Nearly 2 million of the Valley’s roughly 5 million residents live in the West Valley, and a new report says the area’s population is expected to grow at twice the national rate over the next five years.
Why West Valley, a report compiled by the commercial real estate firm CBRE, also finds nearly half of the area’s residents are younger than 35.
But it’s not just population growth that West Valley leaders are excited about; there’s been business and job expansion there, as well.
Sintra Hoffman is president and CEO of the group Westmarc, which helped put the report together. She spoke with The Show about what stands out to her.
Full conversation
SINTRA HOFFMAN: The main purpose of the Why West Valley report started a few years ago, and it really is intended to be kind of a broker’s digest of information or resource of information on the West Valley.
So I think the main takeaway is, as you all know, I think as everyone knows, the West Valley has drastically changed over the last five years, so it’s really drastically updated and as to what’s happening today, and I think it’s some of the main things that you’ll see this year’s report is a lot more tech companies that are in there and kind of a higher growth rate of tech startups, 30% to be exact.
MARK BRODIE: Do you get the sense that that story is known beyond the West Valley?
HOFFMAN: I think that TSMC has really put Arizona and, with the Phoenix metro region on the map. What I think a lot of people don’t really realize is that TSMC is west of I-17. It really technically is in the West Valley. So a lot of the companies that you’re seeing coming in, Amcor and others in the supply chain that are yet to be announced are in the West Valley.
And I think that’s the piece that’s, that’s kind of missing. People clearly know that there’s a lot of activity happening and it’s a new West Valley, but they don’t really necessarily associate it with the technology explosion that’s really happening here right now. And I think this report will definitely help share some of the hard data behind that.
BRODIE: How much of what you’re seeing in that part of the Valley do you attribute to TSMC?
HOFFMAN: I would say over the last 10 years, we have started seeing an investment in companies such as Amazon and Microsoft and some of the bigger names in, in the tech space coming into the West Valley. And so we’ve, we’ve started seeing that gradual immersion of tech companies.
They’re, they’re more, you know, we’ve seen some, some data centers obviously with Microsoft investments and education programs to support that workforce development in those areas. So it’s been happening over the last 10 years or so.
However, TSMC, it being just a global name and the largest global investment today, now we’re all of a sudden all eyes are on the West Valley. But it’s not necessarily brand new. That magnitude is definitely brand new to not only the state, but really globally.
BRODIE: So I know that in the past you and I have talked about concerns that you and other economic development folks in the West Valley had about the number of people who live there who had to travel to go to work either to Phoenix or the East Valley or somewhere like that.
I wonder now that, you know, companies, as you say, are really starting to expand and grow in the West Valley, how significant is that both to the economy but also for the folks who live there to allow them to stay there during the day?
HOFFMAN: I think it’s huge, you know, post-pandemic, people obviously really don’t want to drive, and making decisions to, to work, locally. The West Valley report has a great listing of major household name companies.
Amazon employs almost 18,000 employees in this region that’s located in the West Valley. Obviously the Air Force at almost 10,000 and so on. So you have some significant employers that are, that exist in the West Valley today that are employing thousands of people.
So as these now, the tech companies that are growing such as Amcor, Outerspace, GTI Fabrication, and so on, they’re also in the, in the mid- to high-100s, and they’re going to be growing.
So the jobs are definitely growing in our backyard, and I think that’s great for, for people. It’s great for the quality of life and, and what people have been looking for. They don’t want to make the commute. Nobody wants to sit on the roads. So I think, you know, finding jobs more locally is definitely what our residents want and what companies are responding to.
BRODIE: So you mentioned tech companies. Obviously logistics has always been a big focus for economic development in the West Valley, especially once Loop 303 connected to I-10.
Are those sort of the main sectors that you are seeing grow and expand in the West Valley? Are there others, other types of companies, or other types of jobs that are coming there as well?
HOFFMAN: So yes, while we have a growing number of tech jobs and and have had a in logistics for a while, our, our leading industry is actually health care, which makes sense because health care is driven by population and with 1.9 million residents living west of I-17, almost 2 million. When you look at a greater region, 5.1 million residents, right?
Maricopa County with this greater region is 5.1 million, and then you have almost 2 million west of I-17, you’re gonna definitely need a lot of health care providers, and we’re seeing that, hospitals are stepping up to that and making those investments.
More important, we’re seeing that specialized care. Phoenix Children’s, they have invested in Arrowhead, so in the northwest Valley, in Avondale, in the southwest Valley, and they’re looking at other areas as they’re seeing that younger population grow.
So I think that’s a big industry that really, you know, we have the basis for it because we have the population for it.
BRODIE: You’ve been talking about the potential of the West Valley for quite a while now. I wonder if what you are seeing now and some of what this report points out, is this that potential?
HOFFMAN: Absolutely. It’s funny that you say that because, I reflect on exactly what you said is, oh my goodness, we’ve been saying it’s coming, it’s coming. It’s not coming, it’s here. It’s been here.
And I think, you know, now all of a sudden we’re realizing, wait, we, we need to change that statement, you know, we need to change that narrative. It’s not coming to us. It’s already here.
I think the, the issue that we have now is making sure, or that we get the, the correct message out that in fact these businesses are here, these people are here, these companies are here, the quality of life is here.
When we look at the investments that are being made, such as the, the VAI Resort, the, the concerts that are coming to State Farm Stadium, to Desert Diamond Arena, to Phoenix Raceway and and all that, we definitely have that global entertainment that’s coming to the area so that the West Valley is on the map by far.
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