IN BRIEF - Loveland Reporter-Herald

IN BRIEF

Downtown District reports successful 2024, plans for 2025

The Loveland Downtown District has issued a report on its 2024 activities.

According to a newsletter, a few key highlights of the year were the addition of 21 new businesses to the downtown core; and investing in five fire and life safety grants, four facade improvement grants and two restaurant conversion grants.

Additionally, the organization invested in four projects, as well as made commitments to other public improvement projects.

“We expect 2025 to be both a challenging and rewarding year for Downtown Loveland,” the newsletter stated.

One big effort, in partnership with the city of Loveland, will be kicking off the Heart Improvement Project in late February.

For information on the planned street improvements visit https://www.letstalkloveland.org/heart-improvement-plan.

The organization added it will continue to run the full scope of its downtown events in 2025, despite the construction.

Learn more at downtownloveland.org.

Innosphere starts effort to work on pre-disaster risk

Innosphere and The Colorado-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine (CO-WY Engine) have partnered with the Resilience Innovation Hub’s Future Proofing America (FPA) Collaborative™ to emphasize the critical need for pre-disaster risk mitigation and building resilience through rapid deployment of novel technologies, equipment, and data platforms.

A news release said the effort aims to address the severe consequences of persistent drought and wildfire cycles, causing multi-billion dollar public and private sector financial, economic, and societal impacts in Western United States.

The FPA Collaborative plans to develop solutions and strategies for investing in resilient assets, facilities and infrastructure through enhanced risk mitigation standards.

“Aligning with Innosphere’s nationally-recognized technology and innovation ecosystem as well as its role in leading the National Science Foundation’s Climate Resilience Engine accelerates our common objectives for Future Proofing America. The current inefficient response-recovery-rebuild from ever-increasing number of billion-dollar weather events requires us to be in the forefront of a massive pivot in risk exposure,” Richard Seline, executive director of the Future Proofing America Collaborative and the Resilience Innovation Hub, said in the release.

Key areas of the effort include:

• Addressing the fiscal and financial impacts of repetitive natural disasters.

• Encouraging proactive investment to mitigate economic and societal costs.

• Incentivizing insurance, reinsurance, mortgage, and public finance resources into a new resilience capital pool.• Building resilient communities and infrastructure with a focus on thriving rather than just surviving.

Visit co-wyengine.org/startups for information.

Michigan company acquires Windsor-based digital media firm

BizStream, a Michigan-based digital marketing agency, has acquired Windsor marketing and web design company Refactored LLC.

Refecatored has been operating since 2016, specializing in digital transformation and advanced user experience design, according to a news release.

For BizStream clients, the acquisition means enhanced service offerings, a broader range of capabilities and access to Refactored’s Web Accelerator product, which adopts modern technology, reduces costs, and minimizes project risks, the release stated.

“We’re thrilled to have Refactored join BizStream, as their expertise in digital transformation and brand storytelling perfectly aligns with goals of expansion and growth,” BizStream co-owner Brian McKeiver said in the release. “This acquisition allows us to deliver an even broader range of modern, scalable, and engaging solutions to our clients. It also opens some doors into new areas of opportunity for BizStream. We look forward to continuing our tradition of exceptional results, now with an expanded team and enhanced capabilities.”

Rob Bean, a partner in Refactored, said that joining BizStream is “an exciting opportunity to build on our shared belief that agency work is fundamentally people-focused — driven by curiosity, empathy, and collaboration to help clients succeed.”

Company principals have been acquainted for more than 12 years, the release stated.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Vuelo Investments acquires Northern Colorado Air Inc.

A Northern Colorado investment group has acquired Northern Colorado Air Inc., a heating and air conditioning services company in Fort Collins.

NCA will continue to operate as usual under the ownership of Vuelo Investments, according to a news release.

Roy Griffin and Joyce Griffin founded the residential, industrial and commercial air service company in 1992.

“I know the long-term well-being of the employees was their primary consideration as they pursued a sale of the business,” NCA General ManagerJeff Richard said in the release. The Griffins “spent years growing this business and we all couldn’t be more thrilled to find a local buyer in Vuelo Investments. Vuelo has long demonstrated an unwavering commitment to employees as well as the community, and there is confirmation that the company and employees are in great hands.”

Vuelo, a collaboration between Waypoint Real Estate and Poudre Bay Capital, claims to help businesses scale and drive growth. The firm focuses on real estate acquisitions and partnering with service-based businesses in Colorado and Wyoming.

Josh Guernsey, managing partner of Vuelo, said in the release: “Northern Colorado Air is built on such a solid foundation, earning a reputation for doing things the right way. We couldn’t be more excited to carry forward the legacy that Roy and Joyce Griffin have crafted. With a talented team at NCA, their business is a perfect complement to Vuelo’s growing family of companies.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In Brief

• MeadKrieger Meadery, 452 N. Washington Ave., Loveland, will hold a second anniversary celebration at noon-10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. The event will include drink and food specials, giveaways and more. 970-391-3772, meadkrieger.com.

• Downtown Loveland will hold a Downtown Loveland Winter Sale Thursday-Sunday, Jan. 23-26. The event will showcase special promotions at boutiques, restaurants and breweries and more. downtownloveland.org/downtown-winter-sale.

People

• Melody Bettenhausen has been named president and CEO of Ensight Skills Center and Curtis Strong Center.

• Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC of Fort Collins announced attorney R. Clay Bartlett has been elected to the firm’s Executive Committee. Bartlett practices law from the firm’s Fort Collins office and supports clients across Northern Colorado and Denver.

Calendar

• Mac N Cheese Melt Off: 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, desk chair workspace, 201 E. Fourth St., Loveland. Six downtown businesses compete in a mac ’n’ cheese and beer pairing challenge: Door 222 and Loveland Aleworks, Urban Field and Verboten Brewing, and Sandos and Skybear Brewing. Tickets $119 and up, available at bit.ly/4fY9rKk.

• Innovation After Hours: 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, Innosphere Ventures, 320 E. Vine Drive, Fort Collins. The event will spotlight Innosphere’s strategic vision for its Life Sciences program and CO-WY Climate Resilience Engine. Gain insights into plans to drive innovation, tackle climate challenges and advance economic resilience in the region. Free, register at innosphereventures.org/events.

• Lunch & Learn Talk with Shun-Luoi Fong: noon-1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, Innosphere, 320 E. Vine Drive, Fort Collins. The founder and chief executive officer of Forge will discuss “The Human-Centered Business: Transforming How We Build, Lead, and Innovate.” Free, register at innosphereventures.org/events.

Send us your business news

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.

The items we consider for briefs include:

• New businesses.

• Business relocations.

• Business closings.

• New contracts.

• Anniversaries (divisible by five).

• Mergers and acquisitions.

• New owners, employees or promotions of employees.

• Manufacture of new products.

• Business organization meetings, workshops, seminars or classes meant for networking or education.

• Open houses related to newsworthy events (new business, anniversary, new owners, renovations, new management, etc.).

• Awards or other recognition.

• Donations to charities.

• Earnings.

Press releases are welcome. The Reporter-Herald reserves the right to edit information submitted for publication. Pictures of individuals involved in the event are welcome, but publication is not guaranteed.

Information is due by noon Wednesday for publication in the following Sunday’s business section. Information can be emailed to news@reporter-herald.com. For more information, contact the Reporter-Herald newsroom, 970-635-3636, news@reporter-herald.com.