Denver area wins praise for tactics to woo firms

After three days of touring the Denver area by van and helicopter, dining at the Governor’s Mansion and attending a Colorado Rockies game, nine site-selection consultants turned the tables on top business and political leaders at a breakfast meeting Friday.

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

The nine consultants, who represent companies that at any given time could bring thousands of new jobs to the metro area, fielded questions for more than an hour as about 250 business leaders listened at the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

"What I got out of it is that Denver is still in the hunt" for companies looking to grow and expand, said Sherman Miller, who heads Denver’s Cushman & Wakefield office and moderated the panel discussion.

Miller noted that when Tom Clark, the new president of the Metro Denver Network, organized a similar effort with site consultants in the late 1980s, it led to the creation of 35,000 new jobs locally.

The panelists had praise for Fitzsimons in Aurora, which they said will set the area apart from most other economic development teams in the nation that hope to land lucrative biotechnology firms.

They also gave officials high marks for presenting a unified front with no turf wars among counties and cities.

But they noted that the high cost of housing and the lack of available incentives hurt Colorado. Most companies when relocating go to low-cost states such as Florida – or out of the U.S. altogether to places such as India and China, several panelists noted. "In the end, it is about the money," noted Jim Lebre of -CRESA Partners.

After the meeting, Peter Culshaw, president of the Denver Tech Center, said Colorado shouldn’t waste its time going after out-of-state companies. Instead, it should use its limited resources to help companies already here, he said.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews. com or 303-892-5207

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_2283914,00.html