This article originally appeared in In Business Magazine.
Q: We’ve seen a recent record boom in industrial property starts and leases throughout Metropolitan Phoenix. Based on the projects you are involved in, what is your view on what is fueling this? How much is being built for anticipated tenancy versus for a specific user (such as TSMC over in Phoenix)?
The demand is really the culmination of three important factors coinciding at a very fortuitous crossroads for industrial development.
The first and catalytic reason was COVID, which exposed significant deficiencies in our supply chain and our management of goods, components and distribution.
The second factor for this area was massive improvements in the transportation corridors. With the advent of the Loop 303 and the completion of the Loop 202, logistics within the Valley are vastly improved — not only for local delivery, but also as a function of interstate delivery through Arizona. This means Arizona can serve as an effective inland port from California.
And, from a user’s perspective, the five-hour difference in time from Long Beach Port to a Phoenix metropolitan area is miniscule because of the beneficial atmosphere Arizona has created from a tax and labor standpoint. This is the third factor in the equation.