Community Data

The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) projects Adams County to be the fastest growing county in Colorado over the next twenty years in both population and employment. This projection is made in part because Adams County benefits directly from three of the four billion dollar projects in Colorado – Fitzsimons Redevelopment, E-470 toll way and proximity to Denver International Airport. In addition, Adams County has an abundance of available, affordable land ripe for development.

Adams County is located at the northeastern quadrant of the Denver metropolitan area and covers 1,179.5 square miles of land. It includes the cities of Arvada, Aurora, Bennett, Brighton, Commerce City, Federal Heights, Lochbuie, Northglenn, Thornton, Westminster, and a substantial unincorporated area.
Taking advantage of its strategic location, pro business climate and skilled workforce are companies like Avaya, General Motors, Hunter Douglas and Aviation Technology Group.

Business Activity
Adams County has seen tremendous growth and development with companies making substantial investments and expansions including:

• Denver Newspaper Agency, co-owned by Media News Group and E. W. Scripps, is consolidating the production of The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News into one production plant located in Adams County. This company will invest $125 million in new equipment at the facility.
• FedEx Freight recently broke ground on a 170,000 square foot building on 96th Avenue at the Marty Farm Business Park in Commerce City. The company will invest $46 million in real and personal property and will create 213 net new jobs.
• Furniture Row has selected ProLogis Park 70 in Aurora as the site of its newest warehouse and distribution facility. Furniture Row is the parent company of several specialized retail home furnishings and bedding divisions. They have manufacturing, warehousing, and one of the nation’s largest furniture retail operations. They will construct a 625,000 square foot facility, create 81 new jobs in Adams County and add $28.8 million in capital investment.
• Denver-based Frontier Airlines will base its new turboprop subsidiary Lynx Aviation in Westminster. Lynx Aviation will fly 10 74-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplanes worth $256.8 million to as many as 18 destinations in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. The company will create 20 jobs initially and grow it employment to about 320 by the end of the 2007.
• Pasta Fresca, one of the leading manufacturers of various food products including: entrees, sauces, soups, pasta, and energy bars (the Lara Bar) relocated to Federal Heights.
• Rentech a coal-to-liquids energy plant is building a $40 million pilot plant in Commerce City. Rentech will use a patented technology to convert gas – squeezed out of coal – into ultra-clean diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel. The company will initially create 19 jobs and will add another 24 jobs in the near future.
• Staples a national office-supply retailer, will open a fulfillment and distribution center in Brighton in the summer of 2007 from a 300,000 square foot facility in the Bromley Industrial Park adjacent to I-76. The company anticipates hiring 100-150 employees and is positioned in Brighton to support its expansion activities throughout Colorado.
• Wanco, Inc. a firm specializing in the manufacturing of highway safety and traffic control products expanded its facility in Arvada. The expansion will increase Wanco’s manufacturing space by 60,000 square feet and will give the company a total of 137,000 square feet of state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity.

New Business Park Developments
Adams County has over 34 major business parks ranging from 100 to 6,300 acres to accommodate current and future business expansions and relocations to the area:

• Adams Crossing is a 685-acre mixed use park located in the Brighton. Adams County Government has plans to build a 450,000 square foot campus that will consolidate county operations and house over 1,200 employees.
• Aurora Commerce Center is a 162-acre industrial park located in Aurora. The largest speculative industrial building (406,959 square feet) in the metro area is being constructed at the park and will be ready for occupancy in spring 2007.
• Prairie Gateway is a 917-acre mixed-use development in Commerce City. It will house the professional soccer stadium for the Colorado Rapids, approximately 1.5 million square feet of commercial mixed use, a new Civic Center, and a new Visitors Center for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge.
• TransPort, a Schuck Corporation development, is a 6,300-acre multi modal industrial park surrounding Front Range Airport in Aurora. Designated as the newest Enterprise Zone in the Colorado, various tax credits to companies relocating to the business park.

Health Care/Life Sciences in Adams County
Adams County is home to the new ‘Life Sciences City’ located on the 587-acre former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. The $4.3 billion project will transform Fitzsimons into a major education and research hub. The University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center and the University of Colorado hospital have begun to relocate their entire operations to Fitzsimons. Children’s Hospital purchased 36-acres and has built a new $400 million 900,000 square foot inpatient hospital at Fitzsimons.

Fitzsimons also includes the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora, the 160-acre, university-affiliated research park. The park offers incubator office and laboratory space for bioscience start-ups. Platte Valley Medical Center (PVMC) will open its new campus on 50 acres in the Prairie Center in July of 2007. This new regional medical center provides twice the number of beds and nearly triples the total space of the existing facility. The new PVMC facility will include expanded partnerships with The Children’s Hospital of Denver, Western Cardiology, and Colorado Heart Institute. Trauma level will increase from a level 4 to a level 3.

Rocky Mountain Urgent Care (RMUC), an urgent care medical facility opened offices at Reunion Village in Commerce City February 2007. This new facility is one of four RMUC operations in the Denver metro area. RMUC provides a much needed medical services residents. They plan to build a new 20,0000 square foot primary care facility in Commerce City’s Northern Range within the next 2-3 years.

Education
The Denver metro area has the third highest educated workforce in the country. Many top ranked research schools are located in or within 30 minutes of Adams County including the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, University of Denver, Regis University, DeVry University and Colorado Technical University. The state’s largest community college, Front Range Community College, is located in Adams County.

Adams County Education Consortium
With an unprecedented agreement, the business and education communities of Adams County announced the creation of the Adams County Education Consortium (ACEC) to bridge the needs of business and the education of the population of the county.

This countywide partnership is a pro-active response to the needs of the communities and will enhance academic skills development, career knowledge and exploration and relevant work ready skills for all learner groups in Adams County.

Retail Developments
There are several retail centers complete or planned in Adams County including:

• 104th Avenue Retail Centers are coming up out of the ground. Big box retail sites include locations at Aberdeen at 104th Avenue and Highway 2, and Shea Properties’ development at 104th Avenue and Tower Road. Reunion Village is the first neighborhood retail center to open in Commerce City’s Northern Range, with approximately 25,000 square feet of retail space. In addition to Reunion Village, there are neighborhood retail centers planned at 120th and Chambers, 104th and Chambers, and the southeast, southwest and northwest corners of 104th and Highway 2.
• Brighton Pavilions, a 14.3-acre development with more than 33,000 square feet, located near U.S. Hwy. 85 in Brighton. The project has 7 restaurants, various retail outlets and the area’s newest 12-screen movie theater. It is the first retail development to center around a Park-n-Ride transit.
• Larkridge is slated to the area’s newest regional retail center. Located on 240-acres near the intersection on E-470 and I-25, the two million square foot mall will employ over 800 people. Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, Costco and Sears Grand opened stores at Larkridge.
• The Marketplace at Northglenn, at the corner of I-25 and 104th Avenue is a 650,000 square foot redevelopment project and home to Lowe’s Home Improvement, Borders Books, Woodley’s Fine Furniture and several other retailers and restaurants.
• The Orchard Town Center, a 1.1 million square foot regional life style center is currently being developed by Forest City Commercial at the northwest corner of 144th Avenue and I-25. Tenants for the project include Macy’s, AMC Theatres, Target and JC Penneys.
• The Pauls Corporation, recently commenced construction on the initial phase of a mid-box retail development at its Town Center at Gateway Park in Aurora. The 22-acre development just to the northwest of I-70 and Tower Road, has secured leases from Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Office Depot and Petco for the site. The new development is slated to be completed by July 2007.

Transportation
Adams County offers true intermodal transportation advantages: the county surrounds Denver International Airport (DIA) on three sides and is home to Front Range Airport, a general reliever airport located just six miles from DIA. Union Pacific and BNSF offer service in the county. There is surface access in I-70, I-270, I-225, I-25, I-76, Hwy 2, Hwy 85 and Hwy 7.

Colorado voters approved funding for FasTracks, a comprehensive transit plan that allows the area to reap the benefits of growth while preserving quality of life. FasTracks includes 119 miles of new rail in nine of the region’s most congested corridors, including rail service along I-25 from 160th Ave. to downtown Denver with stops at 124th, 112th, 100th, 88th, and Commerce City. Adams County will see major benefits from FasTracks. It will provide improved access for our residents to job centers like Fitzsimons and the Denver Tech Center. Major developments are already planned along the North Metro, East, and I-225 corridors that will stimulate the economy and bring substantial economic benefits to Adams County.

In addition, E-470, the metro area’s major beltway connects at I-25 and ties into the Northwest Parkway, which connects to the Boulder Turnpike (US 36).

These initiatives will provide easy and direct access for Adams County residents to Denver International Airport and will offer easy access to a multitude of job opportunities for employees living outside of Adams County.

Adams County is nine incorporated cities and a substantial unincorporated area. Each municipality is diverse in size and make up but all share the common mantra of encouraging the attraction and retention of business.