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Lee Turner. Matt Stanley. Orville Chedester

Ed Gale. Randy Roget. Ted Brackett (209) 946-0282. Fax 209-946-0165

(8001647-7447

Colorado Ace Adds 2nd Unit

Jim and Lisa Clay, owners of fiveyear-old Ace Hardware, Windsor, Co., will open a store in Fort Collins, Co.

Clay's Ace Hardware will lease the majority of a 50,000-sq. ft. former grocery store building, with plans to open in early November.

"It's a wonderful location," said co-owner Lisa Clay. "It has great traffic patterns and a large parking lot that's good for businesses like mine."

Like any new hardware store these days, Clay is concerned about tough competition from a nearby Home Depot. A year after Depot moved to town in 1998, Builders Square shut its doors.

Nu-Forest May Jump Ship

At odds with thecity of Healdsburg, Ca.'s gateway project. Nu-Forest Products may relocate to Reno, Nv.

Needing to store additional inventory, Nu-Forest wants to demolish part of a warehouse on its 8.5-acre property and build a larger 10,000-sq. ft. facility a few blocks from the city's tourist area-the Plaza.

The city wants to reshape the entrances to the area so that it can pull in wine country tourists. To do so, the city wants a 15-ft. wide strip of NuForest's property to build two more lanes, sidewalks, landscaping and additional lighting.

To comply with the city, Nu-Forest would have to pay its landlord $250,000 in compensation for loss of the land.

"The loss ofthe land that the office and warehouse sit on would have been equal to what we would have been putting into it, considering the construction budget was $280,000," said Nu-Forest's Bruce Brogden.

In the mean time, Nu-Forest has shelved the project and is renting warehouse space in town for $5,300 a month.

The company has looked into Reno because of lower taxes and also because several of its trucking vendors are located there.

For now, no decision has been made.

Insulated Panels Up And Up

Residential use of structural insulated panels (SIPs) has increased 507o over the last five years, according to the Structural Insulated Panel

"It may put me in a position to work twice as hard for the same dollar. The overall impact could be horrific, [because big boxesl are taking away our choices. I don't think anyone realizes what it's going to be like 20 or 30 years down the road."

- Iris Watson, owner, Thomsen's Garden Center, Oakland, Ca., on the coming big boxes lrJ;

Association.

Approximately 12,000 homes were built wirh SIPs in 2002, up from 8,000 units in 1991 Some homes are built with only SIP walls; others with SIP walls and roof, and others with SIP floors. walls. and roof.

SIP production for 2002 was 5l million sq. ft., with 707o of it used in either single family or multifamily housine.