What’s your “elevator pitch” for Flagstaff? Let’s suppose you have 30 seconds to tell an out of town business associate all about Flagstaff – what would you say? Maybe you start with the great quality of life, then expand on it being a growing university town, having lots of outdoor amenities, more than 60,000 residents, and being the gateway to the Grand Canyon. Or, perhaps you speak to the business climate and opportunities for growth (or lack thereof). With this in mind, city economic development staff have increased their efforts and developed a new marketing campaign – Choose Flagstaff – that will better position Flagstaff to business owners, site selectors, commercial brokers and investors.
Marketing is the first step in positioning a community to economic development practitioners, and rethinking old ways is important when developing a new marketing plan. Flagstaff is surrounded by seven communities just outside city limits, and many of the residents of these communities live, work and play in Flagstaff and are very much an integral part of our community. Flagstaff currently has more than 67,000 residents and the greater Flagstaff area has some 90,000 residents. A larger population translates into more business opportunities from consumers to workforce and it provides greater community wealth and more financial opportunity for area residents.
City economic development staff’s marketing efforts are also paying off with a new level of interest for businesses looking to locate and expand in our community. Along with our regional partners, including the Economic Collaborative of Northern Arizona (ECoNA) and state partner, Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), we have been developing and assisting more than 12 primary sector leads during the first five months of this year. These leads represent a potential $50 million in capital investments, resulting in 750 base sector jobs with an average wage of $45,000. Many of these companies are high wage, low impact employers who want to take advantage of Flagstaff’s well-trained workforce, access to the Southwest’s 34 million consumers, and Flagstaff’s desirable quality of life.
City economic development staff also actively recruit and develop retail interest for Flagstaff to help support our local economy, reduce “leakage,” and enhance primary sector attraction efforts. Currently, there are plans for five retail developments slated to come online in Flagstaff in the next six to 24 months. Assisting developers in attracting new retail and restaurant concepts to Flagstaff is another important part of the City’s development strategy. Recently, staff attended the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and met with over 30 retail companies interested in locating to Flagstaff that could potentially absorb over 200,000 square feet.
City staff also has recently advanced three key projects that will translate into increased business awareness for Flagstaff and create a destination for high wage low impact jobs, as well as increased economic gardening efforts. Recently, City Council granted APS a utility easement close to the airport that will energize more than 100 acres of developable light industrial land by fall 2014. In addition, the adjacent Flagstaff Airpark, which is already home to an expanded bioscience “cluster,” is designated to become one of Flagstaff’s major employment centers in the new Regional Plan, whereby even more tech, bio and advanced manufacturing companies will expand and locate. And, staff has worked for several years to secure more than $5 million in grants for Phase 2 of the Science and Technology Park on Innovation Mesa. The city’s new 25,000-square-foot business accelerator will be across from the existing business incubator, Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NACET). The accelerator will have shared wet and dry lab facilities along with manufacturing space so young companies can accelerate their concepts into fully functional businesses that can then spin out into our community and hire more local workforce.
Finally, the economic development staff along with the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau staff has been working with ACA and the Governor’s office to bring the 2013 Governor’s Economic Development Conference to Flagstaff this October. Flagstaff is pleased to host over 300 economic development practitioners and business people from around the state to share best practices and learn more about our changing economy. FBN
For more about the City’s economic development efforts, visit us online at our new “chooseflagstaff.com” website or give staff a call at 928-213-2906.
By Sean Ahern, Economic Development Manager for the City of Flagstaff