Colorado beats out Texas for aerospace company’s new research, development headquarters

A California company that has designed a plane capable of vertical take-offs and landings will open its new research and development headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Gov. Jared Polis said Thursday that PteroDynamics’ new facility will also focus on assembly, capitalizing on the skilled workforce in El Paso County and across the state.

“Colorado continues to be the leader in aerospace and defense industries, so this new announcement and the 186 good news jobs that come with it further strengthens our reputation as the nation’s best place for aerospace,” Polis said in a statement.

Once fully operational, the new headquarters is expected to generate 186 jobs with an annual average salary of $120,645, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

The state offered PteroDynamics about $1 million in performance-based tax credits over eight years for the creation of 85 new full-time jobs.

State officials said Colorado competed against Texas for the facility. The company was recently awarded a contract with the federal government.

Matthew Graczyk, CEO of PteroDynamics, said the company believes the Colorado Springs location will enable it to attract world-class engineering talent.

The company calls its design Transwing. The craft folds and unfolds its wings during flight to transition between a “multicopter” and a fixed-wing airplane, according to PteroDynamics’ website.

Colorado’s 33,460 aerospace employees in the private sector is the industry’s largest per-capita total nationwide. An analysis by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. said there were 290 aerospace businesses in Colorado in 2020 and more than 500 companies and suppliers providing aerospace-related products and services.

Altogether, 62,270 private and military aerospace workers support an additional 170,340 workers in all industries throughout Colorado, according to the report. Aerospace employment in Colorado grew by  30.1% over the past five years, outpacing nationwide growth by nearly 12 percentage points.

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