Op-ed: Three wins for jobs in Phoenix

• Banner Health will move its corporate headquarters to the midtown Phoenix
• American Express Global Business Travel will expand in the Kierland area
• Aligned Energy will occupy a massive vacant building near I-17

I am excited to hear the news that Banner Health has chosen to move its corporate headquarters to the midtown-area of District 4. Banner will relocate along the Central corridor at Thomas and Central where they will occupy several hundred thousand square feet of commercial office space, providing more than 1,400 jobs over the next five years; 800 of those jobs new to the market.

Banner Health is the largest private sector employer in Arizona.

Peter Fine, Banner's CEO, projects the corporation will save up to $20 million by relocating to an existing building in the area, as opposed to constructing a new building. The current corporate headquarters will become the University Medical Center Phoenix and be designated as an academic medical center for the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine-Phoenix. At this new teaching facility, patients will receive specialty care in numerous disciplines that will revolutionize healthcare.

This move shows the midtown market, an area that was hit hard by the recession, is bouncing back. Midtown provides an ideal location for Banner and its employees as the new location will consolidate office space from multiple locations across the Valley.

Located along Metro light rail, midtown is an up-and-coming area that provides ease of access to and from the downtown core and several points of interest, including local vibrant destinations such as urban restaurants, unique retail stores, arts and culture venues and new high-density residential projects such as Edison at midtown and Broadstone in the Central Arts District.

With the creation of the Phoenix Innovation Corridor, we are seeing a new surge and increased interest in the area. Having grown up in Phoenix, I see how the market is shifting from law firms and financial institutions to more tech companies, startups, research and development and corporate headquarters that are closely connected to the knowledge economy.

Phoenix Union High School District is getting ready to launch a first-of-its-kind coding program at Central High School. This program will provide students the opportunity to expand their high school experience in the technology arena. This type of program adds to the diverse field of potential workforce options for companies coming into the area.

District 4 can now boast that some of the strongest healthcare assets exist in the midtown market with Banner University Medical Center, Dignity Health - St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Children's Hospital, the Arizona Heart Hospital and the Arizona Heart Institute leading the conversation on world-class research and medical developments.

We are now seeing vacancy rates fall from a high of nearly 30 percent to a projection into the teens by the end of the year. Not since the Industrial Revolution have we seen a time when more people are choosing to live in the urban heart of a city. Midtown and Central City are leading the way in Phoenix in this movement, which will drive new companies who are attracted to the areas creative talent who have chosen a vibrant urban lifestyle.

—Councilwoman Laura Pastor represents District 4 in central and west Phoenix.

A win for Kierland corridor

We are thrilled American Express Global Business Travel, a leading travel management company, has selected Phoenix for its next expansion. The company, which provides travel-related services, technology and other solutions for the $7 trillion global travel industry, will occupy a 50,000 square-foot location in District 2.

The company will bring 260 new high-wage jobs to the Kierland Employment Corridor and has plans for further expansion. American Express's choice to locate in Kierland demonstrates the area continues to be a desired location for corporations. Kierland offers significant amenities and a mixed-use area attractive to a well-educated workforce. A knowledgeable workforce drives corporate decisions to locate or expand in the area.

As a city we need Kierland and Desert Ridge to bring new and innovative tech companies into the area to complement the tremendous corporate base that exists today.

—Councilman Jim Waring represents District 2 in northeast Phoenix.

A win for the I-17 corridor

During the Great Recession, consumers spent less, businesses scaled back, vacant homes dotted neighborhoods and commercial property vacancy rates soared. As the economy inched toward recovery, spending returned, homes and commercial properties began to fill and the outlook seemed promising. The economy showed signs of renewal, but a very large and visible commercial property sat empty for several years along the Interstate 17.

After several attempts over the years to attract a business to fill the site known as the Honeywell Union Hills facility, the vacant 575,000 square-foot commercial building at Union Hills Drive and I-17 will soon be filled by Aligned Energy. The company plans to turn it into a green data center, and this is no doubt a major win for Phoenix's economy.

Here's why turning this one property from vacant to green is so important to the region: new jobs, capital investment and strengthening the I-17 Corridor.

Aligned Energy's project will create indirect construction jobs when it retrofits the building. Then it will fill the site with 150 new high wage jobs, along with a significant number of contract jobs. These are not employees transferred from one area of the Valley to another; these are new IT/cyber security jobs with new salaries and income injected into the local economy. Data centers naturally bring about new business to an area with new technologies, development, call centers and other functions of business that can connect to the data center.

Data centers are the lifeblood behind transmission of digital data. Phones, computers, tablets, just about everything that requires a digital transmission is done through a data center. Traditionally, the data centers store and move huge volumes of information and eat up large amounts of energy, especially for cooling hardware. Aligned Energy reinvents how data centers operate and energy use is drastically reduced, lowering the utility consumption associated with traditional data centers.

Transforming a property that sat vacant for several years into a "green data center" with a long-term commitment to sustainability requires a significant capital investment. By creating new jobs and adding hundreds of millions in capital investment, Aligned Energy is investing in its future in Phoenix.

Aligned Energy's plan to turn the property into technology-centered green real estate adds to the strength of the growing I-17 Corridor. Technology and corporate sites are at the forefront of development along the corridor. In addition, corporate campuses such as PetSmart, Safeway, W.L Gore and the recently completed expansion of the USAA Campus, stretch the corridor. These corporate campuses are in close proximity to Arizona State University West Campus, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Brown Mackie and the expanding Ottawa University, which all feed into the corporate campuses of nationally recognized companies.

Technology real estate, corporate campuses, higher education and new jobs compliment a robust retail environment. Toward the south of I-17 Corridor, Metrocenter's Carlyle Development Group is working with the city to redevelop, attract future economic development and return the area to the vibrant core it once was, serving as a catalyst to redefine the surrounding community.

Out of the recession came a new way of thinking about development. While it may seem important to fill one property to check it off a vacant list, it goes much deeper than that in our new cyclical economy. Phoenix needs to work with businesses to stay on the cutting edge of development and find new ways to fill empty urban spaces.

—Councilwoman Thelda Williams represents District 1 in northwest Phoenix.