By Kyle Backer | AZRE
A bird’s eye view of Greater Phoenix today reveals a much-changed metropolitan area since the turn of century. New freeways, homes and businesses populate Arizona’s major population center, despite the economic turmoil caused by the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, the industrial market in particular has enjoyed a hot streak. But will water worries and costly capital cool white-hot industrial market?
AZRE magazine sat down with these NAIOP members to learn about why industrial has been booming, what threat the recent Metro Phoenix groundwater model poses to development and hear their thoughts on the market going forward:
• Ryan Abbott, executive vice president, Southwest Region, Clayco
• Jenna Borcherding, director of development, VanTrust Real Estate
• Jeff Dalton, vice president of FCL Builders
• Suzanne Kinney, president and CEO of NAIOP Arizona
• Don MacWilliam, vice chair, Industrial Properties, Colliers
The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.
AZRE: Greater Phoenix’s industrial market has experienced 14 years of positive net absorption. What are some of the factors that have made the region so attractive?
Don MacWilliam: First of all, we’ve had the land for expansion. When you look at some of the West Coast markets, they’ve been constrained by where they can actually build. The Southwest Valley has become a huge corridor, with a lot of people taking down bigger tracts of land than they ever have before.
