen it is completed. North Ridge Investment is paying 70 cents persf for the land, which is earmarked for resale to other developersas well as office users, says Wycoff, who believes the project willbe more geared to offices than light industrial. He bases hisconclusion on Westminster's penchant for R&D space, adding thepark could be sold out in two to four years at the currentabsorption rate for those types of space.