DENVER – Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 – Nine global site selection consultants attended the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation’s (Metro Denver EDC) annual Site Selection Conference, Sept. 17-19, 2014. The event was coordinated in partnership with the Metro Denver EDC’s investors and economic development partners throughout the nine-county Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region.
Over the three-day familiarization tour, the site selectors experienced the region’s business assets first-hand with the area’s top business and economic development leaders as their guides.
The first event on their agenda Wednesday, Sept. 17, included a private meeting at the History Colorado Center with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, where the group discussed job growth and the advantages of doing business in Colorado.
The following morning, Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock welcomed the consultants to the region during a breakfast event at DaVita’s World Headquarters in LoDo. The site selectors then participated in an economic briefing and an infrastructure panel discussion with executives from Denver Water, Xcel Energy, and the Denver Union Station Project Authority, then briefly toured the newly renovated Denver Union Station.
The consultants got a 360-degree look at the region’s major employment centers, infrastructure, and real estate developments by helicopter, making stops along the way for meetings with area industry leaders. The first stop included lunch and an innovation discussion at the University of Colorado’s BioFrontiers Institute, including speakers from Google, Level 3 Communications, Renewable Energy Systems Americas, and Sharklet.
They also participated in a conversation with aerospace industry leaders at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Jefferson County. Panel participants were executives from Colorado’s leading space companies, including AdamWorks, Sierra Nevada Space Systems, Trimble, and Lockheed Martin. They also experienced Metro Denver’s professional sports scene Thursday evening during an outing and dinner at Coors Field.
At the conference’s final event, site selectors took part in a panel discussion about current site selection trends, Making the Cut: Factors Driving Today’s Site Selection Decisions. Moderated by Mike Matthews, Market President for Wells Fargo and Co-Chair of the Metro Denver EDC Executive Committee, the site consultants shared their thoughts on Metro Denver’s competitiveness and opportunities for future corporate expansions and relocations.
Matthews first asked the site selectors how Metro Denver stacks up against other regions and markets for new jobs and investment.
The panelists noted the Metro Denver contends well against its usual competitor cities of Phoenix, Dallas, and Salt Lake City due to its highly educated workforce and diverse industries. Ken Machemehl, national business development manager for ADP, added Denver International Airport (DIA) to the mix of key attributes that Metro Denver should tout to global business decision makers.
“One major thing I took away from this week is the wonderful asset you have in Denver International Airport and its recent success in attracting international flights. Denver has a great opportunity with DIA; your region should promote DIA aggressively both nationally and internationally,” said Machemehl.
Chris Zlocki, Executive Managing Director – Strategy and Innovation, Colliers International, sees Metro Denver’s workforce talent pool as a major asset to capitalize on globally.
“Denver is in the ‘playground’ of leading global cities and because of your great workforce. I think there’s a great opportunity to start looking at that talent and that workforce as being a major international draw,” he explained.
Incentives are a hot topic in the economic development world; Matthews asked the site selectors their thoughts on the role incentives play in major economic development deals.
“Incentives are definitely not the lead driver, but the perception of the availability of incentives in Colorado or Denver could be improved or increasingly touted to get short-listed more often,” said Machemehl.
And several site selectors agreed that training incentives are gaining popularity in corporate expansion deals today.
“Companies are looking to offset costs in the first two years (of an expansion) and training incentives can be very valuable,” commented Spencer Schobert, senior manager with Deloitte Consulting.
Terry Hansen, a principal with Hickey & Associates, shared that training incentives can be a win for states to assure a skilled and competitive workforce.
“Encouraging and assisting companies to train their own employees is a big gain for states,” he said.