California HVAC Company Picks Monument, Bets $36 Million on 135 Jobs

Peoria, Arizona lost this one. And most people around here have no idea it was even a fight.

So on Thursday, July 30, 2026, Gov. Jared Polis and the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade made it official. A California company called ACCO Engineered Systems is putting a $36 million fabrication facility in Monument. That is the little town off I-25 between Colorado Springs and Castle Rock. The one you pass on the way to somewhere else.

Not anymore.

Here is the part people miss. During the state review process, this was not even called ACCO. It went by a code name. "Project Cobalt." That is how these things move behind the scenes, quietly, while two states throw incentives at the same company hoping it lands on their side of the line. Monument won. Arizona did not.

Who ACCO actually is

Let me set the table. ACCO Engineered Systems was founded back in 1934. They design, fabricate, install and service the guts of big buildings. Commercial and industrial HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, process piping, building automation. The stuff that keeps hospitals cold and factories running. It is not glamorous. It is exactly the kind of work that pays well and does not disappear when the wind shifts.

The company is employee-owned, which matters more than it sounds. 6,500 employees total. And here is the thing, 285 of them are already based in Colorado. So this is not some out-of-state outfit parachuting in cold. They know the market. They are doubling down on it.

Dan Gudmunson, a project executive with ACCO, called the Monument move a significant step forward for the company's growth in the Colorado market. Read that as: they are not testing the water. They are already in.

The number that matters

135 net new jobs. Engineers, project managers, skilled trades. Average annual wage of $87,037.

Sit with that number for a second. According to OEDIT, that is roughly 133% above El Paso County's average wage. So we are not talking about warehouse jobs at the county baseline. We are talking about paychecks that clear the local average by a third, dropping into a labor market that is already tight as a drum.

OEDIT Executive Director Eve Lieberman said the expansion highlights Colorado as a premier destination for advanced manufacturing and mechanical engineering. Which, sure, that is the official line. But the honest version is simpler. Good jobs went to a small town that has been mostly known for traffic on I-25 and a Safeway.

What it took to land it

This is where it gets interesting, because Monument had to fight for this. And they had never done it before.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $453,000 in a performance-based Strategic Fund Job Growth Incentive. Paid out over five years. And "performance-based" is the key phrase. ACCO does not see a dime unless it actually hits the salary and job-creation targets. No jobs, no money.

Then the Town of Monument itself stepped up with a local incentive of up to $453,060, also tied to verified new full-time jobs at the plant. On top of that, El Paso County estimated ACCO could qualify for roughly $585,800 in performance-based state Enterprise Zone tax credits and exemptions.

Monument Mayor Mitch LaKind said it was the first time the Town ever assembled a local economic incentive package. First time. And he said they "competed hard" for the project. I believe him. A town that size does not casually cook up half a million dollars in incentives. Somebody spent a lot of late nights on this one.

Monument is not sitting still

And look, this is not happening in a vacuum. Monument has been quietly loading up for a while now.

Back in January 2025, the Town Council approved the Falcon Commerce Center warehouses. Then in January 2026, they signed off on a 10.3-acre mixed-use business park. Now the ACCO plant. That is three real development wins in about eighteen months for a town that a lot of people still think of as a rest stop.

Here is what is actually happening. The northern edge of El Paso County is turning into a corridor. Land is cheaper than the Springs proper, it is a straight shot down I-25, and it is close enough to Denver's south metro to pull from that labor pool too. Companies are noticing. Monument is one of those in-between places that quietly becomes a destination, and the people who bought in early are going to look very smart.

Which, side note, is the part that always gets my attention. When a $36 million plant and 135 jobs at $87,000 show up, the housing math around it starts to move. Hayley and I have watched this pattern play out up and down the Front Range for years. The employer lands first. The rooftops follow. The people already sitting on property in Monument and Palmer Lake did not get a press release, but they got the news anyway.

So the headline is the jobs. That is fair. 135 of them, well above the county average, employee-owned company, all of it contingent on real performance.

But the quieter story is a small town that decided it was done being the place you drive past. Monument competed. Monument won. And Peoria, Arizona is going to have to find its next Project Cobalt somewhere else.