When Chidlaw was completed, personnel from multiple locations, including the Ent Air Force Base, were consolidated into the new building.

Once PGi moved out in 2011, building occupancy dropped to 45%, but still included a customer service center for Time Warner Cable.

Building the Combat Operations Center within a granite mountain in the Colorado Springs area was shown to be the best solution at the lowest cost.

NORAD also concluded that it was important to have related commands nearby, such for joint planning and combat readiness,[3]: 154  but not so close that they could be destroyed easily at the same time.

[3]: 155–156 While the construction was performed, an interim location for the Zone of Interior BMEWS equipment was to be established in the basement of a building near the base.

[3]: 148  In December 1958, NORAD called for the hasty development of the anti-Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, the WS-117L reconnaissance satellite.

[5] The plan to use an off-base leased facility was implemented for the Combined Operations Center[citation needed] when the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station was delayed and an earlier Semi-Automatic Ground Environment command post was needed as an interim Air Defense Operations Center for combining NORAD's attack warning and CONAD's weapons direction missions.

The 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) building was built with fortified walls, an auditorium for 174 people, two electrical substations, and elaborate heating and cooling systems.

[6]: 492  Department of Defense graphic artist Terrance Patterson was commissioned to make nine paintings of the evolution of air and space for the building.

[9] As the highest echelon of command and control for the SAGE Defense System, the Chidlaw Building was the primary node of NORAD's Alert Network Number 1.

Lars Akerberg purchased the building in 1993, and Premiere Global Services (PGi), which operated a teleconference center, became its largest tenant.