Author Archives: dvi_admin

Ascensus announces plans for new tech park office location in Tucson

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Ascensus, the nation’s largest independent retirement and college savings services provider, recently announced plans to open a new office location in Tucson by mid-2017 located in the UA Tech Park at Rita Road, owned and operated by the University of Arizona.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ascensus and its associates to the UA Tech Park,” Bruce Wright, associate vice president and chief executive officer of Tech Parks Arizona, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to our future growth together and value the role Ascensus provides to University of Arizona students through its 529 college savings programs. We would like to thank our partners who assisted in the recruitment efforts, including Arizona Commerce Authority, Sun Corridor, Inc., Pima County and the city of Tucson.”

Ascensus has experienced significant growth across all business lines, creating the need to augment both its facilities and workforce. After a national search Tucson was selected due to its strong labor force as well as attractive facilities. Additionally, the new location allows for enhanced client service coverage in the Pacific Time Zones where the company has many existing client relationships. 

The UA Tech Park is a dynamic community in which innovators and business leaders meet and where emerging companies and technology giants work side by side. The park is located in a suburban setting on Tucson’s rapidly growing southeast side. Its spacious campus encompasses 1,345 acres and 2 million square feet of developed space. The park is home to more than 40 companies with nearly 6,500 employees and is one of region’s major employment centers. Tech Park tenants contribute $1.75 billion to the local economy annually. 

The new Ascensus office space can accommodate about 170 associates, with an option to expand into additional space within the Tech Park as additional associates are needed. The positions for which Ascensus will be hiring include service center representatives, actuaries, account managers and software developers. Ascensus’ expansion into the park will have a projected economic impact of over $200 million for Tucson and the surrounding communities. 

2017 Best & Worst States For Business

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Arizona and Baja California signed a memorandum of understanding designed to contribute to the strengthening of the cross-border supply chain in key industry sectors and medical tourism between the two neighboring states. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also recently signed legislation that extends the incentives to data center companies that make major investments in their computer and telecommunication operations within the Grand Canyon State.
http://chiefexecutive.net/2017-best-worst-states-business/

County marks completion of World View HQ, spaceport

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Dec 30, 2016

Pima County and World View Enterprises on Thursday marked the completion of Spaceport Tucson and the headquarters and manufacturing plant the company will lease from the county.

The county entered into an economic development agreement with World View in January to keep the company in Tucson.

World View plans to use its space to manufacture its new, high-altitude balloon flight vehicles, known as Stratollites, and offer unmanned flights to the stratosphere for commerciial and research purposes.

The balloon vehicles can loiter over an area as a low-cost alternative to geostationary satellites for applications including communications, remote sensing, weather, and research.

Eventually, the company hopes to offer people the chance to ride to the edge of space for a fee.

The county completed construction of the building, south of Tucson International Airport at 1805 E. Aerospace Parkway, last week, and World View received a temporary occupancy permit on Dec. 21.

On Thursday, ima County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bronson, District 2 Supervisor Ramón Valadez and County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry presented a ceremonial key to World View founders and principals Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum to commemorate the completion of construction.

Bronson said the county completed the building and spaceport under the $15 million budget.

As part of an incentive agreement, World View also will manage and operate the adjacent county-owned Spaceport Tucson, a 700-foot diameter concrete launchpad the company and others will use to launch its high-altitude balloons.

A 2015 economic-impact study by a Phoenix firm found World View’s planned operation could have a $3.5 billion direct and indirect impact on the local economy over the next 20 years.

The county’s deal with World View is the subject of a pending lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute, which contends construction of the World View facilities are an unlawful use of taxpayer money.

2016 was good for Tucson’s economy, 2017 could be even better

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By Bud Foster

December 26th 2016

2016 was a very good year for the Tucson economy and economists predict 2017 will be even better.

Tucson was late bouncing back from the 2007 Great Recession but has now surpassed Phoenix in the job growth rate.

Pima County is the 3rd fastest job creator in the country according to the rating agency Standard and Poor’s.

According to U of A Economist George Hammond, Tucson’s job growth was about a half a per cent this year but will exceed 1.7 percent in the coming year and tickle 2 percent after that, which means an additional 15,000 new jobs in the next two years,

Looking around town and it’s not hard to imagine those predictions are valid.

Caterpillar is already bringing hundreds of new jobs to town and it will continue in 2017.

Vector Industries, a rocket making company, will join World View as the anchors of Tucson’s tech industry.

Raytheon, the top missile maker in the world, will add 2,000 jobs in a major expansion in the same area.

Comcast and Home Goods are adding hundreds of new jobs.

Ascensus will join 40 other companies at the ever growing U of A Tech Park which now employs more than 6,500 workers.

Downtown Tucson has seen its strongest resurgence in decades. A new Marriott hotel will open in 2017, the first new hotel downtown in 40 years.

Senior Living will build nine stories of senior housing at Church and Broadway.

The Diocese will being a new housing project as well and so will HSL Properties at La Placita.

The West side of Interstate 10 on Congress will become home to two new housing projects and a retail site which will break ground this year.

Greyhound will move into its new home at Broadway and Euclid before the end of the year, paving the way for a new hotel project at Congress and I-10.

City Park, a four-story food court, business center and retail space will break ground at Congress and Stone.

While housing permits and prices rebounded early in 2016 but slowed during the last half of the year, both are expected to increase in 2017 and bringing with them an increase in construction jobs.

The Foothills Mall was recently purchased by a group of local investors and will get a makeover.

Plans are being developed for two new retail outlet complexes at Irvington and I-19, as soon as the widening construction is finished.

“At this point, all indications are looking up,” said Hammond. But there are two ominous threats which could be looming on the horizon.

Arizona’s minimum wage increases nearly $2 an hour on January 1, 2017, from $8.05 to $10 an hour and increases steadily to $12 by 2020.

Whether that will have a net positive or negative effect isn’t known yet, because it’s the largest single year increase in the minimum wage ever.

And the peso, which is a big part of the Tucson economy due to the large number of Mexicans who shop in Tucson, has been hit hard by the increasing value of the American dollar.

Whether fewer people traveled across the border to shop this Christmas and may continue to do so isn’t known yet.

But it’s worth watching in 2017.