Job park.

AuthorTITUS, STEPHEN

IN 1995, TRICIA LANGLEY COULD LOOK OUT her window at the New Life Church on Highway 83 in Colorado Springs and see nothing but mountains and open prairie. The Church's 150,000-square-foot building northeast of Colorado Springs was one of the only structures for miles.

"There was us and mountains and prairie; this was like the end of the trail. This is where the sun went down," said Langley, the church's outreach director. "There was a one-lane road that was pitch black; everyone said we would die out here. Little did we know at that time that they would bring in InterQuest."

The past five years have brought a lot of change to Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs. A new, privately funded interchange skirts the church. Growth has exploded across three office parks -- InterQuest, Northgate and Briargate Business Campus -- and there has been significant residential development in the area.

"I think the vision for the city is, I suppose, a Denver Tech Center-quality development," said Chuck Miller, city development group support manager for the city of Colorado Springs. Five years ago, that statement might have seemed ridiculous, but now, it's not at all far-fetched.

Colorado Springs' business and employment profile has changed in the process. Figures from the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. indicate that the three parks -- and they are still developing, of course -- currently have 9,962 employees. Rocky Scott, president of the EDC, said the city is now emerging as a major source of high-quality office and manufacturing space, competing for big-name companies with other second- and third-tier cities like Austin, Texas and Albuquerque, N.M.

"There are three covenanted business parks in Colorado Springs: Briargate, InterQuest and Northgate," Scott said. "Without them, if high-quality employers looking for high-quality locations (came to town) they didn't have many options."

The three parks have attracted big names: Ford Motor Credit, with 700 employees by May; and Quantum, with 750, at InterQuest. Oracle, with 750 workers, came to Northgate in 1999, and may eventually double its size. T. Rowe Price opened at Briargate Business Campus in November 2000 and is ramping up to 600 workers.

Meanwhile, USAA Insurance, an anchor of the Briargate campus since 1988, has more than tripled its size to 480,000 square feet and 1,200 employees. The latest round of development (see chart) includes several retail projects -- in development circles, a touch that proclaims a business park complete.

The region, said Cris Schoon, a vice president...

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