Ursa Major cut the ribbon Thursday on a new 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in southwest Longmont, adding a dedicated clean room and avionics production line to a Colorado aerospace footprint that state officials say could grow by up to 1,850 jobs over the next eight years. Governor Jared Polis, Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera, and Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade leader Eve Lieberman joined local officials and Ursa Major’s team to mark the opening, according to a post from the governor on Facebook.
The new site, detailed by Ursa Major, houses dedicated welding and manufacturing labs, an ISO 7 hard-walled clean room with an ISO 8 gowning room, and an environmental test lab, with capacity for more than 125 employees. The Longmont plant is built to handle avionics and in-space propulsion system production, complementing Ursa Major’s main headquarters in nearby Berthoud, as reported by BizWest.
Governor Polis celebrated the Longmont facility and the anticipated jobs in his Thursday post, framing the opening as part of a broader push to keep aerospace manufacturing rooted in Colorado. Local Colorado leaders and the state economic development office worked alongside Ursa Major on the project, and the governor’s post pointed to the state’s more than 2,000 aerospace businesses and its world-class aerospace talent as reasons the company chose to expand in-state rather than elsewhere.
Tax Credits Tied to Strict Hiring Targets
To support the expansion, the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $35.26 million in performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits spread over eight years, with an option to convert up to $23 million of that into refundable tax credits worth as much as $18.4 million in direct cash refunds. That figure, detailed in a release from the Colorado Office of the Governor, is contingent on Ursa Major meeting strict net hiring and wage thresholds rather than being guaranteed outright…