Fitzsimons, Buckley Air Force Base boost Aurora

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The Fitzsimons/Anschutz medical complex and are rockw of economic stability for Both are growing by seemingly impervious to the recession as they pump a steady flow of new investment into thelocall economy. The impact of publicc spending at each of the sprawling centers is helpinbg offset choppy timesfor Aurora’w retail and commercial sectors. They are indispensable drivers of our econom y and pivotal generators forour future,” said Dick senior vice president of the (AEDC). Combined, Fitzsimons and Buckleyh employnearly one-third of those workintg in Aurora. Thanks largely to Buckley, more than 33 perceny of Colorado’s aerospace workforce is in Aurora.
The Fitzsimonsw complex, with a projected employment of 45,000 and $5 billion impact, shows all indications of equalinf the muscle of on a fractiojn ofthe land. And the financial benefit s of the fledgling ColoradoScience + Technology Park are expected to wash over onto a 20-bloci stretch of Colfax Avenue’s south side, between Peori and Potomac streets. “It will be a long-terkm economic generator and wonderful boost for the saidJill Farnham, chief of the , as she envisionws a wave of development from research-and-development bioscience ventures.
Fitzsimons and Buckleyu have helped AEDC market the city in the face of a lingerinvg recession that has strained the light industry and small business thatcomprisw Aurora’s commercial heart. “People want to believs the worstis over, but they’re still said Kevin Hougen, president/CEO of the . “Thegy haven’t shaken the fear Hinson said, “People are holding back, they’rwe paranoid about spending right now. There’s a pent-upl demand, but no one wants to be first.
” By talking up its strong assetds in land and transportation access with the DIAand , Aurora’s recruiters hope to builr on an industrial-distribution base reflected in busy parkss along I-70 and E-470. At Buckley, the frenzy of construction that has made itthe nation’s fastest-growingf Air Force base has helped Aurora attract a growing core of aerospace-related industries. Principal among them is Raytheon, now the city’ss No. 1 private employer with 2,600 workers, as well as and Lockheed Martin. Buckley, with close to 13,00 0 personnel — including civilians — and a yearlg payroll of more than $600 million, has an annuakl economic impact of morethan $1.
1 Local officials privately estimate that Buckley’s classified operations may equakl or double that amount. New construction, with an average of threde major additions or expansionsper year, has includede 350 housing units the first homes at Buckley — a fuel transfer center, youtgh and family centers, and a firing range. Present and planned constructiontotals $300 At Fitzsimons/Anschutz, the pace has been everg bit as brisk, with now construction ongoing at the pharmacy school and work about to begin on the big Veterans Administratio n hospital, projected to cost upward of $900 millionn and employ 1,800.
Complementing Aurora’s bedrock industries is renewable energy, which the AEDC is promotingh withthe , a research-and-testing facility set on a 74-acrre plot near DIA that will be part of the largerf . The city is partnersd with five other public and private entities in aimed at speeding commercialization and relatedjob training, and expected to be one of the largest of its kind Along with the push for new industry, Aurora’sw recruiting forces are paying special attention to the care and nurturingg of existing business, such as the small service companiess spread along the interstates, and the dense network of arterialp roads that are the suburb’s selling “It does no good to go out and sell this city and then have a compangy get tangled in regulatory problems,” Hinson said.
Toward that end, the AEDC has worked to expedit ebureaucratic processes, ease the way for operations to expane and occasionally provide incentives for retention. When giantg Raytheon was weighing a move to Dallas a fewyearse back, Hinson’s group talked company officials out of and it did the same recentlty with Nelnet, a 550-employee, student loan-processingf firm.