ConocoPhillips Timeline

Company outlines its proposals to Louisville city officials
By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer
Posted: 11/13/2009 07:21:02 PM MST

ConocoPhillips expects to open 1.6 million square feet of facilities -- more than half of its new campus -- in Louisville by 2013, Louisville City Manager Malcolm Fleming said Friday night in a memo to city officials.

The Houston-based energy giant this week submitted its development proposal to city staff for its planned global training facility and new energy research and development center that could eventually employ 7,000 people at the former StorageTek campus off U.S. 36. It marks the first time ConocoPhillips has revealed a construction timeline and specifics on the size of its facilities.

The 6-inch-thick packet of documents submitted to the city was not available for public viewing on Friday as planning staff spent the day poring through its contents.

In the memo, Fleming said the campus will consist of 2.5 million square feet of facilities and be constructed in three phases: the opening of 1.6 million square feet by 2013, another 150,000 square feet by 2018 and the final 750,000 square feet by 2032.

The initial phase will include: 472,647 square feet of office space, a 502,617-square-foot research center, a 34,967-square-foot learning center and a 120-room hotel.

The development is expected to take up 120 acres of the 432-acre site, according to the memo. Last month, Mary Manning, ConocoPhillips' general manager for corporate real estate, told the Louisville City Council that the company intended to build a "quiet and astonishing" campus that would be compact and occupy less than half of the site.

According to the memo, the undeveloped portions of the site will become "restored prairie," "enhanced prairie" or "prairie garden."
Fleming added in the memo that ConocoPhillips' traffic impact study projected the development will generate 10,500 trips per day.

ConocoPhillips' submitted plan did not include a projected number of employees, Fleming said in an interview with the Camera on Friday. ConocoPhillips officials have said that around 7,000 employees could be working on the site in a 25-to-30-year time frame.

City and business leaders in Broomfield and Louisville are eagerly awaiting the influx of jobs and sales tax revenue.

"The impact is going to be huge," said Broomfield Mayor Patrick Quinn. "Plus, they're the type of jobs you want. Those additional people will be out buying goods at grocery stores and other shops so the economic impact will be definitely significant and positive."

The Blue Parrot, one of Louisville's oldest downtown restaurants, also expects a boost to its bottom line.

"Folks who are coming and going will need a place to eat, and we hope they'll come downtown," said Paul Weissmann, a Blue Parrot manager for 21 years who is also the state's House majority leader. "When StorageTek was it in its heyday, it helped our restaurant. What ConocoPhillips is going to be doing with the training facility will likely help even more."

During the past year, ConocoPhillips officials have shown conceptual plans to the city and have worked closely with area officials on the company's new campus, Fleming said. The development proposal contained a lot of information, he said, adding that "so far, we haven't seen anything that is a surprise."

The next step for the city will include distributing the proposal to all departments for comment. The city also will take some actions of its own, including looking at impacts to traffic and utilities and creating development guidelines.

Within the next 12 to 13 months, the proposal is expected to make its way to the planning commission and eventually to Louisville's city council.

Camera intern James Collector contributed to this report.