Firm's arrival may propel status of site

The 1,000-acre Colorado Springs Airport business park still has more tall grass than tall buildings.

But when aerospace giant and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. cuts a ribbon today on its 124,000-squarefoot building, local officials say the park will move another step toward becoming an economic hub for the city.

Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman will consolidate about 400 of its 1,150 Colorado Springs employees into the new building, east of Powers Boulevard and Milton E. Proby Parkway on Colorado Springs' southeast side. The employees now work in six area offices.

Northrop Grumman has had a presence in the Springs for nearly 30 years; its workers provide technical expertise and operational support for Air Force Space Command, U.S. Northern Command and other military installations.

Northrop Grumman joins California-based Aerospace Corp., an Air Force Space Command research consultant, as the lone tenants in the airport business park.

"You could consider them as anchor tenants for the business park," said Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera. "Northrop Grumman is a very well-known company in our community and nationally. It makes the airport park more attractive for other companies to move in."

The company's presence also supports the concept that the business park would attract tenants who want to be close to Peterson Air Force Base, next to the airport, and Schriever Air Force Base, a few miles farther east, said city Aviation Director Mark Earle.

Eventually, city officials expect thousands of employees to work for dozens of businesses at the park, which will include industrial buildings, restaurants and hotels. More than half of the business park will be green space, a golf course and a trail system.

The Colorado Springs Airport and others nationwide are developing business parks to generate jobs and economic activity, but there are other advantages, officials say.

In the Springs, businesspark users will construct their own buildings and lease ground from the airport. Business-park revenues can be used to offset airport operating costs; that way, the higher costs aren't passed on to airlines, which encourages them to retain and expand service.

Next for the Colorado Springs Airport business park: construction of a sixlane southern entrance road and utility work, to be funded by the Department of Defense, Earle said.

The work, totaling about $11.5 million, is expected to begin this year and finish in 2009, he said. The Defense Department work is in lieu of lease payments for about 80 acres it's using on the business park's northeast corner.

Maryland-based Corporate Office Properties Trust, a nationwide real estate company that is the business park's master developer, plans to start construction in 2009 of a 90,000-square-foot office building west of Northrop Grumman, said George Swintz, a COPT vice president. COPT will lease the building to other users, he said.

"The city and the airport have done a good job of seeding the park with Aerospace Corp. and Northrop Grumman," he said.

"It's almost like it's got a primed pump."