JEFFERSON COUNTY
Lockheed to help launch moon orbiter
NASA announced Friday that it has awarded Lockheed Martin’s Jefferson County- based Space Systems Co. a $136.2 million contract to provide launch services for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission.
The spacecraft are scheduled for launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida during a launch window that opens Oct. 31, 2008.
The orbiter will spend a year mapping the moon from an average altitude of approximately 30 miles.
GREELEY
Illinois company buys Greeley Mall
GK Development Inc., a Barrington, Ill.-based real estate acquisition and development company, has purchased the Greeley Mall from the Macerich Co. of Santa Monica, Calif.
The company declined to disclose a purchase price.
GK Development plans to retain the Macerich employees and said it will explore options for adding amenities and tenants.
The purchase of the 482,000-square-foot center at Highway 34 and 23rd Avenue marks the company’s entrance into the Colorado market.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Time Warner to buy telecom network
Time Warner Telecom said Friday that it will buy privately held Xspedius Communications for $531.5 million, a move that is expected to help it grow rapidly, analysts said.
Stock of the Douglas County-based business data and telephone network company rose almost 4 percent by market close on the news that it would buy the St. Louis network provider.
“Investors are pretty supportive of the transaction,” said Colby Synesael, a telecommunication analyst at Merriman, Curhan, Ford and Co. “There’s an opportunity for (Time Warner Telecom) to be a national metro fiber provider for companies that are looking for diversification.”
DENVER
Unfilled jobs up 70% from a year ago
Metro employers reported 70 percent more unfilled jobs this spring compared with a year ago, according to the Job Vacancy Survey, released Friday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
An estimated 39,717 jobs were open for immediate hire in the region between April 14 and June 27. That is up from 23,300 in the spring of 2005.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
