Boulder’s Recipe for Site Selection Success

Originally published by The Daily Camera, October 18, 2026. 

Boulder has developed a strong reputation for taste and quality. Our growing collection of Michelin-recognized restaurants reflects a community that values thoughtful ingredients, skilled craftsmanship, and experiences worth savoring. These are not all-you-can-eat buffet chains competing to pile the most food onto a plate. They take a different approach -- concentrating on what they do well, investing in quality experiences and creating something memorable enough that people want to return. 

There is a lesson to be learned in that approach for economic development. 

In a competitive landscape, success is not always about having the most of everything. It's about knowing your strengths, understanding what companies value, and packaging your assets into a convincing narrative. As corporate site selectors recently reminded Colorado’s business community, sure we can tout our beautiful mountains, friendly people, and an enviable quality of life and those attributes may place us on the 'short list. However, what they tell us it really takes to win a company’s investment are more aggressive fiscal tools and creative incentives. 

That was the character of candor that was delivered during the Denver Metro Chamber’s recent Annual Site Selection Feedback event in the assessment of Colorado’s position in the competition for corporate investment. Experts raised concerns about talent availability, housing costs, transportation connectivity, education, and the state’s business climate. They also emphasized that other states are willing to make aggressive policy changes and financial commitments to secure major projects. 

Paired with last year's concerns of access to energy and speed-to-market, these are not concerns we can dismiss. They are a reminder that economic development is a competitive endeavor, and that a reputation built over decades must be continually reinforced by action. 

Yet the conversation also offered an important lesson in what Colorado can do well. Site selectors praised the region’s ability to work cohesively across jurisdictions to clear construction barriers and deliver on high-capital expenditure projects under an accelerated timeline. That kind of collaboration is not incidental. It is an economic development asset. 

The communities that make up the U.S. 36 corridor are working to make that collaborative asset more visible. 

The U.S. 36 Collaborative brings together economic development organizations and municipalities connecting Boulder and Denver, including Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior and Westminster. Its objective is very straightforward -- strengthen the region’s ability to attract investment by aligning local efforts, identifying opportunities and presenting a more unified picture of what the corridor offers. 

Individually, these communities have distinct identities, industry concentrations, available properties, and development priorities. Together, they represent a substantial economic engine, offering 250,000 jobs and an economy that contributes 8.1% of Colorado’s annual GDP while representing 5.6% of the state’s population. 

That is a meaningful concentration of economic activity. It is also a story that extends well beyond any single city boundary. 

The U.S. 36 corridor supports companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises, with growing clusters in aerospace, quantum technology, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and other innovation-driven industries. Recent quantum company activity in Boulder, Louisville and Broomfield illustrates just how specialized expertise, research infrastructure, and business relationships can reinforce one another across municipal lines. 

The region's talent base is another defining strength, with 63.2% of the corridor’s population holding a bachelor’s degree and 28.2% holding advanced degrees, compared with national figures of 24% and 15%, respectively. CU Boulder adds research capacity, entrepreneurial activity, and a deep network of engineers and scientists.  

These assets matter to companies seeking specialized talent and proximity to research institutions. But the site selectors’ warnings remind us that talent must be available, accessible and retained. Housing affordability, career pathways, and connections between education and employers are essential parts of that equation. 

The same is true of real estate and infrastructure. Across the U.S. 36 corridor, communities are advancing projects that include life sciences campuses, flexible industrial properties, research and development facilities, mixed-use districts and new housing. Access to major arteries like Interstate 25 and 70, Denver International Airport, and regional freight networks further connect the corridor to national and international markets. 

No single community can meet every company's needs. That is precisely why regional coordination matters. A company that cannot find the right site in one municipality may find a better fit just down the road. A regional approach makes those opportunities easier to identify, while helping communities avoid competing in isolation. 

The next step is to turn that collective strength into a consistent, credible value proposition for site selectors. That means knowing our available inventory, understanding project requirements, coordinating responses, addressing barriers, and demonstrating that local and state partners can move at the speed business demands. 

Boulder’s success has never depended on being everything to everyone. It comes from cultivating distinctive strengths and connecting them to the people and companies that value them. 

We do not need to become an all-you-can-eat economic development buffet. We need to make the quality of our regional offering unmistakable and ensure that when the right company comes looking, we are ready to serve.