Corporate Express Consolidates With 83,000-SF Deal

AURORA, CO-Corporate Express, which had $4.5 billion is revenues in the office supply and service business last year, awarded an economic plum to Aurora. Corporate Express, which has its headquarters in Broomfield along the northwest suburban corridor, is bringing 600 jobs to Aurora by consolidating field operations in 28 cities. It had considered Wichita, KS for the operation, but chose Aurora, even though Wichita offered more economic development incentives.

The company also considered moving the jobs overseas, but decided that would not be in the best interest of its customers, a Corporate Express spokesman says. He tells GlobeSt.com that the company has been extremely pleased with its Denver-area workforce, which was one of the reasons why it decided to stay in the area.

"This is very good news for Aurora and the entire Denver area," he tells GlobeSt.com. He says that people in other cities will be offered opportunities to transfer to Aurora. At this point, it's impossible to determine how many jobs will be eliminated because of the consolidation, but he tells GlobeSt.com that some portion of it will be handled by normal attrition.

The deal not only is the biggest job transfer to Aurora this year, but it will fill an empty 83,000-sf building at 777 S. Sable Blvd. The building is being leased and marketed by the Trammell Crow Co.

The average salary of a worker at the center will be about $34,000, which equates to a $20.4 million annual payroll. "When you look at the multiplier effect of that payroll, it's pretty significant," Wendy Mitchell, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council, tells GlobeSt.com.

The spokesman for Corporate Express, which is owned by Buhrmann NV, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, says that the building will be equipped with the most efficient and most current technology, although the company is still cutting the costs.

In another deal, Corporate Express has begun moving its credit and collection organizations and its financial and IT operations to a 65,000-sf building at 555 W. 112th Ave. in Northglenn, along the north suburban corridor. Its lease on a smaller building in nearby Westminster expires next year, he notes. Corporate Express expects to spend $4.8 million outfitting that building, which within 12 months will house 500 people. Currently, the company is seeking another 85 people to work in the Northglenn facility, he tells GlobeSt.com. "We're aggressively looking for a wide range of people from interns to managers," he says.