A Kentucky development company with a record in technology business parks will negotiate exclusively for the $5 million cash purchase of the Agilent Technologies campus in Loveland.
City councilors voted unanimously late Tuesday to enter into an exclusive right to negotiate with Cumberland & Western Resources LLC, a Bowling Green, Ky., company that seeks to work its model at the ACE technology manufacturing park.
Cumberland & Western vice president Buddy Steen developed and managed the Western Kentucky University Center for Research and Development, a converted shopping mall in Bowling Green where 35 technology companies are engaged in developing technology products.
Steen is projected to be the project manager for the Aerospace Clean Energy Manufacturing and Innovation Park, or ACE, Loveland economic development director Betsey Hale told councilors.
The company is owned by Tennessee billionaire Brad Kelley, whose holdings include a 2.1-million- square-foot former tobacco plant in Macon, Ga., that is being developed as a multi-tenant technology manufacturing center.
Councilors worked late into Tuesday night reviewing proposals from Cumberland & Western and three other development teams.
But the Kentucky company’s bid stood apart, mostly because it holds the promise of a quick, cash sale for the city’s $5 million asking price.
Cumberland & Western and another developer in the hunt, Fort Collins-based Neenan Co., have had initial discussions on joint interest in the project.
