Companies to bring in 650 jobs/ Publisher, IBM subsidiary announce plans for Springs

BUSINESS

A Christian publisher and an International Business Machines Corp. subsidiary have unveiled plans to bring more than 650 jobs to Colorado Springs during the next three years.

David C. Cook Publishing Co. said Friday it will move its headquarters and 400 employees here from Elgin, Ill., in mid-1995.

IBM Federal Systems Co. said it will move 250 employees here from Santa Clara, Calif., by 1996 to do work at Falcon Air Force Base.

The moves come only a week after Atmel Corp. said it would build a $200 million addition to its Colorado Springs semiconductor plant, doubling its work force to 1,400.

The three projects end a 10-month drought of economic development announcements. Before them, the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. had announced relocations by 12 companies employing only about 140 people.

Last year, relocations brought 1,200 jobs. And the 1991 relocations of Apple Computer Inc., the Focus on the Family radio ministry and MCI Communications Corp. brought more than 5,000 jobs, turning the local economy from one of the state's weakest to one of the strongest.

"These projects as they unfold will perpetuate the growth we have seen over the past two years for at least another couple of years," city economist Mike Anderson said. "The big question that remains, however, is how much we will feel the effects of reduced defense spending. But even if we are hit hard, these projects will help offset that."

The Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. also is trying to lure an electronics firm that would employ 400 people. Larry Lemke, an executive with Northfield, Minn.-based Sheldahl Inc., said it was considering sites in Colorado Springs, Denver, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., for a plant that would...