Colorado’s Economic Development Commission approved up to $428,400 in job growth tax credits Thursday for two new data centers that could open in Colorado Springs.

The company, which is being kept anonymous as negotiations proceed, also received incentives from the city of Colorado Springs and El Paso County.

Nicknamed Project DC West, the company is headquartered in Europe and employs 50,000 people worldwide, including 350 in Colorado. The new project would bring 10 new jobs to Colorado Springs, and another 10 new jobs to an existing data center in Boulder County. Data centers, which house computer servers that run software, host websites and store information, are generally low-maintenance facilities.

However, the facilities pay millions in Colorado business personal property taxes. The city offered a rebate on business personal property taxes this week if the company moves to Colorado and both the city and county offered sales and use tax rebates for building materials. 

The centers are expected to cost $84 million to construct and equip.

Colorado’s job growth tax credit is available to companies that plan to locate to Colorado or expand existing operations. The amount a company is eligible for is calculated based off of the number of jobs created and the average annual salary for those positions.

Sam Bailey, senior manager of industry development for the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, told the commission Thursday that the average salary would be $80,000, which is about 175 percent of the annual average salary in El Paso County.

The proposed incentive would be paid out over eight years and only if the jobs promised are created and the company has enough Colorado tax liability to claim the credits.

Bailey said the company also is considering a location in Utah for the center.

Tammy Fields, senior vice president of Economic Development for the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance, said the alliance has worked with the company for more than a year, encouraging them to select Colorado Springs.

“Colorado Springs is an attractive location for data centers because we have a great utility company that can provide services to them at a very favorable rate,” Fields said, explaining that the consistent demand of electricity allows utilities to offer a lower price than for consumers whose electric demand has peaks and lows.

At Thursday’s meeting, the economic development commission offered $40.7 million in job growth tax credits to nine projects and eight companies. The projects are expected to create 2,647 jobs. The largest project is a financial services company that handles residential mortgages. It could bring 1,371 new jobs to Colorado, Bailey said. The commission approved $22,888,234 in tax credits for the company over eight years for Denver County.

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Gazette reporter Stephen Hobbs contributed to this story.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

An interior view of a data center.