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Posted Nov 18, 2008, 3:54 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Country Club Park, Greater Coronado, Midtown, Phoenix, Az
Posts: 4,610
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Some West Valley news:
Quote:
USA Basketball to boost Valley economy
Training hub to draw streams of visitors
by Carrie Watters - Nov. 18, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Hundreds of up-and-coming hoops players will trek to Glendale each year as USA Basketball confirmed Monday it will move its headquarters and training operations to the Valley, bringing an annual economic boost pegged at $63.4 million.
USA Basketball is the governing body of international basketball in the United States, fielding national teams for international competitions, the pinnacle being the men's and women's Olympic teams.
In a rough economy, news is enough that Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to attend today's official announcement, which should follow the Glendale City Council's vote on the deal.
Hundreds of construction jobs will be created to build the $53.8 million training campus along Loop 101 off Maryland Avenue. Once completed, as early as 2010, the campus will feature a training center, offices, a hotel, a Midwestern University sports medicine clinic and a fitness center. In all it should create 324 direct jobs, and nearly double that when including peripheral jobs, such as those in tourism.
The campus is expected to add $26.5 million to Glendale's tax coffers over the next 25 years. But its larger value is part of a winning puzzle the city has pieced together, said Valley economist Elliott Pollack, who completed an economic-impact study on the deal.
"They just create a lot of synergies that do not exist anywhere else, with the possible exception of downtown (Phoenix)," Pollack said. "It's fairly amazing - it's working even in what is a terrible economic environment."
Within about a two-mile radius in the past five years, Glendale has added professional hockey, professional football, Major League Baseball and now amateur basketball. It has hosted a college football championship and Super Bowl XLII.
That intense focus on "an impressive and growing roster of sports properties" held sway over Val Ackerman, USA Basketball's past board chairwoman, who led the scouting expedition from the group's 29-year home in Colorado Springs.
City Manager Ed Beasley, who has navigated Glendale's rise, said other sports governing bodies have made inquiries - and he isn't closing that door - but the city's goal is to create a destination that attracts quality development. USA Basketball's Olympic dream teams, made up of NBA and WNBA stars, offers that buzz.
City leaders advocate for those senior teams to train here, although the agreement acknowledges that could depend on logistics. The deal requires only some Olympian presence, which could mean an exhibition match at nearby Jobing.com Arena or players working with area youth.
USA Basketball stretches beyond the Olympics, fielding national teams for players as young as 15. The training center is where athletes will prepare for such competitions as the new youth Olympics and the Pan American Games.
Keeping with the push for development that takes Glendale beyond a bedroom community, Beasley called USA Basketball a commanding anchor tenant for Main Street Glendale.
The private development project is anticipated to cover 500 acres that winds from University of Phoenix Stadium on the opposite side of the loop down to Glendale's spring training ballpark on Camelback Road, a second major anchor for Main Street.
The city is putting in roads and infrastructure around its spring training baseball stadium, which will benefit the private development.
In contrast, city incentives for the basketball deal are minimal - rebating hotel taxes for athletes.
Scottsdale-based Rightpath Development Group, the developers behind Main Street, will bear numerous expenses, down to $150,000 to relocate USA Basketball from Colorado.
Rightpath will build, operate and maintain the training center. USA Basketball will have a 30-year-lease without rent and two 10-year renewal options.
The governing body will keep receipts from ticket and other sales at its events.
Rightpath will also build, at a minimum, a three-star, 150-room hotel, and give 2,500 room nights to USA Basketball for athletes training at the center, as well as provide meals, free of cost.
Rick Burton, a principal with Rightpath, had no complaints. He said USA Basketball is an asset that will help lure other high-end tenants.
USA Basketball does most of its training from May to September, but that could expand now that it will have its own training center. The organization and others involved in the deal said they want to try to increase training opportunities not only for elite athletes but for local teams.
"This shows all the possibilities," Beasley said. "If you can practice where a LeBron James has practiced, you can see how he conducts himself, and how you conduct yourself . . . it doesn't mean you are going to be a professional ball player, but you are going to be exposed to it."
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Its interesting that the Valley was able to land this even though they do most of their training the summer, Colorado Springs seems like a better place to be in June. But it sounds like this area of Glendale certainly has some potential, I hope that future projects will be more urban and rely less on surface lots than Westgate, but I doubt it.
I also hope eventually a LRT leg runs East-West on Glendale Ave connecting downtown/old town Glendale to these new developments and over to the Glendale Municipal Airport.
Quote:
Goodyear breaks ground on Reds' training facility
City hopes to turn farmland into entertainment hub
by Elias C. Arnold - Nov. 18, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Goodyear is striving to evolve from a sleepy suburb into an entertainment and employment hub in the Southwest Valley even as it wrestles with multiple financial troubles.
On Monday, in a dusty field south of Interstate 10 along Estrella Parkway, the city continued its transformation with a sunny groundbreaking for the $33 million spring-training home of the Cincinnati Reds. It's the second professional baseball team building a training base in Goodyear, joining the Cleveland Indians for the 2010 season.
Margaret Carl, whose family sold land to the city for the project, called the milestone "bittersweet." It marks the end of the era in which her parents worked and lived off the land, growing cotton and grain.
"This was their field of dreams," Carl, one of three Wood siblings, told a crowd of about 300.
Now it is the city's field of dreams, a venue intended to spur retail and office development around Estrella Parkway and Yuma Road, the city's planned downtown area.
Reds CEO Bob Castellini told the crowd how impressed he was by the city's interest in attracting the team, which trains in Sarasota, Fla.
"Nobody cares about being treated like a big shot, but everybody wants to feel like they're wanted," Castellini said. "And we truly feel like we're wanted out here."
Baseball is a key part of the Goodyear's future downtown. Two universities plan to build campuses there and the area could eventually provide nearly 50,000 jobs. Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a destination hospital, is also slated to open along Interstate 10 in the next couple of months.
But the economic picture is sharply different from what it was 14 months ago, when Goodyear broke ground on the Indians' spring-training quarters.
Retail chains are closing their stores in the city's new commercial centers.
Phoenix developer Westcor has delayed construction on the area's first regional mall.
A developer, Scottsdale-based Montage Holdings, which partnered with the city to annex the future freeway corridor, is facing foreclosure, leaving Goodyear on the hook for nearly $3.6 million.
Meanwhile, infighting between former partners in the city's stadium development has stalled retail, hotel and office development envisioned around the complex. Goodyear also is considering spending nearly $3 million to finish part of its stadium originally planned for private retail space.
City leaders say Goodyear's future remains bright because long-term gains will outweigh the short-term challenges.
Mayor Jim Cavanaugh played a key role in drawing spring-training baseball and private universities to the city. He acknowledges Goodyear's budgetary woes are "significant" but is confident the city will turn a corner.
"The city is on a good track," he said. "I'd like to argue with anybody who disagrees with me, frankly."
Cities around the Valley are readjusting their budgets in response to the declining economy and the nation's credit crunch, which has hurt development and job growth. In Goodyear, the city has asked its department heads to review their budgets in anticipation of cuts of up to 10 percent.
"Other than Montage, which is a big question mark, the city (sales-tax revenues are) tracking on schedule because we budgeted so conservatively," City Manager John Fischbach said.
The main variable is how closures of big-box retailers such as Circuit City, Linens-N-Things and Mervyn's, some of them brand-new, will impact tax revenues.
"Quite frankly, I think that the future of Goodyear is extremely rosy," Fischbach said. "Yes, there will be some tough times, but I don't foresee anything major in the picture."
The Reds' clubhouse is part of a $108 million spring-training complex with a 10,000-seat stadium and practice space for two teams. Goodyear and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority are funding the project.
The Indians started training at the complex this fall. Their first game is in February.
Jennifer Cahall, 57, was in from Ohio visiting her brother and attended Monday's groundbreaking on a whim. She said she once held Reds' season tickets for nearly a decade.
Her family had talked for years about going to spring training in Florida, she said, but the trip to Arizona makes it more likely because it is so close to relatives.
Cahall said her husband already told her to look at local hotels.
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Quote:
Buckeye pledges $100K in grants to revitalize core
by Eric Graf - Nov. 18, 2008 08:44 AM
The Arizona Republic
Buckeye's Core Area Revitalization Effort is taking a step forward in the effort to invigorate downtown.
The town has pledged $100,000 in grants as part of the program to be disbursed by the Buckeye Main Street Coalition, a private non-profit organization working with the town's Economic Development Department. Now, all the applications are in and the coalition is examining the requests from downtown businesses looking for a boost.
The money could be divvied up among several large projects, numerous small projects or anything in between. Each project is capped at $25,000 and matching funds must be provided by the business for a project over $10,000. The funds primarily came from a sales tax.
Typical improvements include painting, cleaning, façade repair, paving and permanent landscaping. All renovations must be consistent with the architectural design and external integrity of the building.
"The cost of permits and construction can really be an obstacle, especially in this economic climate," said Jay Broadbent, president of the Main Street Coalition. "It's a good shot in the arm for downtown. Things are happening and it's a good environment, but it takes a long time."
Broadbent is looking to have the grants finalized early next year. But choosing the projects may take some time, as some businesses will likely have to hone their requests, find the money to provide matching funds for bigger projects and work on construction quotes, he said.
The coalition will look at projects that satisfy design requirements and have potential to add jobs, said John Woods, the group's new executive director.
"These changes don't happen immediately," Woods said. "But these grants can get momentum going to where people are investing in their properties and improving downtown."
The town also is building its new town hall facilities on Monroe Avenue, in the middle of the downtown area targeted for revitalization.
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Last edited by HooverDam; Nov 18, 2008 at 4:10 PM.
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Mi Gente aren't always this f*cked up and unruly.
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