Experts Warn Housing Costs and Workforce Challenges Threaten Colorado’s Economic Future

By Mark Samuelson | The Denver Gazette

When a crowd of Denver civic and business leaders met last week to hear feedback from seven site selection experts, who advise big corporations about where to move and expand, there were lots of compliments about how friendly Coloradans are.

And one company that launched operations here last July praised the cooperative spirit of local officials to get the plant opened quickly.

But the experts, who addressed the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s annual Site Selector Feedback event, made clear that friendly folks and fabulous mountains aren’t enough to lure new development to Colorado in today’s competitive market.

“Don’t ever tell me you have the best quality of life,” said Kim Moore, executive managing director of New York-based Newmark, a real estate advisory firm. “Now, how many people have the best quality of life?”

“I know you have mountains,” Moore told the crowd of several hundred at RiNo’s ReelWorks event center. “That’s great, but it’s not at the top of the list.”

“Colorado does not come (high on the list) as much as it should,” Mike Mullis, who heads up the Memphis-based consulting firm J.M. Mullis, also told the crowd Thursday. “We see the dynamics in this area, this region. Yet we see characteristics that are very problematic that will be addressed with the right leadership involved.”

“But it’s a state that would hit our mark out of a hundred projects, maybe 20 times,” he added.

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