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Glendale Red Bull facility first of many projects coming to industrial campus

Posted 3/26/19

By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

A new Red Bull canning facility announced last month will bring at least 140 jobs to Glendale.

But that’s just the start.

The Red Bull facility, …

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Glendale Red Bull facility first of many projects coming to industrial campus

Posted

By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

A new Red Bull canning facility announced last month will bring at least 140 jobs to Glendale.

But that’s just the start.

The Red Bull facility, which hopes to be fully operational by January 2021, is the first announced on the 1,340-acre Woolf Logistics Industrial Campus. The city anticipates rapid industrial growth on the rest of the campus and in the entire region of western Glendale. Red Bull and its partner companies may also expand their operations in the area.

Kevin Phelps

“Here in the next 24 to 36 months, barring any downturn in the economy, I think there’s just going to be a hotbed of activity along our western boundary for growth,” City Manager Kevin Phelps said.

Mayor Jerry Weiers announced the facility, which will be at the southeast corner of Reems Road and Peoria Avenue, at his State of the City address last month. The warehouse will be a partnership between Red Bull, a fruit juice company called Rauch, which cans products for Red Bull, and Ball Corporation, which makes Red Bulls’ cans.

All jobs at the facility will be related to Red Bull production, according to spokeswoman for Glendale’s economic development department Lorie German. Cans will be filled at the facility, but not made at the facility, according to Ball Corp. spokesman Scott McCarty.

The original announcement by the companies said the facility would provide 140 jobs. All jobs will be pay at least $40,000 per year and about 50 will pay $60,000 or more, according to Mr. Phelps.

City staff has indicated that the companies will increase their investment in the area.

“We are optimistic that the numbers will increase as the project progresses and we understand that preliminary numbers provided are conservative estimates,” Mr. German said in an emailed statement.

Mr. Phelps hinted that additional news on the project is imminent. He said he expects construction to start “quickly” on the facility, “but I wouldn’t be surprised that long before the ribbon-cutting is completed that a lot will have changed out there in terms of their future plans,” he said. “…I would say that there’s a high probability again that down the road there will be either expansion or additional things happening there.

One factor behind the foreseen job growth is that the companies have already added a fifth “filling line” when four were originally planned.

The size of the project also signals expansion. The 700,000 square-foot canning facility will take up only about 16 acres of a 120-acre site. Ms. German said the warehouse will sit on “Phase 1” of the campus, which will take up 70 of the 120 acres.

Woolf Logistics campus

The Red Bull facility is the first announced on the Woolf Logistics campus, but Mr. Phelps believes it could be a catalyst for the rest of the campus because it will provide infrastructure to the much of the rest of the campus and will demonstrate Glendale’s speed to market for other potential tenants.

“I believe the Woolf Logistics team are going to be able to attract some really, really quality tenants here in the next few years. It’s a great site,” Mr. Phelps said.

An aerial photo shows the site of the future Woolf Logistics campus. The Red Bull, Rauch, Ball Corp. facility will be at the northwest corner. The canning facility will be in the northwest corner of the campus. Red Bull, Rauch and Ball Corp. must pay for water, wastewater, electricity and telecommunications to be extended from Glendale Avenue, about three miles to the south. By extending the infrastructure across the campus, future tenants will be able to more easily access these utilities.

“It puts Woolf Logistics in a much stronger position to recruit other businesses to come in because now that infrastructure’s in place, so they just have to pay essentially a connection charge,” Mr. Phelps said.

Rose farm mogul Leyton Woolf owns the campus and can choose which companies to sell to. Glendale can facilitate the sale process by providing companies a smooth transition from speculating to building to operating. Farms on the site will be scaled back and shut down as land is sold.

This first project on the campus will also give the city the ability to exhibit its speed to market to other potential industrial tenants.

“This will be a great demonstration project to other potential tenants that will show them that not only did we commit to doing something, but we’re able to fulfill it,” Mr. Phelps said.

Mr. Phelps pointed to Topgolf as an example of the city’s speed to market. It took 67 days from the day Topgolf inquired about site to day it broke ground, which included purchase of sale agreements, approved general plan amendments, approved zoning changes, and approved site plans. Mr. Phelps said Topgolf’s previous record, with more than 50 locations, was 180 days.

Loop 303 corridor

Another industrial development underway is further west — Lincoln Logistics 303 is a planned 1.1-million-square-foot logistics center near Maryland Avenue and Loop 303. Mr. Phelps said the city is in discussions with companies to develop commercial sites south of Lincoln Logistics 303 that would total 6-8 million square feet.

“The whole 303 Loop corridor, our office right now has got numerous conversations going with large developments that will be taking place along the 303,” Mr. Phelps said.

A city economic analysis from 2017, the year the Woolf campus was annexed, anticipated more than 21,000 jobs being added to the city in the Loop 303 corridor — land between Loop 303 and Luke Air Force Base, much of which still has to be annexed.

Glendale offered some incentives to draw Red Bull, Rauch and Ball Corp. to the city. It waived plan review and permitting fees and offered expedited service, which usually costs a fee, for free.

As part of the deal, the companies are also paying for the expansion of Reems Road to the east of the site, a cost of about $3 million. In return Glendale is allowing the companies’ development impact fees for the project, which Mr. Phelps estimated at about $800,000, to be paid toward that $3 million project.

The city offered these incentives, Mr. Phelps said, because the companies were investing more than $200 million, which the city will collect taxes on.

“So, we’re giving up a little to get a whole lot more back in return,” he said.

West Valley cohesion

Ball Corp. also has a facility opening soon in Goodyear. The Glendale facility may fill cans made at the Goodyear facility, as well as other Ball Corp. facilities around the U.S., Mr. McCarty said.

Mark Carlisle can be reached at 623-876-2518 or mcarlisle@newszap.com.