PHOENIX-After a year-long search, DIRTT Environmental Solutions has chosen Arizona for its western regional headquarters. The Canadian company, which manufactures sustainable wall solutions, singed a 10-year lease for 72,000 square feet of flex space just south of downtown Phoenix. It will eventually employ 100 people at its new office and distribution facility located at 836 E. University Dr.
Currently, DIRTT Environmental has satellite offices and showrooms in Chicago; New York City; Salt Lake City; and Savannah, GA. The Calgary-based firm evaluated a number of western states in addition to Arizona including California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, according to Kevin Lange, a director with Cushman & Wakefield’s local office.
Lange represented DIRTT Environmental in site selection and building negotiations. He tells GlobeSt.com that the Phoenix metro area competed with Las Vegas and Northern California for the firm’s expansion.
“The Bay Area just didn’t make sense because it was too expensive and not as far south as DIRTT wanted to be,” Lange explains. “Las Vegas offered more incentives than Phoenix, but it came down to employment base and the highway system to Southern California and Texas.”
Once DIRTT Environmental decided on the Phoenix metro area, it considered most of the submarkets near the airport. It narrowed its choices to five options in Phoenix and ended up choosing the 1980s-era building on University because of its proximity to downtown and its position in the flight path for Sky Harbor Airport. (The company plans to put its logo on the roof).
Lange says the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, along with the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona, worked hard to bring DIRTT Environmental to Phoenix. Both the city and state provided tax incentives to the company, which recently received $22 million in financing from clean technology investors Expansion Capital Partners, NGEN Partners, Apex Venture Partners, Export Development Canada and North Sky Capital.
DIRTT Environmental plans to invest $3 million to $4 million in its new facility here to create an open workspace and is working with Phoenix Design One and Butler Design Group.
Additionally, the company plans to install solar panels on the roof or parking canopies. Lange says it expects to pursue LEED certification. The company plans to move into its new space in late summer.
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