Colsa founders' dream still growing

Friday, September 15, 2006

By MARIAN ACCARDI

Times Business Writer accardi@htimes.com

New building to add 124 jobs, 132,000 square feet

Colsa Corp.'s new 132,000-square-foot building will house more than 350 employees, including 124 new jobs.

The new building, scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007, will be the Huntsville-based company's third building at its campus on Odyssey Drive in Cummings Research Park. In all, the buildings will include nearly 300,000 square feet.

Hiring for those new positions is to take place over a period from 2008 to 2010, said the company's president, Al Sullivan.

A ground-breaking ceremony, held Thursday afternoon at the site, was a tribute to the company's founders, Puerto Rican immigrants Francisco and Carmen Collazo. The Collazos started the company in 1980 in the garage of their Huntsville home.

Francisco J. Collazo is the "personification of (the Horatio Alger) story," said Gov. Bob Riley, who spoke at the event. Collazo had a combination of vision, perseverance, intensity and intelligence to "make this a reality."

Riley added, "If there was ever a place that makes dreams come true, it's Huntsville/Madison County."

"This is a great community to start a business," agreed Collazo, who is Colsa's chairman and chief executive officer.

According to Sullivan, the new building will house a number of NASA- and Department of Defense-related research and technical support activities.

It will include a significant expansion of the company's high performance computer capabilities, with more than 10,000 processors on the first floor.

FCA Properties Inc., a real estate development and property management firm, is the project developer. Consolidated Construction Co. is the general contractor, and Fuqua & Partners Architects is the architectural firm for the project.

Colsa provides information technology, software engineering, system engineering, system integration, test and evaluation, computer facility operation and maintenance, systems and network administration, telecommunications and security engineering. The company has more than 900 employees, with 625 in Huntsville.



Colsa founders' dream still growing Friday, September 15, 2006 By MARIAN ACCARDI Times Business Writer accardi@htimes.com New building to add 124 jobs, 132,000 square feet Colsa Corp.'s new 132,000-square-foot building will house more than 350 employees, including 124 new jobs. The new building, scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007, will be the Huntsville-based company's third building at its campus on Odyssey Drive in Cummings Research Park. In all, the buildings will include nearly 300,000 square feet. Hiring for those new positions is to take place over a period from 2008 to 2010, said the company's president, Al Sullivan. A ground-breaking ceremony, held Thursday afternoon at the site, was a tribute to the company's founders, Puerto Rican immigrants Francisco and Carmen Collazo. The Collazos started the company in 1980 in the garage of their Huntsville home. Francisco J. Collazo is the "personification of (the Horatio Alger) story," said Gov. Bob Riley, who spoke at the event. Collazo had a combination of vision, perseverance, intensity and intelligence to "make this a reality." Riley added, "If there was ever a place that makes dreams come true, it's Huntsville/Madison County." "This is a great community to start a business," agreed Collazo, who is Colsa's chairman and chief executive officer. According to Sullivan, the new building will house a number of NASA- and Department of Defense-related research and technical support activities. It will include a significant expansion of the company's high performance computer capabilities, with more than 10,000 processors on the first floor. FCA Properties Inc., a real estate development and property management firm, is the project developer. Consolidated Construction Co. is the general contractor, and Fuqua & Partners Architects is the architectural firm for the project. Colsa provides information technology, software engineering, system engineering, system integration, test and evaluation, computer facility operation and maintenance, systems and network administration, telecommunications and security engineering. The company has more than 900 employees, with 625 in Huntsville. © 2006 The Huntsville Times © 2006 al.com All Rights Reserved.