AURORA, CO-Merrick & Co., described as the largest engineering/architectural firm headquartered in Colorado, considered all of its options and decided to maintain its corporate headquarters in Aurora Corporate Plaza.The firm leases 77,608-sf in the plaza at 2450 S. Peoria St. Three hundred of its 430 employees work there.
“This was a pure business decision, based primarily on what made the most sense for the company financially, but also on what we felt was best for our employees and customers,” says Merrick's president and CEO Ralph Christie.”The city of Aurora and property manager, Lincoln Property Co., made strong arguments for us to renew our lease, and staying put means more convenience and less disruption to our people.”
Its lease was about to expire, so the company launched an exhaustive search of multiple sites in the metro area, with the help of Denver-based Liberty-Greenfield. Sources tell GlobeSt.com that one of the top other sites considered was the Colorado Center at Interstate 25 and South Colorado Boulevard, a high-profile location that would be along the new light rail line being installed as part of the T-Rex I-25 widening. Colorado Center is half way between the Denver Tech Center and downtown Denver.
But Bruce Johnson, a principal of Liberty-Greenfield, says that staying in the Aurora Corporate Plaza is the best choice for Merrick.”Aurora is a hot spot growth in the metro area,” Johnson says. “Remaining there supports Merrick &Co.'s strategic plan for planned growth and development, especially when you factor in the assistance the city offered.”
Wendy Mitchell, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council, says she is “pleased and excited” to keep Merrick in Aurora.”This is a buyer's market for real estate, and clearly Merrick could have chosen to relocate anywhere, so we knew we had to earn their continued loyalty,” she says.
Aurora Mayor Paul Tauer agrees.”The metropolitan area includes a number of strong municipalities, so as wonderful as Aurora is, we don't take our residents – individuals or businesses -for granted,” Tauer says.”When Merrick & Co. celebrates its 50th anniversary in a couple of years, we want our city to play host.”
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