Flex and Light Industrial Buildings in Boulder and Longmont

Flatiron Park in east Boulder is described as a master-planned business park of about 200 acres with roughly 2.3 million rentable square feet and more than 100 companies. That is a lot of tenants in one place, and it describes the building type we build: flex space that holds offices, labs, light assembly and storage under one roof, in bays that can be rearranged when a tenant outgrows or leaves. The listing is from a 2017 article, so treat the numbers as a snapshot.

A flex building is a bet on uncertainty. The developer does not know whether the next tenant will be a brewer, a prototype shop, a biotech group or a showroom, and the building has to say yes to all of them. We design for that: generous clear height, a few dock positions and a grade-level door, floor slabs thick enough for light equipment, and electrical service that can be subdivided. We also build tenant improvements inside these shells, so we know where the compromise points are.

How the East Boulder plan shapes flex space

Boulder City Council gave final approval to the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan on October 6, 2022. It guides the area over two decades as an employment center, keeps many industrial areas industrial and adds mixed-use neighborhoods in key locations. For a flex developer, that language is clear: the city wants to preserve space for makers and light industry while adding housing and transit around it, which means flex buildings in the right zones have a future.

Gunbarrel, north of Boulder, shows the same kind of mixed use on a smaller scale. A 2016 article places a Celestial Seasonings distribution building at 63rd Street and Spine Road and describes a sale that included a 51,082 square foot single-story building on Lookout Road and vacant land on Spine Road zoned general industrial. Ownership and tenancy have probably changed, but the pattern remains: modest industrial and flex buildings sitting next to offices and open space. Our Gunbarrel page covers local conditions.

The building types that share a flex shell

A flex shell commonly houses uses that would otherwise be separate buildings. A showroom and light assembly can share a front office and a rear overhead door. A lab suite and a storage bay can share a wall. We design the demising walls with sound, fire separation and utility routes in mind, because the first tenant will not be the last.

The result overlaps with warehouse and manufacturing plant work, and flex projects often include a portion for data center or lab use. The more variety you plan for, the more it matters to leave extra electrical capacity and rooftop space for mechanical equipment.

Shell, suite and the work between them

We deliver flex projects in two stages that can overlap. The core and shell stage covers site, structure, envelope, roof, utilities, restrooms and common areas. The tenant stage covers demising, finishes, mechanical distribution and equipment. A developer who wants to lease before finishing can ask for a warm shell, in which partitions and finishes are left to each tenant.

We pay particular attention to the ground floor. Light assembly and prototype work put point loads and vibration on the slab, and we prefer to thicken it and add control joints at the right spacing at the start. A slab cut after the fact for trench drains and process piping is a costly lesson. Our flex and light industrial construction team treats these decisions as part of base building design.

Roofs deserve the same early thinking. Rooftop units for several tenants need curbs, structural support and a layout that avoids snow drift pockets, and a roof sized only for the first tenant's equipment is expensive to reinforce later. We leave spare curb locations and electrical capacity on the roof and in the main switchgear, which costs little at the start. We also coordinate parking and truck access so that a loading tenant and an office tenant do not compete for the same drive aisle during the day.

What changes the cost of a flex building

Office finish is the largest swing. A building that is 30 percent office costs far more per square foot than one that is 10 percent office, because of mechanical distribution, finishes and restrooms. Docks, clear height and the number of overhead doors come next, followed by electrical capacity and fire protection. We price these as options so an owner can see what each choice costs.

Energy code is a quieter driver. Boulder's commercial code exempts large S-1 occupancies with constant vehicle traffic, labs and commercial cooking from the all-electric rule, and gas used under these exceptions must be offset by on-site renewables except for commercial cooking, emergency generators and lab and industrial process loads. A flex building mixes uses, so we map which parts of the floor plate fall into which category and plan the mechanical design to match.

Where we build flex space

Our flex work is concentrated in the east Boulder employment area, along the Highway 119 and Ken Pratt corridor in Longmont, and in Gunbarrel. We also build in Louisville, Lafayette and Erie. Each town has its own review process and its own adopted code edition. See our pages on the East Boulder and Flatiron business area and the Ken Pratt corridor for what we find on the ground.

For developers we can provide a feasibility study with soils, floodplain and utility checks before land is purchased. Boulder's floodplain permit applies to any building with part of its structure in the 100-year floodplain, including footings and roof overhangs, so we confirm the parcel status early.

Tell us the tenant mix you expect

Send us the site, the target tenant types and your timeline. We will return a shell concept, a cost range and a list of approvals to confirm before you buy or lease.

Questions Owners Ask

How flexible should the clear height be in a flex building?

A common choice is a height that suits light racking and overhead doors, but the right number depends on the target tenant and local zoning. Boulder zoning normally caps heights at about 35 feet, which limits high-bay options in the city. We check the zone district before settling on a figure.

Can one building hold office, lab and warehouse uses?

Yes, with careful fire separation, mechanical zoning and occupancy planning. The mix of occupancies determines the code path, so we work with the architect and the building official early to fix the occupancy groups.

Does the all-electric rule apply to my flex tenant?

It depends on the use. Boulder exempts labs, commercial cooking and certain S-1 occupancies, and requires on-site renewables to offset gas used under the exceptions. We review each prospective tenant type with the mechanical engineer.

What is a warm shell and when should I use it?

A warm shell delivers a heated, weathertight building with utilities and restrooms, leaving interior finishes to tenants. It gives developers flexibility and speeds the lease-up, but it needs a clear tenant improvement allowance.

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More Building Types

Browse the rest of our building types pages for Boulder and nearby Colorado communities, or contact us to talk through your project.