February 11, 2000
Chris Fiscus, Reporter Jonathan Sidener contributed to this article.
The Arizona Republic
Construction will start today on a $2 billion Intel microchip plant eagerly
embraced Thursday night by the Chandler City Council.
To real estate analysts and city leaders, it's a crucial step toward
molding the city of 175,000 into more than just a bedroom community. "It's
a tremendous deal for the whole south Valley," said R.L. Brown, publisher
of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter. "That's the kind of business that
economic developers drool over."
The Intel Corp.'s expansion will create about 1,000 jobs.
"We've been pointing toward this since '94," said Dave Olney, Intel's site
development manager. "Chandler is really the high-tech oasis of the
'Silicon Desert.' "
The computer chip company hopes to complete construction in less than 18
months.
Part of the development agreement approved Thursday is to make Intel's new
plant a foreign trade zone, which would slash Intel's property assessment
from 25 percent to 5 percent. Intel's existing chip plant also has such an
agreement.
Even with the tax break, Intel officials say the company pays the highest
property taxes in Chandler.
Intel also is paying full impact fees, or about $4.5 million, for the new
plant to offset the impact on infrastructure such as streets.
The 360,000-square-foot chip plant will be built on the western side of
Dobson Road near Ocotillo Road. The project also will add a four-story,
320,000-square-foot manufacturing support building, a 123,000-square-foot
utility building and expansions to several other structures.
Intel also has plans for an expansion that could someday add another chip
plant and another manufacturing support building to its Chandler land.
"This is not going to be the end," Olney said.
Chandler leaders see the new plant as a magnet for other high-technology
companies, and Olney says there could be other side effects.
"You're going to see suppliers and vendors coming into Chandler because
they want to be close to Intel," he said.
Chandler already is home to Intel, Motorola and Microchip. And Microchip
may build a new chip plant with a price tag that could range from $450
million to $1 billion.
The fact that the new plant will be in Chandler thrills council member
Donna Wallace.
"Fabulous. I just think it's fabulous," she said of the jobs, the economic
impact and Intel's involvement in the community.