The John Madden Company, which is developing the Madden Research Loop at Southwest Florida International Airport, hosted 33 members of Leadership Lee County’s 2008 spring class, who were in Denver attending the Community Leadership Association’s annual conference.

Class participants and members of the leadership steering committee met with company namesake, John Madden, and toured his Greenwood Plaza project in Denver. The development includes several Class A office buildings, the 18,000-seat public Coors Amphitheater at Fiddlers Green, and the under-construction Palazzo Verdi, a 15-story office building that is expected to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

The Palazzo Verdi, which features a five-story lobby, will host receptions for the Democratic National Convention in August.

Steve Scott, executive director of Leadership Lee County, requested the Denver tour with the John Madden Company after learning about the company’s plans in Southwest Florida. The company’s Lee County-based development director, Kevin Taylor, is a graduate of Leadership Lee County.

“This was a great opportunity for our group to see the work the John Madden Company has done in Denver and the quality we can expect to see in Lee County,” said Scott. “It was a great value for the class to hear personally from John Madden about his vision for Southwest Florida.”

John Madden Company has secured the rights to develop the first phase of the research complex, which is expected to supply 800 high-paying jobs in research and the medical industries. The Madden Research Loop is being developed as a bioscience and technology research complex that will attract researchers and business entrepreneurs.

Phase 1 includes 25 acres of land, 275,000 square feet of Class A office and lab space in multiple buildings, and a three-story parking structure. The research complex is the first of several properties that will be developed in public/private partnership on a 750-acre site called the Skyplex Commercial Center, located on the north side of airport property on Chamberlin Parkway, off Daniels Parkway.

Madden and Steve Brown Jr., vice president of project development, described the Madden Research Loop to Leadership Lee members. “It will be a phenomenal success right from the start,” Madden predicted. “Southwest Florida has always had an innovative spirit. Thomas Edison came here to think, not to get away.”

They hope to break ground Oct. 1, and will pursue LEED certification for all buildings in the office park.

The spring leadership class annually attends the Community Leadership Association’s conference as part of its 17-week class agenda. Leadership Lee County is offered through the Chamber of Southwest Florida.

John Madden Company, which was founded in the mid-1960s in Omaha, Neb., has developed nearly 10,000,000 square feet of office and related space in Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Michigan, Wyoming and Iowa.