Economic Development

Oro Valley Innovation Labs (OVIL) is set to break ground Wednesday, Sept. 4, with tentative plans to open in March 2020. OVIL is working in close collaboration with the University of Arizona Center for Innovation Oro Valley (UACIOV) to accomplish this goal.

Microsoft has chosen the West Phoenix cities of El Mirage and Goodyear as the locations for the development of three new world-class data center campuses to support growing demand for cloud and internet services both in Arizona and across the western United States. Microsoft intends for these campuses to be among the most sustainably designed and operated in the world – powered with 100% renewable energy.

Compass Datacenters is bringing a data center campus to Goodyear, Arizona. The campus is to be built on 225 acres of land, with phase one projected to be completed by fourth quarter of 2019. The first phase includes two data centers and six additional data centers to follow.

On July 1, CHASSE Building Team broke ground on Union on 6th, located in downtown Tucson. Targeted for completion in mid-2020, Union on 6th will offer 255 market rate studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

The Stir Coffee Bar and Gin and Reel – a concept by Rick Bronson featuring both a coffee shop and speakeasy inside – will open its doors in the North Phoenix High Street shopping district in September.

According to a recent WalletHub study, comparing the 50 states across 26 key indicators of startup success to determine the most fertile grounds in which to launch and grow an enterprise, the top 10 best states to start a business are: Texas, Utah, Georgia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona, California, Montana and Colorado.

Following the successful completion of a new Eloy City Hall, attention has now turned to a complete remodel of the old city hall and police facility into a state of the art public safety building to house the Eloy Police Department.

Times Microwave Systems (TMS) has expanded its Mesa, Arizona, manufacturing facility located at the Metro East Valley Commerce Park. The new facility is more than five times larger in size. TMS is one of several Amphenol businesses planned to be located within this industrial park.

Cities and towns are places where people choose to raise families, find gainful employment, operate businesses and contribute to the well-being of their communities.

The William Lampkin Award for Long Term Excellence in Economic Development has been given by the Arizona Association for Economic Development to Lawrence T. Lucero, senior director of economic development for Tucson Electric Power Company, where he has worked 25 years.