The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved $17.8 million in incentive requests on Thursday for a half dozen companies working on everything from cutting-edge cancer treatments to a plant that converts tires and trash into energy.
The largest request approved, at $12.6 million in job growth incentive tax credits, came from Project Virtual, a Canadian technology company that is considering either metro Denver or Toronto for a new advanced technology center.
The company, which has expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics, said in its application that it was looking at investing $27.5 million in metro Denver and bringing 715 jobs paying an average annual wage of $110,049.
But commissioner Chris Franz, aware of another center the company had opened, questioned that job number, saying “it seems extremely large.”
A company representative at the meeting said 500 jobs over eight years was the actual goal. Commissioners worked around the mismatch by giving state economic development staff the ability to pro-rate the final incentive award.
Project Pinwheel, a provider of support services for Oracle and SAP software, received $3.03 million in job growth incentives in return for bringing 241 new positions to metro Denver over the next eight years.
Those jobs will pay an average annual wage of $138,235 and could include a $13 million capital investment if Denver beats out Houston, Phoenix and Plymouth, United Kingdom, which are also in the running.
Although it involved a more modest 52 jobs, Project Circular represented the largest capital investment at $150 million for a new waste conversion facility in Morgan County.
The state offered $745,722 in job growth incentives to help Colorado beat out rivals North Carolina and Djibouti, a small country in the horn of Africa. The proposed jobs will pay $46,856 a year on average.
The company making the request is a startup with a system that uses pyrolysis, or combustion at extremely high-temperatures, to convert municipal waste and waste tires into synthetic gas, oil, carbon black, steel residue and char, a soil enhancer.
The synthetic gas can be sold or burned to generate electricity to power the process, while the oil, carbon black and residue steel can be sent back to tire manufacturers.
The facility holds the promise of diverting much of the landfill waste from Morgan and four surrounding counties and assisting with the state’s long-running waste tire problem.
In 2014, Colorado was home to 60 million waste tires, half of the nation’s stockpile. It remains one of six states with the largest concentration of tires, which are rejected by most landfills.
Environmental concerns, however, were top of mind for commissioners. A representative from Fort Morgan said the facility won’t burn metals, aside from the steel in waste tires, or No. 3 plastics, which can generate hydrogen cyanide when burned.
Other requests approved included Project Pike, an infrastructure company with a proprietary concrete cooling technology that is looking to add another 57 employees to the 40 it currently has in Colorado and make a $7.5 million capital investment in a research and development facility.
The jobs would pay $107,965 a year on average. The company received approval for $771,788 in job growth incentives. Colorado is competing with Texas for the jobs.
Project Mt Evans, a biotechnology company based in Colorado, has developed a cellular-based treatment for infectious diseases and cancer. It is looking at either Boulder or Adams counties, as well as Singapore, for a $21 million manufacturing plant employing 40 people at an average annual wage of $70,625.
The commission awarded it $522,067 in job growth incentive.
A Washington state maker of mountain bikes is considering relocating its headquarters to Fruita and bringing 20 jobs paying an average annual wage of $47,750.
The company was awarded up to $60,000 in cash from the state’s Strategic Fund, which is being matched by $62,500 from the Grand Junction Economic Partnership. Utah and Idaho are also in the running.
