West Phoenix Suburbs Explode With Growth

West Phoenix, AZ growing at an alarming rate. Duringfor the US Navy Seaplanes, now that facility is
our heated visit recently, we studied the economicLockheed Martin. The area is mixed now with Retail,
vitality of Avondale, Goodyear, Litchfield and Tolleson.Food Processing and lots of Aerospace, we talked to
This area is the fastest growing area of all ofa maintenance supervisor for Timco who said their
Phoenix which is the second fastest metro DMA areanewest contract would require an additional 140
in the United States of America. Maricopa County ispeople to be hired. Luftstanza Airlines has its training
#2 next to Clark County in Las Vegas NV metro.center there also. Del Monte and Poore Brothers
Surprise, Glendale and Goodyear are breaking all kindsprocess there. Snyders of Hanover, Rubbermaid,
of records as the Governor looks at the issues ofWalle Corp, Cavco.
water and future resources. We of course do ourThe Goodyear Airport is a major plus along with the
homework on economic factors before we attemptneighboring business parks. The runway is over 8500
to enter a region as most seasoned veteran businessfeet and can land and takeoff any aircraft known to
people do.man. The city has attracted many companies and is
In Avondale the population is growing and currentlybusiness friendly and has online applications for just
about 36,000 population. 33% of which is Hispanicabout every permit. They have attracted;
with HS education average education level. AgricultureAviation-Plastics and Composites, Sun Cor
and Agriculture processing is the biggest industrialDevelopment, Chariot Eagle, Wal-Mart Dist contractor
sector although that too is changing as light industrialMcClane, West Valley Medical Center. The weather is
is taking advantage of the labor supply. Many newhot in summer, but year round workable if you are
car dealerships are assisting the city coffers withable to handle the average daytime summer temps; .
sales tax revenue although some of that has beenJune to September it is 100-105 degrees. Greater
given up short term as incentives, but all that kicks inPhoenix Economic Council has some interesting stats
two years. Beam Corp is a major employer therefor the area as well. All the cities in the West Phoenix
says Jeffrey Fairman, Economic Developmentare charge an additional 2% sales tax and the schools
Director.are considered great, even with all the non-english
Avondale is just South of Luke AFB and derivesspeaking students struggling at first.
much income from military employees who buy goodLitchfield has about 4000 population with only 8%
and services there. Also in the area is an 80,000Hispanic, but is growing exponentially. Some of the
square foot Medical Center. Also major employersmajor employers include; Conklin Rose, Wig Wam
include; LP Steel Industries, Cashion Tank and Steel,4-star Resort, Goodyear Family grew cotton there
California Materials, Bio Scientific and several newand then sold the land to Litchfield, who grew
projects in progress. Average house price has risenEgyptian long-staple cotton for use in the processing
10% in the past year and is still good at; $132K whichand manufacturing tires for Goodyear. Water of
is average for the area. The housing growth oncecourse brought in by SRP. We will in the future do a
again is incredible. The permit processing is helped bycomplete study of the history of SRP-Salt Water
the City Streamlining Committee.River Project. Average Home price in the area has
Kids in the area enjoy the local water park, bowlinggrown to 310K. The city is pro business and allows
alley, church youth groups and Pop Warner Footballgrading of at risk soil before final permits to test the
and lots of soccer teams. The MAG-Maricopaability of the land to support the project. These four
Association of Governments is spending 15.5 Billion oncities on the West side of PHX average 16.8% of
new transportation infrastructure of which much willthe population at 25-34 meaning labor supply and
be for expanding freeway widths through Avondalegood customer base. 16.2% has 35-44 age grouping.
on I-10. The 22-member panel is about 1 billion over46% Hispanic and similar to Los Angeles. Labor force
budget but that will be picked up as the housing isis 29% less than HS education. 23% have HS only
not slowing down. About the only big draw back iseducation and 24.8% have some college but no
the problems of auto theft which Phoenix area isdegree. Prevailing average wage for labor is $9.86 per
number two only beaten out by Tucson AZ. Most ofhour.
these cars find their way to Mexico. Of all the WestTolleson, has had good growth since the freeway
Maricopa cities there is severe fire risk in the hotinterchange got finished for the 101 loop connecting
summers until the Summer Monsoon season starts,to I-10. Huge new Auto Center. Freightliner Facility,
at which time the on-call fire teams and hot shotTruck Stop, mostly due to the city fathers seeing an
crews move to Colorado, Idaho, Montana,opportunity due to the freeway interchange and had
Washington, South Dakota.some 6 new car dealerships move in by on I-10 and
In Goodyear, AZ things are a bit different. Thethey used a fast track permit processing program to
population has absolutely exploded and is continuingdo the rest. Also in the area are Lisanti Foods,
to. Many people work out at the Prisons on PalosNabisco, Quaker Oats, Western Container, Greater
Verde Rd and the newest prison that you can seePHX Auto Auction, Auto Zone Dist., Graybar Dist.,
from I-10, some people we talked to worked at theSara Lee Dist., Sysco Dist., Frys Dist., Cactus
Nuclear Power plant or for SRP or Betchel all ofTransportation, Cost Co Dist., Fed Ex Depot, and still
which work there at the Power Plant. There arethere are many residents which have brought the
about 20,000 people in Goodyear but there are alsohousing prices of this industrial freeway adjacent to
some 5000 new homes going up right now. It is 22%100K on average. Tolleson has a pop of 5000 and
Hispanic and that number is being diluted, but future70% Hispanic, unemployment is 6%. The major jobs
growth should be equal under that ratio in my opinionare service based, retail, warehousing and
for the next decade. As more and more Hispanicmanufacturing . Other large employers are CSI, Sun
Families enter the middle class we will see them turnLand Beef, Albertsons Dist., Pet Smart Dist. Dist., and
Republican and buy into the area of Goodyear withseveral meat and food packing plants. .
an average home price of 142K and climbing.The Western Suburban areas of Phoenix have turned
Goodyear as you might have guessed is named afterfrom rural dusty farming communities to extremely
the Akron Rubber Baron, which you can learn morelivable middle class soccer mom communities with all
about on the second floor of the Goodyear Buildingthe trimmings. It is a good place to do business, great
outside Akron in the World of Rubber Museum atcustomer base and it will continue to build out for
Goodyear original HQ. In Goodyear they made rubberanother two decades.