Life Coach in Buckeye, AZ

The Buckeye City Council approved the spending of $80 million on a lot with groundwater rights for fiscal year 2023 during a special meeting on Monday.

Buckeye, one of the nation's fastest growing cities, has approved 27 master planned communities and two planning areas that would grow the city's population by 872,000 people.

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The city recently made headlines after Gov. Katie Hobbs released a report by the Arizona Department of Water Resources discussing the far West Valley's groundwater issues.

The report, called the Lower Hassayampa Sub-basin Groundwater Model, shows that several development areas in Buckeye need to find alternative sources of water aside from the Lower Hassayampa Sub-basin.

After meeting in an executive session for over two hours, the City Council voted to approve the purchase. Essentially, the council's decision authorizes the city manager to deliver the purchase agreement on behalf of Buckeye and move forward with buying the land.

Buckeye will purchase the land from Harquahala Valley Landowners, LLC.

It's one of the few basins where it is legal to transport groundwater to an active management area, said Kathleen Ferris, senior research fellow for Arizona State University's Kyl Center for Water Policy. The city also had to purchase the land itself in order to be able to pump groundwater.

Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn said the purchase was in the works for several years, so the money was already set aside in this year's budget. The city also was looking at several other opportunities to expand its water portfolio for the future as the city continues to grow, he said.

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In the purchase agreement, Buckeye will gain 592,592 acre-feet of groundwater and is authorized to withdraw a maximum of 5,926 acre-feet per year over a minimum period of 100 years.

Orsborn said the water will be used for municipal purposes, which could include residential or commercial and retail.

In a statement to The Arizona Republic, a Buckeye representative said it will take up to six months to close the purchase and several years to determine the most cost-effective way to transport the water to the city. However, having access to the water rights strengthens the portfolio regardless of development.

In the city's 2020 Water Resources Master Plan, options discussed to transport the water include the construction of the city's own pipeline or transportation of the water through the CAP canal.

While the city is expanding its water portfolio, it's still not enough to sustain the city's expected growth, Ferris said. A 1 acre-foot of water typically serves three single-family homes for a year. So, if the water is used to support single-family homes, it could eventually service more than 17,000 homes per year.

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has made its first major move in the United States following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, investing $24 million to acquire a 100 percent interest in Phoenix Hydrogen Hub, LLC (PHH).

PHH is developing a proposed green hydrogen project located near Phoenix, in the City of Buckeye, Arizona. Phase One of the PHH project is planned to be an 80MW electrolyzer and liquefaction facility, capable of producing up to 12,000 tonnes of liquified green hydrogen annually, which can displace the equivalent of 10 million gallons of diesel consumption per year. The PHH project has further capacity to scale up production to help meet future demand.

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The announcement of the investment comes as Fortescue Metals Group and FFI come together as one brand “Fortescue” to represent being a unified global metals and green energy company.

The move, which comes after 20 years with the proud FMG brand, was confirmed to staff to coincide with Fortescue’s 20-year anniversary.

FFI CEO Mark Hutchinson said FFI’s investment in the PHH has the potential to create hundreds of jobs. First production of green hydrogen from the PHH project is expected by the middle of this decade.

“FFI is actively expanding its U.S. presence and strengthening its position as a leading global developer of green energy production and technology,” Hutchinson said. “We are committed to helping turn North America into a world-leading global green energy producer. This is an exciting opportunity to work towards a fast-moving project that will lead the way in the U.S., creating new green industrial jobs for Americans, while also helping to reduce emissions once production begins. The U.S. is now one of the best places in the world to do this, with the Inflation Reduction Act making it an ideal place to invest in green energy.

“This investment by FFI will greatly strengthen one of the country’s first and most important hydrogen ecosystems and it is a significant milestone in creating the all-important local connective infrastructure to accelerate the use of green hydrogen,” Hutchinson said. “This demonstrates FFI’s commitment to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like transport and moving the world beyond fossil fuels.”

FFI is acquiring Phoenix Hydrogen Hub from an affiliate of Nikola Corporation. Nikola is a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions.

Nikola, whose trucks are manufactured in Coolidge, Arizona, will be a potential customer of liquified green hydrogen from the hub to support the deployment of its heavy-duty, zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and hydrogen refueling stations in California and the U.S. Southwest.

“Nikola’s priority is to see more zero-emission trucks on the road and this investment by FFI will greatly strengthen one of the country’s first and most important hydrogen hubs,” said Michael Lohscheller, Nikola Corporation President and CEO.

The large-scale deployment of hydrogen as a zero-emission fuel into the transportation sector is expected to benefit not only from the hydrogen tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act, but also state level incentives such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in California.

“FFI’s investment further establishes Arizona as a national hydrogen leader,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “FFI will advance Arizona’s efforts to create a clean hydrogen ecosystem and build upon initiatives among industry and academia, including the Southwest Clean Hydrogen Innovation Network (SHINe), which is focused on developing a Southwest clean hydrogen hub.”

“Buckeye is committed to attracting clean energy businesses to the city, especially near the Sustainable Valley area, this facility adds to our ‘green’ portfolio making Buckeye the perfect location for similar technologies to expand and grow in our community,” said Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn.

The PHH project is currently going through the final stages of its permitting process, and the procurement of long-lead equipment is well underway. It is anticipated the project will go to the Fortescue Board for a Final Investment Decision this year.

Martens Development, a Scottsdale-based development firm that is active throughout the Phoenix market, and its general contracting partner Willmeng Construction, broke ground on a Class A industrial development, Mission Park. This two-building, 723,508-square-foot, Class A industrial park is located at the I-10 and Perryville Road in Buckeye, which is an emerging industrial submarket.

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“We are excited to be building in Buckeye, Arizona. This project marks the entry point to the city, and we are proud to deliver an iconic project in such a strategic location,” says Martens Development Principal David Martens. “Buckeye’s pro-growth mentality was critical to this project’s ground-breaking, and we thank everyone involved in making this day happen.”

Joining Martens Development and Willmeng at the groundbreaking event were Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn, Buckeye Deputy City Manager and Economic Development Director David Roderique and Suzanne Boyles from the City of Buckeye Economic Development Department. Also on hand was Sintra Hoffman, President & CEO of WESTMARC.

“We are all thrilled to see things moving on this great project, Mission Park, because when dirt starts flying, good things happen for the city, but most importantly, for our residents,” Mayor Orsborn says. “Thanks to Martens Development and your partners, projects like Mission Park will provide more job opportunities for our residents which drives more retail services, health care, restaurants and other amenities our residents need and expect from a full-service city."

Mission Park was designed by Dale Couture and the team at Ware Malcomb. Kimley-Horn’s Traver Jones is the civil engineer on the project and leasing is being led by the CBRE team of Kevin Cosca, Cooper Fratt and John Werstler.

Work on the two buildings at Mission Park is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2024. The North building is 196,353 square feet with 32-foot clear heights, and 6000 amps of power. The South building is much larger, at 527,155 square feet with 40-foot clear heights and 6000 amps of power. Martens Development designed Mission Park to be an ideal location for a variety of end users and able to accommodate small to large-scale tenants.

“We’re very proud to have such great partners in David and the team at Martens Development,” says Willmeng CEO James Murphy. “We’ve had many successful outcomes on projects with Martens and have enjoyed nothing but good experiences working with the City of Buckeye. To get a chance to partner up with Martens Development once again and to work alongside a municipality that knows how to get things done is an ideal situation for our team.”

Mission Park is the latest addition to the nearly 3 million square feet of industrial product that Martens Development has delivered across the Valley during the last three years. Martens Development has established a sterling reputation for being an agile developer that moves quickly with streamlined processes and strong relationships with trade partners and municipalities.

Rehrig Pacific Company has begun construction on a new manufacturing plant in Buckeye, and it is expected to bring plenty of jobs to the region.

Based in Los Angeles, Rehrig is an environmental waste and supply chain partner, creating products for various industries to transport their products. Some of the products include crates, trays and bins for the dairy and beverage industries, among several others.

Andrew Resler, vice president and head of special projects, said the facility is expected to bring 100 to 125 jobs, although it has the capacity to expand even further across the 35 acres Rehrig purchased.

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The jobs will have a significant range in salary due to the nature of the work, Resler said. The facility will need front office jobs, and well as roles in management and supervisory, engineering, maintenance and automation. While Resler said some team members will be relocated from Los Angeles, the majority of the new jobs will be filled by people in Buckeye and the Phoenix area.

Rehrig already has seven manufacturing facilities all over the country, Resler said. What was appealing about Buckeye was the close proximity to an existing customer base, with Rehrig having customers all over the western United States.

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Resler also said Rehrig needed a site that had the capacity to provide a lot of power and water. While Rehrig will use a significant amount of power, Resler said the facility’s water use will be very minimal, as the whole facility will use non-evaporative cooling systems to preserve water. Resler also said the facility needed to have proximity to rail, and it needed to be located somewhere that has the workforce base to fill all needed jobs.

Rehrig also looked for areas that were investing in the future and had local government support, Resler said.

“That’s very important for us because we are a small, privately-owned company,” Resler said.

Some jobs may open up within the next few months, Resler said, depending on whether they can be done remotely. The facility is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2024.

March 28, 2023

Eric Orsborn never saw his future coming.

“I never thought I would be an elected official,” says the mayor of Buckeye. “Ever!”

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But back in the day, Orsborn was a project manager for DMB Associates — which developed the game-changing master-planned community of Verrado in Buckeye — and DMB encouraged its associates to become ingrained in the community.

“They said, ‘We want you to get involved, get on a board, or run for council,’” Orsborn recalls. “And I said, ‘There is no way I’m running for council.’”

At that time, Buckeye was in the news a lot, but for the wrong reasons. The city was fiercely trying to find its footing and struggling to find the leadership needed to right the ship.

“When it came time for the elections in late 2009, I no longer worked for DMB,” Orsborn says. “Karrin Taylor Robson approached me and said, ‘Hey, have you ever thought of running for council?’ And I said, ‘There is no way I’m running for council.’”

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Then, Orsborn met former Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck.

“He said, ‘We have a fireman, a policeman, a veterinarian, a bookkeeper, and a couple of small businessmen on the council, but nobody that brings your big-budget experience,’” Orsborn remembers.

Orsborn’s background was in heavy civil construction, including water, wastewater treatment plants, bridges and infrastructure. And no one on the council at that time brought the development experience Orsborn possessed.

“They said, ‘Your skill set is perfect for what we’re going to be going through over the next 50 years in the City of Buckeye,’” Orsborn says. “They really encouraged me to do it.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. Eric Orsborn served on Buckeye’s City Council from 2010-2018, was vice mayor from 2018-2020, and was elected mayor of Buckeye in 2020.

Since Orsborn was sworn in as mayor, Buckeye has witnessed the groundbreaking of Teravalis, a 37,000-acre mixed-use master-planned community that is projected to include 100,000 homes and 55 million square feet of commercial development; announcements by both Banner Health and Abrazo that they plan to build hospitals near Verrado Way and the I-10; Costco broke ground in December; plans for Verrado Marketplace feature movie theaters, a retail center, a gym and a grocery store; and there is 9 million square feet of industrial under construction and 40 million square foot of industrial in the pipeline.

Orsborn says some of the skills he built as a developer have helped make him a more effective politician.

“As a developer, you’re trying to find some common ground and it’s not always ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ but there are ways to make things happen,” he says. If it is ‘no,’ how can we get to a ‘yes’ that works for all of us? My background allows me to help the developers understand the things that we have to do as a city and why it can’t always be full after-burner. And also helping the city realize where we can help the development community to go faster. And the faster we go, the quicker we get infrastructure built, the quicker we grow a population that brings in more need for retail. And so then the retailers start coming in. It’s trying to have a good vision. The good developers that are coming in have good vision for what this place could become.”

Part of Orsborn’s vision is turning Buckeye from what has historically been a commuter city — residents travel elsewhere to earn a living — to becoming a hot spot for jobs.

“Right now, we have 9 million square feet of industrial that is under construction and 40 million square foot of industrial in the pipeline. If you figure about three employees per 1,000 square feet, that’s 120,000 jobs in the City of Buckeye over the next 10 or so years.”

That doesn’t include the added jobs that come with the healthcare and retail projects that are already in the pipeline. And there is even talk about bringing a world-class resort to Buckeye, along with the city potentially being home to a movie studio with up to 16 40,000-square-foot sound stages.

“That starts to drag a portion of Hollywood our way,” Orsborn says. “And that, in turn, significantly grows the airport, which helps us to make investment in the airport.”

But Orsborn isn’t all about growth and development. He has helped spark efforts to protect one of Buckeye’s greatest natural resources — its open spaces and the White Tank Mountains so that generations that follow can enjoy the beauty that attracted many to Buckeye in the first place.

“I hope that we’re able to grow responsibly and grow some really special neighborhoods,” Orsborn says. “I hope we’re able to grow employment in our area so 90% of us don't have to drive out of Buckeye to work. I hope to bring retail to Buckeye and make it an incredibly special place, a destination city that people want to come and live. I don’t want Buckeye to be a city where people have to live because they can’t afford to live someplace else. I want people to be able to say, ‘I live in the City of Buckeye. I’m really, really proud to be here. It’s a special place to live.’”