| W. Valley sees housing-linked office space
Scott Wong
The Arizona Republic
May. 12, 2006 12:00 AM
Last year, Surprise resident Eric Maughan was making his daily 45-minute commute east when he spotted a new office complex rising off Loop 101 in Peoria.
"I said, 'Oh hey, that would be perfect,' " said Maughan, president of north Phoenix-based White Water Pools & Spas. "I'd be here already as opposed to just getting on the freeway and only half way to my office."
White Water was one of the first companies to buy space at the new Olive Avenue Business Park. The 12,000-square-foot pad will hold construction offices for up to 30 employees and a showroom where customers can pick out such things as custom swimming-pool tiles and deck colors.
With residential development at full throttle in the West Valley, pool-installation, mortgage-lending and other home-construction-related businesses are snapping up offices along Loop 101 corridor just as quickly as they're being built.
Companies are trying to cut drive times not only for their West Valley employees but for their customers. For years, west-side home buyers have had to make the journey to Scottsdale Airpark or the Arizona Design Center in Scottsdale to generate ideas about interior lighting or pore over bathroom tiles.
Soon, they'll be able to do those things just minutes from their homes.
"The industry is trying to move closer to the consumer," said CB Richard Ellis' Ashley Brooks, who is handling leasing for two new office projects along the freeway corridor.
"(These companies) are all trying to get a little closer to the new-home buyer, to make it easier for the individual to conduct his or her business."
The Olive Avenue complex has sold about 85 percent of its nearly 100 industrial units, said Litchfield Park developer John Meyerhoffer, a partner in the company building the project. Flooring, patio furniture, air-conditioning and home-stereo companies are among those moving into the 300,000-square-foot building this year.
Last week, Countrywide Financial, the real estate mortgage lender, moved 175 employees into a new Peoria complex near Thunderbird Road and Loop 101.
Meanwhile, the Ellman Cos. is building 220,000 square feet of office space for the first phase of Glendale's Westgate City Center. And Carlson Real Estate Co. has built a 118,000-square-foot complex at Loop 101 and Interstate 10.
For years, West Valley leaders called for the construction of office space, something they said would generate local tax revenue, ease traffic congestion from residents, and improve the area's quality of life.
In 2000, nearly 90 percentof Peoria's workforce was employed outside the city, said James Mason, the city's economic-development specialist. Today, that figure has dropped almost 20 percentage points.
"We've had a great demographic workforce, schools, and quality of life. The challenge has been to attract businesses, but what they needed was space," Mason said.
Several of White Water's employees live in the West Valley and will enjoy a shorter commute when the company's fourth Arizona office opens in Peoria within the next several months, Maughan said.
About half of the 600 pools White Water builds each year in the Valley are in Buckeye, Surprise and other high-growth communities.
"It's really just a booming area for new pool construction, and it's a long drive from here," Maughan said from his north Phoenix office on Bell Road.
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