‘A complete metamorphosis of the city’: Major industries poised to invest big

The City of Maricopa is expected to call for bids on the city’s 680-acre business triangle property. Several major industries have expressed interest in acquiring and investing billions in developing land to create thousands of jobs there.

The industrial park land is south of Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and east of North White and Parker Road with access to a railroad spur.

Chief Strategy Officer Rick Horst told Maricopa City Council last night the city will call for bids on the site in about two weeks.

Horst and Chief Economic Development Officer Christian Price tag-teamed a presentation to the council, announcing two companies by name and an unnamed company that have expressed serious interest in developing the property.

“What about not driving [State Route] 347 because we’re employed here now?” Price addressed the council. “What if we have really cool businesses that are here, and they’re not retail size — they’re industrial businesses?”

Envision Waste Services, a Cleveland-based company, has initiated a “statement of interest” with the city, looking at a capital investment of $64 million and buying 25 acres from the city to create 80 jobs paying an average of $56,000 a year. It would construct a mixed waste processing facility, where materials are recovered for new product manufacturing.

An unnamed plastics renewal company proposes up to an $800 million capital investment, including the purchase of 70 acres from the city to create 200 jobs, averaging $50,000 a year in salaries, the city’s economic development team said.

The industry would use locally generated plastic waste to offset environmental hazards at landfills, Price said. The technology produces hydrocarbon liquids that can be repurposed into plastics and other products.

The industry would complement Envision Waste, Price said.

“Whether you like green or not, you’re about to put green into the economy,” Price said, “and you’re about to put Maricopa on the map in a whole new industry in something that’s never existed here before.”

Another firm, San Diego-based Prescott Composites, a Prescott Renewables company, proposes a capital investment in the business triangle up to $1.8 billion and the purchase of 172 acres.

Price said the company produces waste-to-energy and graphite and graphene material used in battery components. Graphene is a composite material that is stronger than steel but lighter in weight.

Next year, jobs produced would total 160, but would dramatically increase to 1,000 in 2026, then 1,150 in 2027, 1,800 in 2028 and 2,600 jobs in 2029, Price said.

Average wages would run between $60,000 and $110,000.

“They’re ready to go,” Horst said of Prescott Renewables. “As a matter of fact, they’d like to make an announcement six weeks, eight weeks.”

Horst said the city has spent “a pretty penny” buying up industrial land in the triangle, “but we’ll get it all back and then some.”

Excess funds from city land sales will go into additional infrastructure in “the next 1,000-acre industrial park because we can’t just put all our eggs in one basket.”

Horst said ultimately there could be 12.6 million square feet in topnotch industrial buildings in the park. He said there will be a need for 15,000 parking spaces to accommodate workers.

“Now people are already saying that’s going to put a lot of traffic on the roads,” Horst said, adding he hopes most workers will choose to live in Maricopa.

“Folks, this is just the start and when something like this locates here, it’s so exciting because what it does is put you on the map,” he said, adding other investors want to know where industries are going and why existing industry is coming to Maricopa.

Horst said another statement of interest “would be a complete metamorphosis of the city.”

Horst said another company is interested in the proposed “smart rail” spur in the business triangle that could ultimately lead to 37,000 new jobs.

Immediately the project’s capital investment of $1 billion would create 5,000 temporary construction jobs to build it. The proposal would add some $5 million in new city infrastructure and generate more than $5 million in new property taxes.

The project would include between 500 and 2,000 onsite housing units on 680 acres.

Horst said onsite housing for workers is not unusual, with apartment housing being built in Chandler for a microchip facility there. Such housing is considered an incentive to work there, Horst said.

Price and Horst said the industries would be clustered at the business triangle and complement one another’s production. They would have access to a railroad spur, which eliminates trucks on the road.

Horst said of the 728 city-owned acres proposed for sale, if voters approve Proposition 482 on the Nov. 5 ballot, 680 acres makes up the industrial park

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