A fast-growing Denver travel management company looking to create 1,739 jobs received up to $ 8.85 million in government tax credits for job growth, the largest of five awards approved by the Colorado Economic Development Commission Thursday morning .
“Project Pilot”, the applicant’s code name, has almost half of its 400 employees in Colorado. The company’s lease is expiring and it is considering moving its headquarters to Dallas, Phoenix, or Tampa, as well as staying in the Denver area, said Michelle Hadwidger, associate director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
The proposed positions would be in sales, marketing support, research and development, and administration and would pay an average annual salary of $ 76,145, which is just above the average annual salary for Denver County. Of the new jobs being added, 27 would be in rural Colorado, which qualified the company for an additional cash award of $ 135,000 from the state’s strategic fund.
Although the company name was masked, as is customary with incentive requests, the first names of executives Elia and Colter present at the Zoom meeting match Elia Wallen and Colter Starks, the hotel’s CEO and vice president of finance, to Engine, the hotel rooms Booked at discounted rates for corporate customers. Cherry Creek Company did not respond to email requests for confirmation.
A health technology company, codenamed Project Polish, received commission approval for $ 2.1 million in job growth tax credits in exchange for creating 298 net new jobs at an average annual wage of $ 68,104, or 126% of the US dollar Average annual wage equals wages in Larimer County where the company is located.
The start-up will manufacture point-of-care diagnostic devices and set up a rapid reaction system for the production of diagnostic test strips and specialized chips. It has one employee and 50 contractors, none of whom are Colorado based. Utah is also in the running.
President Eric Doherty said during the meeting that his company has a preliminary contract with the Department of Defense to work on some of its priorities and a recommendation from the Infectious Diseases Department at Colorado State University.
An Eric Doherty was named president of a startup called Blink Science in January, and the press release said the Atlanta-based company was working on the world’s first point-of-care test systems for COVID-19.
The commission approved an additional $ 1.14 million “retention award” in the form of job growth tax credits to a facility and service provider codenamed Project Maroma. Nearly half of the company’s 4,000 employees are in Colorado, and the company plans to create 261 new jobs in engineering, operations support, management, and other professional functions at an average annual wage of $ 75,709.
The company plans to open the Adams County positions, but is also considering locations in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
The commission also granted two smaller work incentive tax credits, including one for $ 856,281 to a company called Project Velvet, which provides business intelligence, data management, and other technology services to corporate customers. The company currently has two dozen employees and plans to create 69 jobs in Colorado, Arizona or Washington. The positions, primarily in technology, are expected to earn an average annual wage of $ 142,710.
Project Teal, a young outdoor leisure company of five employees, is looking for a headquarters in Gunnison that would create 24 net new jobs at an average annual wage of $ 65,075. Other locations the women-run company is considering include Chelan, Washington, or Burlington, Vermont.
State officials initially suggested an award of $ 75,000 from the state’s strategic fund, an amount approved by the city of Gunnison, with a local incentive. But Commissioner Jay Seaton recommended a bigger award to keep Colorado competitive with its rivals, arguing that the two dozen jobs for Gunnison were “huge”. The company was approved $ 157,000 in cash incentives in connection with the creation of the proposed jobs over five years.
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