Other Metros Prospering

Outside of Denver, several other Colorado communities are enjoying robust success at attracting corporate expansion projects. Among them are Longmont, north of Boulder, and Grand Junction, in far Western Colorado near the Utah border.
        Recent expansion projects in Longmont have come from Xilinx (a 130,000-sq.-ft. [12,077-sq.-m.] campus for software development); Amgen (a 600,000-sq.-ft. [55,740-sq.-m.] campus for 300 biotech workers); and Pillar Data Systems.
        John Cody, head of the economic development agency for Longmont, says that 83 percent of all new companies coming to his community are advanced technology firms. "The single largest source of our new companies are entrepreneurs, who account for 40 percent of our new firms," he says. "The next largest source – 29 percent – comes from firms leaving Boulder."
        In Grand Junction, economic development official Ann Driggers points to growth coming from recent expansions at Enstrom Candies and Schlumberger (a $10-million investment), an international company that provides technical support and other services to the natural resources industry.
        Doug Simons, president of the 70-employee Enstrom Candies, says that Enstrom was enticed by other communities to relocate, "but we love Grand Junction, and we just love the area." He says his firm chose to remain in Grand Junction after 40 years because "it's a wonderful community, a great place to live and a great place to raise a family. This isn't work for us – it's just the other place that we live."
        Denver suburb Broomfield also continues to excel. Ball Corp. announced Dec. 9 that it would relocate its main office and R&D operations of its plastic container operations from Smyrna, Ga., near Atlanta, to Broomfield. The $1.6-million relocation involves 54 employees.