Loveland took a giant step toward winning a prize sought by several Boulder County communities Tuesday night when officials said they are focusing on the Agilent Technologies campus as the site for a new clean-energy park.
The Aerospace Clean Energy Manufacturing and Innovation Park, known as ACE and sponsored partly by NASA, is expected to mean thousands of jobs.
In its announcement, the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology said that it “does not mean that the former Agilent campus will ultimately be selected.” But the group did say that its interest will prompt decisions with the city of Loveland, which is currently buying the property.
A number of Boulder County communities, including Louisville, Erie and Longmont, are vying for the project.
Wherever ACE locates, it is expected to draw scores of manufacturing companies, employing as many as 7,000 in turning NASA-controlled patents into technology products on a high-speed schedule.
The Loveland Reporter-Herald contributed to this report.
