Loveland Prepares To Host Business & Research Park
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - The city of Loveland is preparing to host a new business and research park that will be home to companies specializing in aerospace and clean energy. But the project won't mean an instant flood of new jobs.
The plan for the former Hewlett-Packard campus is to attract 100 aerospace and clean energy companies to the proposed Ace Park. Word that it's the preferred site for the project now has job-hunters clamoring for a piece of the action.
"There will be scientific jobs, there will be engineering jobs, there will also be assembly jobs; so I think it provides a great variety of employment opportunities for the community as a whole," Loveland city manager Bill Cahill said.
"As you can imagine, we have had many, many, many people calling and sending their resumes to me asking me how to get a job," Loveland business development manager Betsey Hale said.
City leaders are clearly trying to lower job expectations a bit. They predict the Ace Park and the Space Act Agreement will generate 10,000 high-paying jobs across the state, but it won't happen instantly.
"(We) want to make sure that people understand that this is a long-term project, that we're not all of a sudden going to have several thousand jobs overnight," Mayor Cecil Gutierrez said.
NASA plans to take technology from space exploration and make it available for companies at Ace Park to develop new products. The space agency is teamed up with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology. Leaders in Loveland say the site got the nod because it's been meticulously maintained and the community pulled together to attract the project, including sending Valentines from students to the C.A.M.T.
"You would be happy to bring your family here. Please bring your business to Loveland, you won't be sorry. We love our community," Hale said.
"People may deride this kind of community effort as being a little corny or cheesy, but it wasn't. There's nothing corny about it. There truly was no other community that showed its desire in the same way that this community did," Cahill said.
The city of Loveland is negotiating to purchase the site for the park from Agilent Technologies.
