$27M harpoon is taking aim at corporate whale
Fortune 250 firm, code-named Project Cardinal, may move headquarters to Denver area
The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved $27 million in job growth incentive tax credits, its secondlargest incentive award ever, on Wednesday morning in a bid to attract the global headquarters of a Fortune 250 company.
The unnamed company, which made its request under the code name of Project Cardinal, is a consumer products and ecommerce company with sales around the world.
It is considering a metro Denver location to host 800 jobs, including its top executive team and the senior managers of several of its now decentralized brands. The jobs come with an average annual wage of $185,721.
That wage is nearly threefold the average annual wage offered in Denver and the highest that a company that has applied for state economic development incentives has brought to the table.
“Not only is this an opportunity to add a dynamic global company to Colorado but also an opportunity to add a corporate partner that closely aligns with our community and business environment. We are excited to compete for this project and we will work hard to earn the business,” Stephanie Copeland, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said in a statement after the commission approved the incentives.
The company behind Project Cardinal has sought more confidentiality than usual. It asked that the other locations in the running with metro Denver not be disclosed,
and it didn’t provide a representative to field questions from the commission ahead of the vote.
The company, which has 98 people currently employed in the state in nonretail operations, expects to invest at least $100 million in its headquarters. It will likely make a “soft landing” by leasing available space for two years as it ramps up, said Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the economic development commission. But she adds that if the right building is available for sale, it may buy instead, and it is also looking at new construction longer term.
Project Cardinal’s request ranks second only to a $32 million incentive request approved last year for Charter Communications. Project Cardinal requested and received approval to make $13 million of its $27 million in job growth tax incentives transferable.
That would allow the company to sell the state tax credits it accumulates to other interested buyers who have a tax liability.
As a condition of providing transferable credits, the commission required Project Cardinal to go public about its headquarters’ decision by Nov. 8. That would allow the state to free up its limited supply of transferable tax credits for other companies if a rival wins the bid.
The company is looking to locate in an enterprise zone, or economically distressed area, which would provide additional tax breaks.
“It would be a very strategic win for Colorado, for a lot of reasons,” Hadwiger told commissioners.
Although Project Cardinal was the largest in dollarvalue of three incentives packages approved Thursday, it wasn’t the largest in the number of jobs.
Project Iris, a military contractor based in the Washington, D.C., area, is considering Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia for a new research and development facility that could employ up to 1,097 people.
Those jobs would pay an average annual wage of $67,287, which is slightly above the average in Boulder County, where the company is looking. Depending on how the research efforts pan out, Colorado would be in line to land manufacturing facilities and production jobs in the future.
The commission approved $9.4 million in job growth incentive tax credits over an eight-year period for Project Iris.