In the north-west corner of the Greater Phoenix area, the City of Surprise continues to be an exciting location for new housing, retail, restaurant and industrial development. Growth in the city has exploded over the past two decades, and today we find a community with a large, educated workforce that is growing every day. Whether your priorities are workforce, surrounding amenities, or the availability of office-ready sites, conditions in Surprise are ideal now for suburban Class A corporate office development.
In the past five years the city has added more than 7,500 single-family homes and is projected to complete 75,000+ more homes in the next decade. One of the most recent housing developments is the region’s latest executive luxury resort-style living community, Sterling Grove by Toll Brothers. With more than 2,200 homes planned, Sterling Grove has just been recognised by the 2022 Pacific Coast Builder Conference with the prestigious Masterplan Community of the Year Award and the Best Landscape Architecture for a Community Award. As housing developments have increased in the area, so too have retail, entertainment, education and restaurant offerings, which have the City of Surprise perfectly primed for new office development.
A workforce like no other
Of course, one of the greatest concerns for all companies is the available local workforce and it is here where Surprise truly excels. Over the course of the next decade, Surprise is on target to build 6,000-7,000 new single-family residences each year. These homes are greatly needed as the city’s population has jumped almost 30% since 2010 to more than 150,000 residents today and is expected to grow to 215,000 by 2030. Of the current population, 52% – or approximately 74,000 people – are working age between 20 and 64 years old, with two-thirds of this workforce having some college or a college degree. For these workers, the top occupational categories by their median earnings in the City of Surprise include: computer, engineering and science ($89K); management, business and financial ($62K); healthcare practitioners and technical ($61K); and installation, maintenance and repair ($53K)1
Additionally, within a 30-minute commute shed there are approximately a quarter of a million workers, more than 80% of which live within the region but must travel outside of it for work2. As has become apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, employees have begun to reprioritise their work habits and want to move away from long commutes. Proximity to workplace will become increasingly important for future recruiting, and it is evident that development within the City of Surprise will give businesses an advantage on that front.
Just as important as the current labour force is the development of future workers. Realising this great need, Surprise has been a proactive recruiter, and more than five years ago brought in Ottawa University Arizona (OUAZ), which launched its newest residential campus right in the heart of the Surprise City Center. Today the campus boasts more than 1,000 students and is expected to grow to 3,000 in the next ten years. OUAZ offers undergraduate bachelor’s degrees in biology, communication, engineering, leadership and management, mathematics, and many others. The university also offers a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Cybersecurity in addition to several master’s degrees, inducing MBAs, MSN and more.
Feeling the power
Another major amenity that can be found in the City of Surprise is the first retail, entertainment and commercial ‘power center’ opened in the western US in the past decade, the Village at Prasada. This will feature 700,000ft2 of retail, restaurant and entertainment, with phase one of the project opening in the autumn of 2022. With the rapid development along the entire length of the Arizona State Route 303, the Village at Prasada fills the need forincreased dining and shopping options, not just for Surprise, but for the entire West Valley region. Many companies along the 35-mile stretch of the Loop 303 will be able to lure prospective employees with their proximity to high-quality retail and dining.
As exciting as the Village at Prasada is for the region, it is just one part of the larger Prasada development plan within the City of Surprise. Prasada also features a 180-acre auto mall with nine different dealerships and two more on the way, a $150m industrial park named Cactus 303, medical, financial and grocery services, as well as thousands of multi-family and single-family homes. While the Prasada development is accelerating at a record pace, there is still time to find the perfect future home for a major office development.
The Prasada region is only one of the City of Surprise’s exciting location opportunities for Class A office development. Space is now available in the Surprise City Center, one square mile in the heart of the Surprise Downtown that is prime for development. This location also houses the Surprise City Hall, the Ottawa University Campus, the Surprise Community Park, the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex, as well as over a dozen restaurants. City Center is also adjacent to the Surprise Stadium, spring training home to the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals.
Whether you are looking for a prime location on the Loop 303, right next to major retailers and restaurants, or if you would prefer an office campus next to the future mixed-use downtown at Surprise City Center, right next door to our Ottawa University campus, Surprise certainly has the perfect site for you. The team in Surprise has attractive, safe, visible, top-class locations that are guaranteed to be a source of pride for any Fortune 500 office or financial headquarters operation.
Give the Surprise team a call at 623-222-3300 or check out our website at surpriseaz.gov/econdev to connect with us and learn more about our sites and opportunities to welcome new office development!
1 https://azmag.gov/Programs/Maps-and-Data/Community-Profiles
2 https://azmag.gov/Portals/0/Maps-Data/Commute-Shed-Reports/Surprise.pdf?ver=UeCWEGfvNtj_BTP1XC6sqA==
