Future looms bright for Chandler business innovators

Chandler residents are not always aware of the economic history behind the city. A broad mix of technology centers and inventions lie at the heart of its success over the past decade. And, say the experts, the future holds much more.

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“Historic downtown (Chandler) has seen a tremendous amount of renovation and revitalization in the past decade,” Christine Mackay, economic development director for Chandler, said during a hands-on bus tour for local officials and businesspeople.

Even the small, multi-colored scrubbing beads used in hand soap are manufactured in Chandler, an invention of a Chandler resident, Mackay said.

She noted that Chandler is continuing to expand with new corporate centers for technology development and renovated public land. And with this successful implementation, Chandler now has the highest employee wages in Arizona, said Mackay.

“In the future, you will see significant office development in downtown Chandler,” Mackay said.

Mackay touted the future of Chandler and its five employment corridors during a visit to the area Oct. 27.

“For 10 years, Chandler was considered to be one of the fastest growing cities in the entire country,” Mackay, who has worked for the city for 12 years, said. “We added a thousand new residents a month for 10 years.”

Chandler currently has 250,000 residents.

In terms of technology hubs, Chandler is home to a number of companies working with state-of-the-art technology in software and aerospace.

“Arizona is the sixth largest employer sites for Intel in the world,” Mackay said.

Innovations, a newly implemented incubator lab center designed for start-up science and technology companies that opened in May, is now 80 percent occupied.

In the near future, a new biotechnology center will open, featuring state-of-the-art DNA testing for FBI investigations, Mackay said.

The city’s success has not come without obstacles, though.

“Probably one of our biggest challenges on the retail front is the East Valley Mall,” she said. “We are working with the developer for revitalizing this mall and bringing it back up.”

Through an eight-year commercial reinvestment program, many of Chandler’s other retail stores were able to remain in business.

“We created the commercial reinvestment program, by which the city can partner with up to a 50 percent matching investment to get those (retail) areas re-landscaped and bring them up to a level where people want to shop there again,” Mackay said. “The program has been incredibly successful.”

Currently, Chandler is working toward filling its Bashas’ centers with new businesses. The challenge is the former Bashas’ buildings are a specific size that does not meet the needs of other grocery stores, Mackay said.

“Chandler has lost the greatest number of Bashas’ than any other city, and we are really struggling to fill those particular centers right now,” she said.

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