"It's the largest office complex under construction in the entire state," Clay Wells, business development manager for builder, the Weitz Co., tells GlobeSt.com. "In this market, and especially in this economy, it's incredible."

Located at the northwest corner of Price and Queen Creek roads in Chandler, the first phase of the Wells Fargo Ocotillo Corporate Center will encompass two, four-story steel-frame buildings with 400,000 sf of office space interlinked by an open courtyard and accented at its entrance by a large fountain. The buildings, scheduled to be completed in September 2004, will employ about 2,000 Wells Fargo workers in administrative, management, operations and other positions. Future plans for the site, a former dairy farm, call for the addition of about a million sf of office space in two or three other buildings that could house up to 6,000 workers.

Wells Fargo bought the land earlier this year from the DRA Family LLC and Richard and Deanna Anglin, all of Chandler, in separate transactions. Wells Fargo paid $7.8 million for 57.1-acre parcel owned by the DRA Family LLC and $640,000 for 4.4 acres owned by the Anglins.

Designed by the DLR Group of Phoenix, the project will be built by Weitz for Wells Fargo. It is builder's fifth project for Wells Fargo and its subsidiaries.