Boulder’s DevelopIntelligence, a software developer training firm, has relocated to Lafayette after purchasing a a building at 2675 North Park Drive for $2.05 million, according Totobo to city documents.
The company first moved its headquarters from Louisville to Boulder in 2014 to be part of the Boulder tech hub, DevelopIntelligence Chief Executive Kelby Zorgdrager said Wednesday.
In recent months, however, that proximity has become more of a hindrance.
“We’re growing very quickly and over the past year it has been really hard to convince folks who are in the Denver area to drive all the way to Boulder,” Zorgdrager said. “By moving east it has allowed us to draw some different talent than we have been historically able to draw.
“To be honest,” he added, “a lot of the (decision to move) was related to rent – the high cost of housing and office space was an issue, but traffic on (U.S. 36) has been a big problem. We have three employees that live in Denver; moving to Lafayette will reduce their travel time substantially.”
DevelopIntelligence is one of several companies that have decided to exit Boulder in recent months, including companies such Virocyt, Sendgrid and Wholefoods, which announced last year it would move its regional headquarters at Boulder’s 29th Street to Denver.
“There’s definitely a trend brokers are talking about to each other right now,” said Todd Walsh of Boulder-based Boom Properties. “Rates have gotten to a place where tenants are compelled to find space in places like Broomfield and Lafayette.”
During the last few years, Zorgdrager said, DevelopIntelligence has had revenue growth of 240 percent , it has doubled the number of employees and greatly increased the number of engineers it provides training to annually.
“We’ve grown on average about 45 percent year-over-year,” he said. “Last year, we trained about 6,500 engineers. To put that into perspective, we’ve provided more training to more software engineers than the top 10 universities graduate each year.”
The ground floor of the 11,951 square-foot building DevelopIntelligence now owns is home to Nissi’s, a restaurant, and music and events venue, and Playa Lakes, an environmental nonprofit, which occupies about 2,000 square feet on the second floor.
Anthony Hahn: 303-473-1422, hahna@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/_anthonyhahn
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