Economic & Business News Summer 2008
Phoenix Utility Plans Huge Solar Plant The utility that supplies electricity to most of the Phoenix metro area, the Arizona Public Service Company (APS), announced plans recently for one of the largest solar plants in the world, a 280-megawatt concentrating solar power generating station. APS selected Abengoa Solar, a Spanish-based multinational firm, to build, own and operate the solar plant. APS will buy all of the output from the plant for at least 30 years. The solar plant will use 2,700 parabolic mirrors to concentrate solar heat on to pipes carrying a heat transfer fluid that can reach 735 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot pipes boil water to make steam that spins turbines. Excess heat will be stored in a molten salt solution so that generation can continue after sunset. The amount of water needed will be much less than what is being put on the crops currently growing on the three square-mile area located 70 miles southwest of Phoenix. abengoasolar.com	Economic Strength of Phoenix Ranks 6^th Each year, POLICOM Corporation ranks the 363 metropolitan areas in the United States for “Economic Strength.” This is defined as the long-term tendency for an area to consistently grow in size and quality. POLICOM Corporation is an independent research firm which specializes in analyzing local and state economies. It evaluates growth rates, consistency trends, industry averages, retail sales, job growth, per capita income and many other factors for each area. More than 100 economic elements are measured for multiple time periods to come up with one master list of “Economic Strength Rankings” each year. POLICOM announced the rankings for 2008 in May and the Phoenix metropolitan area was ranked 6^th. Last year, Phoenix was ranked 7^th. Detailed information can be found at their Web site: policom.com.
Biotech Research Institutes Get Big Contracts The government of Luxembourg announced in June that it had awarded $200 million of contracts to three U.S. biotech research institutes to “establish a bioscience center of excellence” in Luxembourg. Two of the three research institutes are in Phoenix, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Partnership for Personalized Medicine (PPM). TGen will lead the establishment of the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg, working with scientists and physicians from that country to develop and implement the next generation of molecular medicine. PPM will help the “Luxembourg Project Lung Cancer” develop bio-markers to diagnose and manage that disease from early detection through treatment. Visit the tgen.org Web site for more details.	Children’s Museum of Phoenix Now Open The new museum opened in downtown Phoenix on June 14, following 10 years of planning, fundraising and construction. The Children’s Museum occupies 55,000 square feet of the handsome and historic Monroe School, originally built in 1913. The City of Phoenix bought the school building in 2002 for $5 million with funds raised by a bond issue approved by the residents of the city. Then the city government poured another $5.5 million into upgrading the building for the Children’s Museum. A non-profit group raised another $12.3 million of grants to prepare the hands-on activities and exhibits, and to hire the 85-person staff. The museum is expected to draw 300,000 to 500,000 visitors per year, mostly children under age 11 and their parents.
Renovations Planned for Historic Towers The Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission recommended that the City Council approve $500,000 to support a renovation of the original “sky scrapers” in Phoenix. Last year Hansji Urban bought the block in downtown Phoenix that contains the two buildings for $28 million. Under the agreement, the 10-story Luhrs Building, completed in 1924 (on the left), and the 14-story Luhrs Tower, completed in 1930, will be renovated and upgraded to Class A office space. Eventually Hansji Urban plans to raze the rest of the structures in the block and build a full-service, high-rise hotel and another office tower on that property. The historic buildings are one block from the US Airways Arena and four blocks from the baseball stadium and the convention center. The light rail line passes immediately in front of the buildings.	School of Journalism Built in 55 Weeks In October, 2006, the city of Phoenix awarded a contract to Sundt construction company, to design and build an academic and broadcast facility for the ASU Walter Crokite School of Journalism and KAET 8 public television station. The goal was to have the building finished in time for professors to move in before the school year starting in August, 2008. Construction began in May 2007. Fifty-five weeks later the six-story building with 223,000 square feet of classrooms, offices and broadcast studios was finished and ASU was installing its computers. The building will be shared by KAET, the public television station, and by the Cronkite School of Journalism. It is will qualify as a “Green Building,” probably at the LEED silver level.
Convention Center gets Green Building Award The U.S. Green Building Council awarded a silver certificate in June to the Phoenix Convention Center’s newest building. The West Building, completed in 2006, was built with some of the materials of the building it replaced. It has water-saving plumbing, excellent insulation and 732 peel-and-stick solar panels on the flat roof. The solar panels are expected to produce 150,000 kilowatt hours of electricity every year, only a fraction of what is needed for the 157,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. But the solar panels reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced through conventional electricity generation by 95 metric tons per year.	Houses Built in Phoenix with Solar Panels A Phoenix-based home builder, Zacher Homes, is now building three neighborhoods of high-end town houses in northern Phoenix with solar panels on the roof. The two-kilowatt solar systems will save the owners an estimated $400 each on their annual electricity bill, but the savings will increase each year that electricity prices rise. Furthermore, the solar panels on top help to shade the roof and reduce the heat penetrating the roof. Incorporating the solar systems into the design and construction of a house is cheaper and more efficient that retro-fitting an existing house. For more information about these houses, go to zacherhomes.com.
ASU Planning Huge Solar Panel Installation Arizona State University announced in June that it had reached agreement with three companies to install up to 330,000 square feet of solar panels, at the companies’ expense, on ASU buildings. ASU will pay those companies for the solar electricity over the next 15 years at a fixed rate that is slightly lower than what it is now paying to the local utility. Honeywell Building Systems, Independent Energy Group and SolEquity will build the systems. The plan calls for two megawatts of generating capacity installed on 135,000 square feet by the end of the year. Two megawatts of capacity is larger than any other rooftop installation in the United States. Additional solar panels will then be installed at other ASU facilities, including the downtown Phoenix campus.	Construction Booming along Light Rail Line Transit officials estimate that developers committed almost $6 billion since 2004 on public and private projects along the 20-mile long light rail line that will begin operating in December 2008. This figure includes construction completed, and underway or planned within a half-mile of the light rail track. Public projects include the expanded Phoenix Convention Center, dormitories at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus and the new Children’s Museum of Phoenix. Private projects include new hotels, office towers and condominiums, as well as upgrades to several shopping centers. Property values near the light rail line are rising faster than property further from the line
Company Highlights	Upcoming Trade Shows
APS Innovation to Protect Electricity Grid The Arizona Public Service Company, a Phoenix-based electricity utility, was awarded the highest honor of the Edison Electric Institute at its June 16 meeting for an important innovation. APS has designed and installed about 100 sensors on its largest transformers to help prevent power outages. The Transformer Oil Analysis and Notification system remotely monitors the mineral oil fluid inside the transformers every four hours. In the past, service technicians had to take manual samples and wait days for the test results to identify problems.	Green Summit, Sept. 5 -6 The Green Summit conference and trade show, to be held in the Phoenix Convention Center, will prove a tremendous opportunity for companies with the latest green products and services to reach key decision-makers. Government, academic and business leaders from the Southwest will attend this sustainability focused event hosted by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Arizona Association of Economic Development, and the United States Green Building Council. To learn more or to register as an exhibitor, go to greensummit.net.
TeleSphere Gets Funding for Expansion TeleSphere, a Phoenix-based Voice Over Internet Provider, announced in June that three equity groups had put $10 million of private funding into the company so that it could expand to new markets. TeleSphere's services allow small- to medium-sized businesses to enjoy all of the latest voice and data features of large businesses without the costly investment of on-premise equipment. TeleSphere enables companies that are spread across multiple offices throughout the country, to function seamlessly as if they were in the same location.	Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, Sept 28 – 30 The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals is organizing its 2008 Hispanic Marketing Convention and Expo for the end of September in the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. The Association expects about 1,500 of its members will participate in this conference including real estate agents, mortgage brokers, title officers, and others. The mission of this trade association is to increase the rate of Hispanic home ownership by empowering the advisors that serve them. See 2008hispanicmarketingconventon.com for more information.
Abraxis BioScience Upgrading Phoenix Plant Abraxis BioScience Inc. is overhauling its manufacturing facility in Phoenix even as it continues to use that plant to manufacture injectable medicines for other companies under contract. Abraxis is not changing the size of the 200,000-square-foot plant, but it is significantly upgrading the interior with new air handlers and new machinery so that the plant can also manufacture ABRAXANE, the company’s cancer fighting drug. Abraxis purchased the plant last year from Watson Pharmaceutical.	Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition, Oct 27 - 30 The Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition is expected to draw more than 2,000 people to the Phoenix Convention Center at the end of October. Exhibitors and industry experts from over 30 countries will attend the conference. Highlights of the exposition will include over 175 exhibitions, a ride and drive attraction, quick courses on the technology, and a state of the industry closing pane. Go to fuelcellseminar.com for more details.
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