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SMA Solar Technology named 2010 Deal of the Year
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation named SMA Solar Technology the Deal of the Year award winner at its Annual Report to Investors and Awards Luncheon on May 18, 2010, recognizing the company for its significant economic impact to the region through new job creation and capital investment.
The Germany-based solar manufacturer chose to locate a 153,000-square-foot production facility in Denver at Stapleton's Enterprise Park. The facility will be the largest solar inverter manufacturing center in the United States and SMA Solar Technology's first plant outside of Germany. Solar inverters convert the DC current created by solar devices into the AC current needed for the power grid. Production is expected to start in the summer of 2010 with 300 employees and a capacity to expand to 700. SMA Solar Technology's U.S. expansion will have a total capital investment of approximately $10-15 million over the first five years of operations.
2010 Major Relocations and Expansions
(by date of announcement - most recent first)
- Sharklet Technologies, Inc. announced in August 2010 that it has relocated its corporate headquarters from Alachua, Fla. to Aurora, Colo. The company will be housed at the Bioscience Park Center, a biotechnology incubator in the Fitzsimons Life Science District adjacent to the renowned Anschutz Medical Campus. Sharklet developed and is commercializing SharkletTM, the world's first micro-pattern designed to control the growth and transfer of bacteria including Staph. a, MRSA, E. coli, and a host of others that adversely impact human health.
- Juwi, a Germany-based renewable-energy company, announced in July 2010 that it will move its wind-energy headquarters from Cleveland to Boulder in September 2010. The move will bring 20 jobs to Boulder, where Juwi already employs 30 people at is U.S. solar headquarters.
- CPC, a national leader in clinical trial management, is moving its headquarters from downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora to administer the University of Colorado School of Medicine's stem-cell research trials. CPS is the first tenant at the new University Physicians Inc. building in the Colorado Science + Technology Park at Fitzsimons and expects that the new partnership will lead to future job growth.
- TriZetto Group Inc., a Newport Beach, CA healthcare software company, announced in July 2010 that it will move its corporate headquarters to Greenwood Village. With technology solutions touching nearly half the U.S. insured population today, TriZetto employs 1,900 people at 11 offices throughout the United States.
- Vestas Technology R&D Americas, Inc. leased 47,675 square feet in the Colorado Technology Center in Louisville in July 2010 for a new engineering and product development division. Vestas spokespeople say the company will employ 75 to 125 new employees at the site in the first year of operation. The division will work to improve technology for existing turbines and develop the wind power systems of the future.
- The Children's Hospital launched a $228 million, 350,000-square foot expansion project in July 2010 to add 124 beds to its existing facility in Aurora. Hospital officials anticipate adding 500 new jobs as a result of the expansion.
- Abound Solar announced it will add 300 jobs as part of a $400 million stimulus-funded loan guarantee it received in July 2010 to increase production of its thin-film photovoltaic modules at its existing manufacturing plant in Longmont.
- American Zephyr Corp., a small, lightweight wind turbine company and subsidiary of Japan-based Zephyr Corp., signed a lease for 7,360 square feet in the Colorado Technology Center to establish its U.S. headquarters in Louisville in June 2010. The company is moving its existing operations from New York and Westminster and plans to employ 30 people locally within a year.
- Cbeyond Inc., an Atlanta-based telecommunications firm, announced in June 2010 that it is expanding its Denver presence by opening a customer call center in the Denver Tech Center. The call center, which is scheduled to open in September 2010, will ramp to employ 200 technical support staff over the next several years.
- Catholic Health Initiatives announced in June 2010 that it will add 200 IT workers, including application developers and database administrators, as part of a $1.5 billion program to enhance clinical information technology across its network of 72 hospitals in 18 states. Most of the hires will occur in Denver.
- The Judge Group opened a technical staffing division in Denver in June 2010 to help companies recruit engineering, accounting, and other technical positions. The office will hire account managers and recruiters for the new division.
- Taptu Ltd., a United Kingdom-based mobile search engine company, announced in June 2010 that it will open its first U.S. office in the Denver Tech Center. Company officials say the Denver office is being created in response to its growing American audience and to help drive business development, marketing, and product management in the U.S.
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation moved into its new 220,000-square-foot facility at Denver's Stapleton development in June 2010. The $100 million building is LEED certified.
- Hewlett-Packard announced plans in May 2010 to grow in Fort Collins, investing $64.4 million to expand engineering lab space at its existing plant in the city. The company will create 100 new jobs paying an average salary of $90,000 as a result. The city of Fort Collins approved $1.6 million in use and personal property tax rebates over a 10-year period.
- Bye Energy Inc., an integrator of alternative energy technologies for business and general aviation aircraft, has located its corporate headquarters to Centennial Airport. The larger facility provides space for its Green Flight Project, which will enhance development of a commercial and electric-hybrid propulsion system for light general aviation application.
- Cummins Rocky Mountain, LLC plans to build its largest remanufacturing plant in Commerce City, creating 70 new jobs. Construction on the new facility, its largest diesel engine remanufacturing plant in North America, began in June 2010.
- Naxcer Composites Group, specializing in new manufacturing technologies for composite materials, announced the completion of its latest manufacturing facility in June 2010. Located in Louisville, the 32,000-square-foot space will be ISO certified by August 2010.
- Massachusetts-based Oxford Global Resources, a technology and engineering consulting firm, opened an office in Westminster in May 2010 to deliver personalized service to its high-tech clients in and around Denver, while creating high-tech jobs for local IT consultants. Company officials call Metro Denver a key market and a major technology hub.
- Rivet Software, a Denver software company that develops tools to help businesses comply with new SEC standards for financial reporting, in May 2010 announced expansion plans to add 40-80 new employees in addition to 100 hired over the past year. The company anticipates more growth as businesses begin to use the SEC’s new financial reporting standard, extensible business reporting language (XBRL).
- Questar, a Salt Lake City-based energy company, announced it will spin off its oil and natural gas exploration and production unit to create a new company – QEP Resources. QEP will be headquartered at an existing office in Denver and will continue to employ the 165 workers currently housed at that location. Employment at the Denver office could also increase by roughly 20 positions once the spinoff is complete.
- The University of Colorado Hospital announced in May 2010 a $400 million expansion Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora that will add a new patient tower with 600,000 square feet to its existing facility. The expansion will create 1,400 new high-paying positions at the facility and 600 construction jobs.
- Education Corporation of America, announced the location and launch of Ecotech Institute, the first and only college focused entirely on preparing America’s workforce for careers in renewable energy and sustainable design in April 2010. Once its flagship Colorado campus, located in Aurora, is fully established, Ecotech plans to expand across the U.S. to help fuel rapidly growing industries in the clean energy sector.
- United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 joint venture owned by Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company to provide reliable, cost-efficient space launch services for the U.S. government, announced it will expand its headquarters campus to 2,000 employees working in three office buildings totaling 466,000 square feet in Centennial. ULA currently employs 1,700 people in Metro Denver.
- Boulder Wind Power has located its headquarters in Boulder. A former National Renewable Energy Laboratory engineer launched the company to focus on design, development, and production of a direct-drive technology to make wind turbines more reliable. The company plans to hire up to 30 workers initially.
- Dot Hill Systems, a manufacturer of storage arrays and data management software, completed the relocation of its corporate headquarters from Carlsbad, CA to Longmont in April 2010. The company renovated its existing space in Longmont to accommodate additional employees and expand laboratory space.
- Aluwind, a Danish manufacturer of aluminum components for the wind industry, announced in March 2010 that it will locate its first American manufacturing plant in Castle Rock. Aluwind is a supplier to Vestas Wind Systems and expects to have 30 employees (with plans to add 50 to 75 additional staff) providing customers with manufactured goods by July. The company is starting with about 50,000 square feet of manufacturing space with plans to expand to 80,000 square feet.
- Lockheed Martin Corp. opened a new 25,000-square-foot cybersecurity intelligence center for the federal government in Denver in March 2010. The $17 million facility features large open space for collaborative cybersecurity work by Lockheed, its partners, NASA, and other federal agencies.
- Raytheon Company, based in Aurora, received a $887 million contract from the U.S. Air Force in February 2010 to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System. The company will add 300 high-paying jobs--100 new employees this year at its 2,200-employee Aurora campus--where work focuses primarily on software development, and another 200 workers added in 2011.
- CNA, the 7th-largest U.S. commercial insurer, opened its new Western Service Center in Denver in February 2010, with full operational functionality by the second quarter of 2011 to handle claims and policy procession, and house a call center and billing and collections functions.
- Anheuser-Busch Inc., parent of Budweiser and the nation's largest beermaker, is adding a regional sales offices in Denver as part of major organizational changes to its sales and marketing functions. The company already has a significant Colorado presence, including a major brewery in Fort Collins.
- The University of Colorado Hospital announced it in January 2010 that it will create 150 jobs on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora as part of a $67 million project to implement an integrated, patient-centered electronic medical record across all clinical areas. The average salary of staff working on the implementation is $74,000 a year.
- Scottrade, a leading branch-supported online investing firm purchased a 204,000-square-foot office building in Westminster's Westmoor Technology Park in January 2010. The building will serve as a secondary business operations center. The company plans to hire 285 people in the next five years.
- Centura Health announced in January 2010 plans for a $23.6 million, 40,000-square-foot medical office building and 20,000-square-foot emergency room in Castle Rock. The new facility is slated to break ground in summer 2010.
- General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, opened an enterprise data center in January 2010 in Westminster to support a project with the Department of Homeland Security. When fully staffed, the unit will employ 100 workers at its new LEED-certified facility.
- Kidrobot, a premier creator of limited edition art toys and apparel, announced in January 2010 its decision to move the company's corporate headquarters from New York to Boulder. The company plans to be operational in Boulder by April 2010 and will move half its New York staff and plans to create 20-25 new jobs locally.
- Mywedding.com will locate its corporate headquarters in Castle Rock, adding 20 high-paying jobs. The company, with offices in Seattle and Portland, is adding this location to facilitate its continued growth. The company offers easy-to-use local guides, free wedding Web sites, and online tools.