.By Curtis Englehart, Executive Director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership (Originally published in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel – May 18, 2025) 

The world of site selection is highly competitive, and understanding what sets a community apart for businesses’ relocation and expansion is imperative. Beyond the data, companies want to understand how communities are attracting and retaining talent, getting creative with its assets, and the overall character and quality of life.

Last month, our team and partners hosted the inaugural Grand Junction Site Selector Familiarization Tour where we invited four premier site selection consultants to tour the region, connect with community leadership, and explore development opportunities.

We were pleased to host Chris Lloyd of McGuireWoods Consulting, Savannah Jermance with Ryan LLC, Jeff Pappas with Newmark, and Sabrina Champagne with Strategic Location Services. Each of our guests represents a diverse range of clients, spanning various industries, including manufacturing, aviation and aerospace, hospitality and retail, professional services, and technology.

We spent several days touring Mesa County, including Grand Junction, Fruita, and Palisade, as well as Colorado Mesa University and the Grand Junction Regional Airport. We networked with community leaders and real estate professionals, and showcased commercial development sites, with a few adventures along the way. The tour culminated with a session during the Western Colorado Economic Summit where our guests shared insight on the state of site selection nationwide, what businesses look for in a community, and how our region can best position itself for future economic growth.

Community Strengths: Legacy, Leadership, and Lifestyle

To understand what sets a community apart, particularly our own, it comes down to the core foundations for any community: workforce, education, and quality of Life. The panel praised our region’s leadership and the collaboration, intentionality, and alignment between economic development organizations, government, and education.

The discussion emphasized the importance of blurring the lines between our education system and the business community as well as between K-12 and higher education. This is an area where our region is ahead of the game, with collaboration among School District 51, Colorado Mesa University, local government, economic development partners, and local employers.

Grand Junction’s natural beauty and quality of life are strong assets, as well as the expansion of both soft and hard infrastructure, including broadband and connectivity to major markets via I-70 and Grand Junction Regional Airport.

Chris Lloyd remarked that it is apparent that many people here have found what they are looking for, and there is a great deal of community pride with people investing their time, talents, and resources. We are a community known for its legacy of resilience and its ability to reinvent itself.

Challenges & Opportunities

Like many communities across the nation, Western Colorado faces a lack of commercial inventory. There is a shortage of shovel-ready sites and commercial buildings and speed to market can make or break a deal. The recommendations of the site selectors emphasized transparency within approval processes to support the introduction of new inventory.

During the panel, Savannah Jermance also identified emerging industries that are a strong fit for our community, including AgTech, CleanTech, Gaming & Media, Logistics, and, of course, Outdoor Recreation. These sectors were identified because they not only align with our community’s strengths but also attract a younger demographic of workers, feeding into the talent pool and culture of the community.

Additionally, the site selectors presented several considerations regarding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), including alignment with Western Europe due to similarities within Grand Junction’s quality of life and access to recreation. Regarding tariffs, site selectors are seeing an increased demand for domestic business from foreign companies. There are also opportunities for local businesses to work regionally to support potential supply chain bottlenecks.

Exploring Creative Incentives and Local Tools

Panelists shared examples of creative incentives that have worked within other communities including utilizing city or county owned property to accelerate development timelines, offering projects that will bring significant employment into the region a lease deal. Sabrina Champagne shared that repurposing vacant buildings has also been a successful strategy for many communities.

One idea presented during the panel included addressing a need for space under 14,000 sq ft by introducing a public-private partnership to support a flex-space for early-stage companies. The opportunity for shared space could consist of a 50-60,000 sq ft facility shared between 4-6 tenants, supporting companies poised for growth so they can access the next level of resources and talent needed.

Talent Is A Tie Breaker

Throughout the panel, one theme kept emerging: people. Whether it’s attracting new businesses, retaining existing ones, or building entrepreneurial ecosystems, access to talent is a common denominator.

Many companies assess a new market through population growth, focusing on the 18–26-year-old demographic as this next generation of professionals support the vibrancy of a community and offset an aging workforce. Additionally, we must not overlook the importance of K-12 to impact our future workforce. Companies do not only ask about the current talent pool, but they also want to be reassured of the longevity and ability to retain talent.

During the panel, Jeff Pappas posed three questions that companies often consider when looking at a community:

• Is this a place where a young, single person would want to live?
• Can this person keep the majority of their paycheck?
• Are there enough entry level jobs in this market?

Attracting and retaining talent goes beyond wages with key considerations including peer networks, lifestyle, and housing costs. The panel shared that for our community, housing costs are 14% above the national average and utilities are 7% below the national average.

A Call to Action

The biggest takeaway? Each of us plays a role in how our community is perceived and its future direction. Economic development does not happen alone and whether you are a business leader, a student, or a neighbor, we are all ambassadors for this community. It is up to us to tell the story of why this place matters, why you’ve chosen to live and work here, and how you’d like to see our community move forward.

If you are interested in learning how you can partner with us to impact the future of our community, please reach out to me by emailing curtis@gjep.org.