Southeast Valley becoming high-tech hub
General Motors’ announcement this week that it’ll build an IT center in Chandler follows on the heels of other such decisions. And, as KJZZ’s Mark Brodie reports, there could be more on the way.
MARK BRODIE: Last year, both Intel and Bridgestone announced they’d be building high-tech facilities in Chandler and Mesa, respectively. Steve Larsen is a Vice President with the professional services firm Jones, Lang, Lasalle, and focuses on the Southeast Valley. He says large companies like to be close to each other, although he says GM’s decision was more about the ability to recruit workers from area colleges and universities. Larsen says he’s seeing cities work together more, to land companies, and their jobs.
STEVE LARSEN: There are a couple of specific requirements that are out in the Southeast Valley right now for large projects. We’re seeing more of a unified front for these guys to come together, and they are actually approaching it on more of a team effort, because they’re just trying to land that group out in the Southeast Valley more specifically than in each individual city.
BRODIE: Larsen says there are a couple of larger projects looking for up to 150 acres, on which to build a campus.
