Artist’s rendering of Peña Blvd. Station at 61st Ave.

Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company has announced that they will locate a hub for their business solutions operations in the 400-acre transit oriented development (TOD) along the east rail line at 61st and Peña Blvd. Development partners Denver, DIA and L.C. Fulenwider Inc. say the master planned TOD, anchored by Panasonic, will showcase state-of-the-art community development, and they expect it to be completed by mid-2016. Mayor Hancock’s Deputy Chief of Staff Evan Dreyer says the formation of the vision for this TOD has been underway for a couple years.

Dreyer calls Panasonic’s commitment “a gigantic step in the development of the corridor of opportunity” between the airport and downtown Denver and the creation of a regional aerotropolis using the airport as an anchor.

Panasonic had been looking around the country for a place to build this facility and chose Denver for a variety of reasons, says Dreyer, “the economic opportunity, the business climate, and the educated and skilled workforce. The very top reason was the people of Denver and the metro region. They really liked what they saw here in terms of people, education, spirit, entrepreneurialism—and that was what sealed the deal.” Mayor Hancock called this, “one of the biggest economic development wins for Denver and the entire metro region in the past several years.”

Dreyer confirmed there was a multiple jurisdiction incentive package offered —and the company is expected to create about 300 jobs. Panasonic Enterprise Solutions is a large-scale audio visual and eco solutions company. They will have their operations base and their assembly facility at the Denver location, according to the mayor’s press release.

“As a Stapleton resident,” says Dreyer, “I’m really excited about the things that are going to happen when this rail line is open. Not just because it will be more convenient but because all of the activity that’s going to happen at these transit oriented development sites along the way. They will become destination stops—new places for people to live, work and play. They’ll be exciting new assets to the metro area.”

Image courtesy of L.C. Fulenwider