SUN CORRIDOR INC.
have collaboratively created 21 projects in downtown, partnering with the city and county.” The Caterpillar hub to which McCusker refers is for the company’s Surface Mining & Technology Division, which accepted Rio Nuevo’s offer to build a new building for its headquarters to be leased back to Caterpillar for a 25-year term. The 150,000-square-foot building has helped to create between 750 and 1,000 engineering, product development and support position jobs. The concerted efforts of Rio Nuevo’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District has also made several other downtown projects possible. A partnership with Bank of Tucson and development group Bourn Companies has yielded the five-story City
Park project, a retail, restaurant, office and entertainment building planned for downtown’s Congress Street at what is now the site of the U.S. headquarters of Hexagon Mining. Similar partnerships are adding a new home for the Tucson Roadrunners, new AC Hotel Tucson Downtown at Broadway Boulevard and Fifth Avenue and countless dining and entertainment options. “We made deliberate effort to collaborate to create a very sustainable effort of collaboration,” McCusker says, “and it’s been especially successful with inbound companies, which is Sun Corridor Inc.’s purpose.” For businesses ready to relocate, expand, or start a business in Tucson — now is the time — the welcome mat awaits.
RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUCCESSES Amazon
Amazon.com, Inc. recently announced plans to open its first fulfillment center in Tucson, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs with competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package.
Caterpillar Surface Mining & Technology
Caterpillar, the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, has relocated its Service Mining and Technology headquarters to Tucson. The company is expected to hire more than 650 employees. Economic impacts are estimated at $1.9 billion over 10 years.
Southern New Hampshire University announced in April its plans to open a new operations center in Tucson to better support its growing student body across the country. SNHU will hire approximately 100 staff members initially, with plans to hire up to 350 total new staff members in Tucson by 2021. The economic impact of the new Tucson SNHU Operations Center will be $218 million over the next 5 years.
Texas Instruments
GEICO is the second-largest private passenger automobile insurance company in the U.S. and is a leading employer in Tucson with 2,100 employees. The company will relocate to a larger, purpose constructed office complex and expand by 700 jobs.
Texas Instruments, a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company, is building a new facility in Tucson to accommodate their future needs. They anticipate moving into the new facility in the Williams Center by mid 2020. Texas Instruments plans to create 35 new electrical engineering positions at their Tucson facility. Also, Texas Instruments plans to invest $30 million in capital expenditures, which will create an economic impact of $67.8 million over the next five years.
Hexagon Mining
TuSimple
GEICO
Hexagon Mining, an information technology provider of planning, operations and safety solutions for the mining industry, announced the relocation and expansion of its Tucson, AZ-based North American headquarters to downtown Tucson. Hexagon Mining employs 140 people in Tucson and plans to add 120 jobs over the next five years.
Raytheon Missile Systems
Raytheon Missile Systems has selected Tucson/Pima County as the site for a significant expansion. The expansion represents the addition of nearly 2,000 new high-skilled, high-wage jobs and will result in an impact of several billion dollars being added to the regional economy over the next few years.
114
Southern New Hampshire University
AB | May - June 2019
TuSimple, a global self-driving truck solutions company, plans to expand its operations in Tucson, by adding 200 trucks to its autonomous fleet in 2019. With 500 trucks worldwide in 2019, TuSimple will be the world’s largest autonomous truck fleet. TuSimple will be adding 500 new jobs, which are primarily engineering and truck driver positions, along with other technical and administrative jobs. TuSimple’s expansion will create an economic impact of $1.1 billion over the next five years.