In a Scottsdale Republic front page article this morning (not on AZCentral yet) Edward Gately includes a quote:
“All businesses need to know that [our town] has a $200 million retail opportunity gap,” he said. “This means there is huge opportunity for a business to succeed. Rental and purchase opportunities are everywhere.” In addition, the town’s disposable income, educated population and “strong existing infrastructure” are big selling points to businesses looking for someplace to either relocate or expand, Yates said.
“We have a terrific location, close enough to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, but maintain a ‘smalltown feel’ with our residents and merchants.” he said. “(It’s the ) best of both worlds.”
Scottsdale, right? Nope. Fountain Hills. Every other town in Arizona wants to be Scottsdale, and Scottsdale’s leaders want us to be something other than Scottsdale. Go figure.
This is the basis for Fountain Hills’ new economic development efforts. If we don’t pay attention and quite incentivizing people who want to make Scottsdale into Phoenix-East, we are going to be very sorry.