Price: Industry could come to Maricopa in two years

Maricopa’s future industrial park could see its first tenants in two years.

Although he wouldn’t name who, Chief Economic Development Officer Christian Price teased that detail this morning during a Maricopa Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes.

Price, a former Maricopa mayor, said after nearly a decade of collaborative efforts to bring industry to Maricopa, at least two of five large companies are “ready to pull the trigger.”

“There’s still details and things that we’re working out,” he said. “But the idea is they’re ready to go right now, which means they want to be up and running in the next two years.”

Price added that Maricopans can expect “some big announcements” as early as this fall.

“It could happen as early as July and some are ready to go, but we can’t announce it yet,” he said.

While a lot of time and factors contribute to enticing a multibillion-dollar company to set up shop in a city such as Maricopa, Price said the city’s upcoming industrial triangle on Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and White and Parker Road has companies talking.

A large part of that has to do with empty land surrounding the rail line that parallels the highway. It’s a rare find in a metropolitan area.

“(The railroad) makes it one of the most marketable areas in all the Phoenix-metro area because there’s only one or two other places that have any rail available,” he said.

Utilizing freight rail is a large advantage for certain industries like agriculture, energy and automotive because of the volume, weight and distance needed to transport goods across the country.

“Rail is critical,” Price said. “If you have a bunch of corporations all accessing the rail, those properties will be extremely valuable.”

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