Construction-tech company Prescient, which fabricated components for multi-family buildings, is closing its Arvada factory and laying off 60 employees, according to a letter the company sent to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment on Thursday.
“This action is expected to be permanent, and upon conclusion of the shutdown activities the company would be closed,” Sandra Espiritu-Ortega, the company’s chief human resources officer wrote in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter filed with the state on Aug. 31, the date when layoffs were expected to begin.
John Vanker and Michael Lastowski founded Prescient on Sept. 1, 2012, in a large Broomfield garage, using state-of-the-art technology, including robotic welders, to produce panels, trusses and other components for apartment buildings, hotels, senior centers and student dorms.
The company integrated its design software tightly into the manufacturing process, and turned to designers, engineers and software programmers based in Eastern Europe to help lower costs. Once fabricated, those components were assembled at construction sites, speeding up construction times and saving clients money.
In the summer of 2017, the company moved its headquarters from Arvada, where it employed about 300 people, to Durham, N.C. The Arvada plant, however, remained open and its address is listed as the point of contact in the WARN letter.
Espiritu-Ortega didn’t respond to a request for information on whether the entire company was closing, but that seems likely based on the language in her letter.
Prescient has contributed in the construction of 90 buildings covering 13.2 million square feet to date in Colorado, according to the company’s website. Among its projects are Park 17, Radius Uptown Apartments, Civic Lofts, Alexan Arapahoe Square, Edison Lofts at Rino, a new dormitory at Colorado Christian University and a hotel, the Hyatt House Belmar.
Despite winning numerous contracts in Colorado and across the country, Prescient has struggled in recent years. The company laid off 50 workers at its Arvada plant earlier this year and shut down its North Carolina plant last year. A listing on LoopNet shows its facility at 14401 W. 65th Way in Arvada at 388,489 square feet.
Two days before Prescient filed, Broomfield-based Aktiv Pharma Group informed the state it would be laying off 70 workers at three of its locations in Broomfield and Fort Collins.
“Unfortunately, due to unexpected circumstances, the company must shut down substantially all of its operations,” CEO Amir Genosar wrote in his WARN letter.
Based in Broomfield, Aktiv was an innovator in auto injectors. One of its leading devices contained Atropine, which can be injected to counteract organophosphate poisoning including nerve agents and poisonous mushrooms.
