LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS TO LOCATE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS IN DENVER METROPOLITAN AREA
Company Selects 46 Acre Site for Campus at Interlocken Park In Broomfield More Than 2,000 Jobs Projected For Location
Denver, Colorado, February 19, 1998 – Colorado Governor Roy Romer and James Q. Crowe, President and CEO of Level 3 Communications, Inc., a telecommunications and information services company, today jointly announced the site for the company's new corporate headquarters at the Interlocken business park in Broomfield, Colorado – a northwest suburb of Denver. The announcement was made at a press conference in the Governor's office and was attended by dignitaries and senior company executives.
"I was very pleased to learn that the Denver metropolitan area was ultimately chosen as the location for Level 3's world headquarters," said Governor Romer. "This move will further underscore Denver's and Colorado's stature as a national center for high-technology firms. Additionally, this will serve to strengthen educational opportunities available as local schools seek to prepare their students for careers with Level 3 and other high technology oriented companies that are locating here," said Governor Romer.
Level 3 President and CEO James Q. Crowe said, "We see a great opportunity in Colorado for us to grow Level 3 into a major telecommunications company. The support we have received from the State, Boulder County and City of Broomfield has helped make this project possible. Beyond that, there were a number of factors that led to this decision. We were looking for a city with an international airport and a city of sufficient size to provide the infrastructure and services our growing employee base will need. But, perhaps most importantly, we were looking for a city that would make it possible for us to attract and retain the highly specialized work force we need including computer specialists, network and electrical engineers, and other technical specialists," said Crowe. "Recognizing that there are not enough of these specialists to meet the strong demand for their expertise, we worked with outside experts to survey the work force. It's fair to say that our potential employees led us to Denver. The surveys cited the life style, natural beauty, climate and opportunities for employees to continue their technical education among the attributes of Denver. These attributes are especially attractive to a company such as ours that intends to grow by attracting talented individuals not only from Denver but across the nation," said Crowe.
Level 3 Strategy Noting that the company intends to build a new national telephone network based on Internet technology, Crowe explained, "There is a fundamental shift occurring today that will affect how businesses communicate – an economic change as fundamental as that from the mainframe to the PC. That is the shift from traditional telephone technology to Internet-based communications. Driving that shift are the dramatic and compelling economics made possible by Internet technology. This new technology simply makes it less expensive to operate and use a network – a lot less expensive – than traditional 100-year-old, telephone networks. As far as I know, we are the only organization with a business plan that includes building a national network – both local and long distance – from the ground up, incorporating Internet technology end-to-end, so our business customers can fully benefit from the many advantages of this new communications system."
About The New Facility
Level 3 has acquired 46 acres in the Northwest corner of the Interlocken office park and will build a campus facility that is expected to eventually encompass over 500,000 square feet of office space. The new facility will house an estimated 2,000 employees, many of whom will be recruited from the Denver area. Interlocken, within the City of Broomfield and within Boulder County limits, is about midway between Boulder and Denver. The office park is bounded by major regional highways and limited access highways including the Denver-Boulder Turnpike, U.S. 287 (Wadsworth Parkway), Colorado Highway 128 and the future Northwest Parkway.
At today's press conference, the Mayor of Broomfield, Bill Berens said, "We certainly echo the Governor's comments, in that we are very pleased that Level 3 has selected Broomfield as the community to locate its corporate headquarters. In terms of construction alone, the project represents approximately a $70 million investment in our community and solidifies the area as an outstanding location for some of the leading companies in Colorado."
Level 3 is currently headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska – where its parent company, Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc., and Level 3's existing subsidiary operations will remain and will continue to grow and create jobs. One of the subsidiaries of Level 3 is PKS Information Services (PKSIS), which assists corporations in updating and structuring their systems to take advantage of the new Internet technology. This is a significant competitive advantage for Level 3, because it will make it possible for those corporate customers to move seamlessly to
Level 3's Internet-based network. PKSIS also provides computer outsourcing and systems integration services to business customers, and employs approximately 1,000 employees. Level 3 expects to relocate a small group of executives and their staffs from Omaha to the Denver area. A larger group will also be moving from the Chicago area. However, the majority of employee growth expected will come from new employees drawn from the existing Denver base and elsewhere around the country.
Level 3 anticipates using some temporary office space in the Denver area while its headquarters campus is under construction. Construction is expected to get under way this spring with completion of the first phase of the campus complex expected in the second quarter of 1999.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT), an international communications company, operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, connecting 180 markets in 18 countries. The company serves a broad range of wholesale, enterprise and content customers with a comprehensive suite of services including: Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, voice and voice over IP services, content delivery and media distribution services. These services provide the building blocks to enable Level 3’s customers to meet their growing demands for advanced communications solutions. The company’s Web address is www.Level3.com.
"Level 3 Communications,” "Level 3," the red 3D brackets and the Level 3 Communications logo are registered service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service, product or company names recited herein may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements that we make in this press release are forward looking in nature. These statements are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside our control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent us from achieving our stated goals include, but are not limited to our ability to: successfully integrate acquisitions; increase the volume of traffic on our network; defend our intellectual property and proprietary rights; develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and meet all of the terms and conditions of our debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
