Colorado Real Estate Journal - June 1, 2016
The 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).