By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post
In January 1999, in the obligatory send-up of the other city before a big football playoff game, a New York Daily News columnist dubbed Denver "Cleveland with a nice backdrop."
Cleveland, at least, has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Denver, on the other hand, is losing another corporate giant and its biggest Fortune 500 company with last week's takeover of Qwest by CenturyTel, a telecommunications company based in Monroe, La.
Within a year, Qwest's corporate headquarters is expected to be moved to the bayou, its dominating logo stripped from the 53-story tower it has called home at 2801 California St.
And while it's inherently unfair — this was a takeover by a competitor — it inevitably sparks questions about whether some underlying problem in Denver precipitated the move.
"That is not a question people want asking about you," said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Losing companies
In the past year, the Denver area has gone from 11 Fortune 500 companies to eight — and will fall to seven after the Qwest-CenturyTel merger is complete.
And though Denver fancies itself a major mid-size city, other metro areas have as many or more Fortune 500 companies — St. Louis has nine, Minneapolis-St. Paul has 20, and Dallas-Fort Worth, which has over twice Denver's population, has 24.
The reality, according to economic development leaders, is not that simple.
"When you lose a corporate headquarters, particularly a large one, it is national news, and probably only the people in the industry of which the company is a part understand what the reasons may be," Clark said.
The Qwest deal follows other high-profile corporate defections. More here.
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