After being grounded by a difficult economy, Chandler’s youngest employment corridor, the airpark area, is growing into its designation as one of the city’s top opportunity hubs, reports The Arizona Republic’s Annie Z. Yu.
More industrial/office development is planned or will break ground this year, the first significant signs of development since the recession, which hit immediately after a huge growth spurt from 2006 to 2008.
The FedEx Ground facility groundbreaking in June, an example of an end-user development, marked the first time since the 2008 economic downturn that the airpark area saw any industrial/office development.
There are nine end-user or speculative developments in planning, planned or under construction this year. They total approximately 1.4 million square feet of industrial/office space, even more than in the initial boom years.
The most recently approved planned development is a 31-acre business park, Ascend by Irgens Development Partners, at the northwestern corner of Germann and Cooper roads. It was approved by the city council in July.
As of July 31, there were 94 acres available in the center, 32 of those in pending sales.
