Phoenix Rising Investments and Willmeng recently completed work on their “AMPlify” development of a Honeywell building at 6505 W. Chandler Blvd., west of Kyrene Road in west Chandler.

According to a news release, the latest “AMPlify” project transformed a vacant, back-office building into a high-tech manufacturing facility that has a dedicated 50 MW SRP substation for Honeywell.

“On behalf of the city of Chandler, I want to thank Phoenix Rising Investments for their vision and efforts in redeveloping the site,” said Chandler

Mayor Kevin Hartke who took part in a recent ceremonial ribbon-cutting event at the facility.

“When this site was originally acquired in 2019, this building was vacant and underutilized. Amplify had vision; you saw the potential in the building and you brought it back to life.”

In 2018, PRI founder and majority owner Michael Hsiung and Willmeng CEO James Murphy toured the building and saw what they felt was a tremendous opportunity, the release states.

As they made their way to the roof, they looked out over an empty parking lot and an overgrown water retention basin and envisioned what was to become the first (of five, currently) AMPlify projects.

Over the next six years, the AMPlify team executed this vision by converting the 157,400 square foot building and parking field into a 200,000 square foot high-tech manufacturing facility that includes a dedicated 50-megawatt substation.

With the full redesign of the site and the dedicated substation, PRI was able to sign Honeywell to occupy the entire site, ensuring a key tenant remains in the west Chandler market.

“I distinctly remember, six years ago, standing on the rooftop overlooking a vacant parking lot, imagining its potential beyond an empty, back-office building,” Hsiung said in the release. “Now, seeing that same space transformed into a high-tech manufacturing facility, complete with a new substation and this 40,000 square foot extension, is absolutely remarkable. It’s wild to see how a simple conversation between friends can evolve into a tangible, transformative reality, even with all the twists and turns of a development of this kind.”

The expansion includes 32-foot clear heights, office suites, lab space, meeting spaces, secured yards, a complete transformation of the air handling systems throughout, the addition of 10 megawatts of backup generation and break rooms.

The new addition at the facility was tied into the existing building to allow for 200,000 square feet of contiguous high-tech manufacturing space with a 50-megawatt dedicated substation.

The team also updated the landscaping of the surrounding property.

“The vision here began with a power strategy," said Willmeng CEO James Murphy. "The dedicated substation didn’t exist in the previous facility. So, kudos to SRP for believing in the vision of this site and deploying the infrastructure on the confidence that Mike and PRI would do what they said they would do and that Chandler would support it. SRP being a patient partner on this is another key source of confidence that helped make this project a success.”

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