Scottsdale Galleria Continues To Attract Job Creating Tenants
Stockdale Capital Partners’, Galleria Corporate Center continues to be a magnet for companies looking to locate and grow in the Phoenix area. With a newly remodeled lobby and common areas, the former ‘mall turned creative office’ complex in Scottsdale’s Downtown Entertainment District is accommodating hundreds of jobs.
This month, Indeed, Inc., reputed to be the world’s largest job site, will open an office in the building with plans to hire up to 250 employees, mostly recent college graduates.
Late last year, Sisense, a New York-based business intelligence software-as-a-service company, signed a lease for 6,300 square feet and began hiring up to 50 employees. Sisense is new to Arizona and reportedly scouted 12 markets including Philadelphia, Chicago, Charlotte, Denver and Austin before selecting Scottsdale.
Also last year, Salt Lake City-based content marketing and sales conversion services firm Clearlink opened a 350-person call center in the Galleria.
Among the qualities that drew these companies to “The Livable City”: access to talent, quality of life and a business-friendly environment. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Scottsdale ranked first in a recent study by financial website Wallethub of the best places to find a job in America.
“We hear this all the time from companies touring the Galleria,” said Steven Yari, Managing Principal of Stockdale Capital Partners. “Companies that desire to grow need a broad pool of talent, especially millennials, that they can tap to develop a workforce and Scottsdale is one of the best small markets in the country to access highly educated millennial talent. That’s a major reason we’ve deployed capital into this market in the way we have,” he said.
Stockdale’s founding principals – Steven and Shawn Yari – began investing in Old Town Scottsdale in the late 1990s, redeveloping a dilapidated shopping center and corner gas station at the NE corner of Scottsdale Road and Camelback and creating a thriving mixed-use office/retail complex with national brand tenants such as Chipotle, Comerica Bank, Yogurtland and Jared’s Jewelers. They now own or control through various entities, more than half a dozen major properties in the area including the Galleria and the nearby W Hotel, which they developed and steered through the depths of the global recession and which today is enjoying among the highest occupancy rates of any hotel in the area.
“Between the amenities and the continued growth of the entertainment district, there is a lot of positive activity happening in Old Town Scottsdale today and that’s drawing visitors, residents and businesses like Sisense, Yelp, and Weebly,” said Shawn Yari, Managing Principal, Stockdale Capital Partners. “We see the potential for even greater corporate relocations to the Galleria as well as other Class A properties in town as the market develops critical mass.”
The Galleria is a highly amenitized business environment. Stockdale has invested nearly $7 million in significant renovations to the lobby and common areas, as well as a state-of-the-art conference center. Southern California eatery Comoncy has a café in the building, offering tenants a unique hand-made menu steps from their office doors.
By the end of this year, the Galleria will be able to accommodate up to 200,000 square feet of new tenancy. Stockdale’s adjacent development – Marquee at The District –will offer an additional 210,000 s.f of space. Next year, Stockdale expects to break ground on its fully entitled Waterview development on an 8-acre site between Camelback and the Arizona Canal, adding 240 residential units and a 269 room hotel to the nearby amenities.