Editor's note: The following story appears in the June 4 Scottsdale Independent. Post comments by hitting reply in the upper right-hand corner. Comments will be posted in an upcoming issue of the Scottsdale Independent.
Study projects steady growth for Airpark
Input sought on airport plan
By Zach Colick
Independent Newspapers
Business growth in the greater Scottsdale Airpark area will bring another 13,000 jobs by 2020, most of them in professional, technical and financial services occupations, according to an updated city economic study.
The study, by Gruen Gruen + Associates, also cited the need to redevelop older portions of the Scottsdale Airpark and recommended a shift toward more mixed-use developments to help keep the area competitive with other emerging job centers around the Valley.
Because the greater Scottsdale Airpark is competing with other attractive development areas in the Valley, including vacant land on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road, Kierland Commons, Desert Ridge Marketplace and the Deer Valley Airpark, discussions about potential zoning changes to the area are in the works.
Mark Hunsberger, a city of Scottsdale economic vitality specialist, said the area could see future mixed-use development, allowing for adjoining retail, commercial and residential components to create a much sought after “live-work” concept to fit the needs and growing demands of developers and consumers alike.
City zoning ordinances only allow mixed-use zoning in downtown Scottsdale, but Mr. Hunsberger said city officials could create a new zoning district in the greater Scottsdale Airpark — areas west to Scottsdale Road and east to approximately 90th Street — to allow for future mixed-use development. He noted business owners and large corporations find the area attractive because of easy access to Loop 101 and the quality of life found in Scottsdale.
The greater Scottsdale Airpark is one of the Valley’s largest employee centers and tends to have the most concentrated job growth compared to the rest of the city, according to Mr. Hunsberger.
As such, business owners who find the area an attractive place to work and live don’t wish to commute long distances to their place of business.
Scottsdale officials are also encouraging the business and technology sectors to locate in the greater Scottsdale Airpark as the city directly benefits from local property and sales taxes generated from those businesses that operate there, according to Mr. Hunsberger.
He noted the city’s goal is to “provide good, quality jobs for our citizens.”
“To be successful, you have, to a certain extent, follow the needs and wants of the market, and a number of businesses want to locate (in north Scottsdale),” he said.
The Gruen Gruen + Associates study also covers expected growth in the traditional business area around the Scottsdale Airport, as well as less-developed land along Loop 101 from Raintree Drive to Scottsdale Road.
It updates a similar report the firm completed for the city in 1999.
According to Mr. Hunsberger, the report will be used to help guide the greater Airpark Community Area Plan currently being prepared by the city’s Advance Planning Division.
It also makes recommendations for policy actions to keep the airpark in its position as one of the premier business locations in the Valley.
Despite the current recession, job growth will resume and will average roughly 2 percent per year, increasing the total number of jobs from about 42,500 in 2007 to 55,000 in 2020, according to the report.
Office-based businesses led the growth of jobs over the last decade, as the area has shifted from manufacturing and warehousing toward service businesses and corporate headquarters, the report found.
It predicted that sectors such as professional, technical, and financial services will continue to grow to comprise over 40 percent of employment in the area.
Demand for office, retail and flex space in the area will continue to outpace that for industrial and warehouse buildings.
After accounting for absorption of currently vacant space, there is enough land in the area to support all the additional building space that will be needed through 2020, the study said.
“Just like the national economy, the needs for manufacturing businesses and mom and pop shops in this area have been greatly reduced,” Mr. Hunsberger said. “Now, municipalities like Scottsdale want the technology and financial sectors to be their major source of income and activity, which has been a trend for the last several decades.”
The full report and an abbreviated summary can be found at http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/economics.asp.
For more information on the Greater Airpark Community Area Plan, visit http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/planning/areaplans/greaterairparkcap.asp.
Last edited on Tue Jun 2nd, 2009 06:19 pm by Zach Colick
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