June 1-June 14, 2016
—
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 7B
T
he Colorado Springs
economy is a good
news story with the
region experiencing impressive
growth. In fact, the community
is leading the state in job growth
with a 2015 annualized rate of
3.3%, its best since 2001.
The population is growing.
El Paso County is one of
four Colorado counties with
a projected increase of over
300,000 by 2040 when the
population will exceed 1 million.
With all of the growth, home
ownership is still very affordable.
The median home price in
Colorado Springs as of April is
$237,600, an increase of 5.6%
over one year ago but well below
the median prices of comparable
national metropolitan areas.
The burgeoning millennial
population teamed with a
vibrant downtown has enabled
a resurgence in downtown
apartment development.
Colorado Springs is
experiencing outstanding growth
in the industries of information
technology, including software
development, data storage and
cybersecurity; financial services,
aerospace and defense; health
care, sports and medical device
manufacturing – all creating
outstanding employment
opportunities.
Companies that exemplify
these growing industries include:
• Cherwell, a local software
development company that just
moved into a new 67,000-square-
foot space.
• Root9b, which is listed as
No. 1 on the 2016 Global 500
Cyber Companies to Watch list
and has opened the nation’s first
cybersecurity adversarial pursuit
center in downtown Colorado
Springs. CertainSafe, another
Colorado Springs-headquartered
cybersecurity business, is No. 26
on the list.
• USAA, Progressive Insurance
and T. Rowe Price continue to
add employees, and USAA is
undergoing a significant facility
expansion.
• Braxton Technologies and
Boecore represent expanding
local defense contractors.
• The airport is seeing a
resurgence with companies
like Rampart Aviation and
Trine Aerospace moving into
new buildings. The aerospace
company Sierra Nevada Corp. is
investing in Colorado Springs,
where the company’s new
division, Sierra Completions,
has announced an $88 million
project and 2,100 jobs. A 2014
study by Deloitte estimated that
the project could inject as much
as $5 billion into the region’s
economy.
• The medical device industry
is faring well with the likes of
Spectranetics and CEA Medical
Manufacturing steadily growing
in employment.
• Colorado Springs was
recently cited by CBRE as one
of the lowest-cost locations
for enterprise datacenters, as
exemplified by the region’s
existing datacenter cluster
and the development of the
Vineyards datacenter park.
Since the 19th century, tourism
has been a major Colorado
Springs industry and today,
tourism continues to grow. The
hotel occupancy rate is up: 78%
in 2015 vs. 61% in 2014. From
the Garden of the Gods to Pikes
Peak, from athletic and sporting
events to a great cultural and arts
climate, Colorado Springs has
much to offer.
Colorado Springs is reinvesting
in its infrastructure. Last
November, the citizens voted to
fund an additional $50 million
per year in street improvements.
In the West, water is a precious
resource. In April, the
municipally owned Colorado
Springs Utilities completed the
Southern Delivery System, a $1
billion project that ensured the
community will have adequate
water to support residential and
business growth well beyond the
21st century.
Colorado Springs is “Olympic
City USA.” Home to the U.S.
Olympic Committee, U.S.
Olympic Training Center, 25
national governing bodies
for Olympic sports, many
headquarters for sports
organizations, and soon to be
the home of the U.S. Olympic
Museum, a $60 million endeavor
scheduled to break ground in
2016.
Cybersecurity is big in
Colorado Springs. The
community is recognized as one
of the top 5 in the nation for
cybersecurity jobs and one of the
top 10 for the concentration of
cybersecurity companies. The
sector includes more than 90
cybersecurity businesses, all five
local military installations, five
nonprofits and several college
programs that train workers for
the industry. The region boasts
four NSA Certified Academic
Centers of Excellence in
Information Assurance including
the University of Colorado
Colorado Springs, U.S. Air Force
Academy, Colorado Technical
University, and Regis University
while Pikes Peak Community
College is in the process of
achieving NSA’s two-year
program certification.
In addition to cybersecurity, we
fly satellites. For example, all of
the GPS satellites are controlled
by Schriever Air Force Base.
The command and control
activity is primarily government,
but commercial space is
becoming big business with at
least one commercial satellite
control center being developed
in Colorado Springs. This
subsector includes major defense
contractors like Lockheed
Martin, Boeing, Harris Corp.,
Intellisat, Northrop Grumman,
Raytheon and home-grown
headquarters like Intelligent
Software Solutions and Braxton
Technologies.
Colorado Springs is truly a
community on the rise. Recent
national accolades include:
5th Best Place to Live (US
News and World Report), 2nd
Most Desirable Place to Live
(US News and World Report),
5th Place – Small Business
Friendly Cities (Thumbtack.
com), 4th Most Educated Cities
(Wallethub.com), and was
the first community to receive
the designation as a Great
American Defense Community
(Association of Defense
Communities).
Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance
Al Wenstrand
Chief Economic Development
Officer, Colorado Springs Regional
Business Alliance
