About Us
Our Mission
The Loveland Business Partnership supports current business issues in Loveland. As Loveland continues to grow and thrive, LBP works with the Loveland business community, city leaders and educators to create, fund and lead initiatives that boost Loveland’s economic development. We support the innovation efforts of The Warehouse and companies housed there – they are creating the jobs of the future.
Our Guiding Principles
Diversity
In our dynamic and growing economy, fostering a diverse business landscape and workforce today will create a stable and strong future.
Collaboration
When the city and business community are in direct communication, they’re able to more efficiently and effectively serve the common goal of enhancing our economy.
Growth
Loveland is an amazing place to live and work, and we must do everything we can to encourage smart growth and future prosperity.
Talent
Harnessing the community’s wide pool of talent and resources is the most effective and efficient way to accomplish our shared goals and initiatives.
History
Shaping Loveland business for more than 60 years.
Faced with hard financial times in the late 1950’s, a small group of business leaders joined forces to improve the town’s economy by attracting new businesses. The centerpiece of their plan was the creation of a “Loveland Development Fund” (LDF) which was used to purchase property and provide incentives to potential companies looking for a new home. An aggressive community-wide campaign to raise money for this fund was successful in raising nearly $100,000, a sizeable amount for the time. The funds were used to purchase land for industrial development. Despite some early setbacks, those business leaders began to achieve some successes, managing to bring companies like Johnson Publishing, ABC Coach Company and Scientific Electronics to a newly created industrial zone on the western edge of the City.
A major achievement.
A major achievement of this group was the attraction of the Hewlett Packard Company to the City. In 1962, HP moved into a new plant, its first facility outside of California, on a site purchased by the Loveland Development Fund. Over the next several decades, HP expanded its facilities in Loveland and constructed several other facilities in Northern Colorado, establishing Loveland as the center of the “high tech” industry in Colorado. HP grew significantly throughout the seventies and eighties, eventually employing several thousand people in more than 800,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Loveland, Unfortunately, the tide turned for HP in the nineties. The company incrementally downsized its operations in Loveland, eventually vacating the Loveland campus. Although the loss of jobs was a blow to the local economy, the presence of HP transformed our economy from agriculture and tourism to an economy based on technology and manufacturing. Loveland had now become a competitor in the global economy.