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State land auction could support Phoenix semiconductor facility

Posted 3/18/21

Phoenix officials are mum about a land deal expected to support a new semiconductor facilities plant near Deer Valley Airport.

A land property, totaling 223.79 acres, is set to be auctioned March 30 and potentially could be home to semiconductor facilities. According to published reports, a company in Taiwan is looking at the Valley land for a massive fabrication plant.

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Business

State land auction could support Phoenix semiconductor facility

Posted

Phoenix officials are mum about a land deal expected to support a new semiconductor facilities plant near Deer Valley Airport.

A property totaling 223.79 acres is set to be auctioned March 30 and potentially could be home to facilities that could support a planned Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility in north Phoenix.

According to published reports, TSMC isn't the only semiconductor maker seeking a site in the region. Samsung is looking at the Valley for a massive fabrication plant. TSMC already has plans for a site near Carefree Highway and Interstate 17.

In January, the Phoenix City Council rezoned two state trust land properties to a more flexible general plan and zoning designations to potentially increase the land's value ahead of its auction. The two properties total 272 acres.

The move is part of a much larger effort by city officials to clear the way for semiconductor facilities and about 3,500 acres near Interstate 17 and Loop 303 were also rezoned as part of an effort to allow for employment uses, according to published reports.

The Arizona State Land Department will oversee the auction where three parcels will be sold for a minimum bid of $55.1 million.
Proceeds from the auctioned land will benefit state services such as education.

One piece of land — a 163.7-acre property at the southeast corner of 19th Avenue and Alameda Road — is about a half mile north of the Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. The other property is about a mile east of the first, at the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Happy Valley Road. Both properties are vacant.

Officials aren’t commenting on the land deal since the pact is considered an active economic development project.

“That project is tied to a land auction,” said Eric Jay Toll, spokesperson for the city of Phoenix's Community and Economic Development Department. “We are under a non-disclosure (agreement). We can’t talk about it.”

Continued work on bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs north Phoenix and the West Valley could be a boon for a region that has struggled to land high wage jobs. The Valley's heavy tech industry, which includes major players such as Intel Corp., ON Semiconductor Corp. and others, is primarily based in Phoenix and Chandler.

The West Valley at one time was home to major operations from New Jersey-based Honeywell, but that company has consolidated its operations primarily at its operations near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

TSMC's planned plant could bring as many as 1,600 jobs to the region. But semiconductor manufacturing requires a host of other supply businesses to support those efforts, and industrial areas, such as those around Deer Valley Airport, could be primed for that.

Earlier this year, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the land zoning changes gives city officials the “ability to bring high-wage jobs” and to “the great employment hub in District 1” within city limits.

Earlier this year, an additional 158 acres that is not vacant was included in the general plan and zoning changes, but the land’s use is not going to change in the near future. This property is directly south of the property at 19th Avenue and Alameda Road. It is leased by a company called Exponent, which uses it for crash tests and to test and evaluate a range of products, from sports equipment to electric vehicle batteries, according to the company’s website.

Exponent’s lease runs through 2027, and Phoenix staff reports state the company’s activity will not be affected by the rezone.

Phoenix rezoned property Exponent leases and the adjacent vacant property southeast of 19th Avenue and Alameda Road as one property.

But the State Land Department is not auctioning them together. The land department has scheduled the auction of the vacant property for Tuesday, March 30.

The land will be auctioned along with two nearby smaller state trust parcels (25 acres and 34 acres) directly next to the airport, southeast of Seventh Avenue and Pinnacle Peak Road.

Up for sale in April is 1,100 acres in Goodyear north of Interstate 10 between Citrus and Perryville roads that is believed to be eyed by Samsung for a $17 billion chip manufacturing operation, according to reports published in local and national media.

The Arizona State Land Department manages millions of acres of land that Congress granted to Arizona when it gained statehood to use for public services, namely, education. Arizona originally was granted 10.9 million acres of state trust land; about 8 million of the remaining 9.2 million acres of state trust land are used for public K-12 education.

Land that is not needed for such public uses can be sold to fund public services such as public K-12 education and public colleges and universities.