Colorado Springs – Northrop Grumman plans to build a 30-acre campus here that eventually will house 750 new and existing employees, the defense giant announced Wednesday.
The campus at the Colorado Springs Airport Business Park will feature two buildings – one to total 130,000 square feet and another that will be 110,000 square feet.
The buildings will be filled through a combination of job growth and consolidation of workers from eight other offices in the area, company officials said at a news conference at The Broadmoor hotel.
“Our presence here is growing,” said Ronald Sugar, the company’s chief executive and chairman. “This shows our increasing commitment long-term to the Colorado Springs region.”
Lowe Enterprises will construct and own the buildings, and Northrop is expected to sign a 10-year lease with options that would extend the contract to 50 years.
Los Angeles-based Northrop employs 2,700 in the state and 1,200 in Colorado Springs in various defense-related projects.
Sugar said Colorado Springs is one of 20 regions that are important to the company.
Northrop is the second-largest defense contractor in Colorado, behind Lockheed Martin, in terms of Pentagon contract dollars received in 2005, according to Department of Defense data. Northrop received roughly $195 million in defense contract funds last year for work done in Colorado.
The new campus will be built in two phases. Ground will be broken on the first phase this summer. The 130,000-square-foot building will house 400 employees and is expected to open by September 2007.
The second phase is slated to break ground in 2008 and open in mid-2009.
The campus development is unrelated to Northrop’s Joint National Integration Center Research and Development contract, valued at up to $2.5 billion, which could employ up to 2,000 workers.
Northrop will continue to operate offices at Schriever Air Force Base and other locations in the Colorado Springs area.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
