Scottsdale companies add more than 700 jobs this year

Peter Corbett -
Nov. 30, 2010 03:08 PM
The Arizona Republic

Yelp and Sage Software are the big new players in town, but Scottsdale's economic-development efforts have added more than 700 jobs in the city this year.

Sage Software, which develops accounting programs, has invested about $2.3 million in its facilities and employs 300 people here.

On the job at Yelp

Yelp, a San Francisco-based company that features consumer reviews of restaurants and other businesses, set up an office this spring in the Galleria Corporate Centre downtown for 150 workers and invested about $1.2 million in its facilities here.

The city's Economic Vitality Office also worked with eight other companies that expanded or moved to Scottsdale in 2010, including Kyocera, MetLife and Eventinterface.com.

The 10 companies occupy a total of 142,472 square feet, invested about $6.8 million in tenant improvements and have generated 731 jobs, said Harold Stewart, Economic Vitality's executive director.

"The number (of new jobs) is down a little bit, as you might expect with the economy," he said. "The (company) moves are slower, more carefully calculated and driven by cost factors."

Scottsdale has lost thousands of jobs in the recession but has managed to replace some of those positions in retail, business services and technology. Employers are taking advantage of lower real-estate prices and high vacancy rates to make the move to Scottsdale.

Joining efforts
The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce and the city are becoming more active in recruiting companies and need to take advantage of opportunities to woo top executives who visit Scottsdale for special events, chamber President Rick Kidder said.

"Everyone is trying to lure the big fish, and I just don't think there are many big fish to be had," he said, adding that smaller companies of 20 to 50 employees might be a more realistic goal.

Scottsdale's workforce totals 144,000, with unemployment of 6.2 percent in October. That is down from a peak this year of 6.8 percent in February, according to figures from the Arizona Department of Commerce.

Unemployment statewide was 9.3 percent in October and ranged from 4.8 percent in Gilbert to 7.7 percent in Mesa and 9.7 percent in Phoenix. Carefree and Cave Creek were both at 3.9 percent, while Fountain Hills' unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.

Scottsdale's unemployment rate typically runs about 2 to 3 percent below the statewide average, Stewart said.

Scottsdale also added close to 800 jobs less than a year ago when International Cruise and Excursions moved its headquarters into the former Dial building in the Scottsdale Airpark.

New opportunities
The city has a chance to add a light-manufacturing facility for Scottsdale-based Fluidic Energy, a company that developed a new battery technology.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council announced in late October that Fluidic Energy would locate its manufacturing plant somewhere in the Valley rather than in one of several other Southwestern states. The company is set to pick a site in early 2011.

Fluidic Energy, 8455 N. 90th St., was awarded $8 million in two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop its battery technology.

Renewable energy and biotechnology are among the sectors in which Scottsdale has experienced growth.

The 120 Plus Club, a bio-tech firm that helps people identify health changes, will employ about 20 people at SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center.

Green Choice Solar added 20 jobs at its Scottsdale Airpark facility.

Kyocera Solar Inc., which has developed solar technology for the railroad industry, employs about 100 people in its Airpark office.

The area around Scottsdale Airpark continues to attract jobs. That includes corporate offices in the Kierland area.

Jim Keeley, a longtime commercial real-estate broker, estimates that more than 2,500 companies in the Airpark employ about 48,500 workers, an increase of about 500 from a year ago. But that is still down from about 52,500 in 2007, he said.

"The confidence level is coming back" for employers and investors that real-estate values are bottoming out, Keeley said.

Keeley, who has tracked Airpark growth since 1989, is releasing his annual report on the area this week.

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