New Orbital ATK HQ Breaks Ground in Arizona

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Willmeng Construction breaks ground on a new Orbital ATK Campus in Chandler

Douglas Allred Co. is developing a 617,000-square-foot campus for Orbital ATK in Chandler, Ariz., which will serve as the aerospace and defense technology’s launch vehicles division headquarters.

Willmeng Construction is building the project, and broke ground on the campus at the end of April.

“Located within Park Place, a 180-acre master-planned mixed-use development along Chandler’s Price Corridor, Orbital ATK’s campus will be the largest tenant in the business park, which is one of the largest in the city, totaling nearly 3 million square feet once completed,” James Murphy, Willmeng Construction’s president told Commercial Property Executive.

In 2017, Orbital ATK signed a lease for Building 10, a 95,000-square-foot spec office within Park Place. Orbital ATK’s new Chandler campus will effectively increase the company’s footprint in Park Place by more than six times.

Budding Park Place

In 2007, Douglas Allred Co. invested in more than 72 acres of land at what is now known as Park Place. The development plan first began in 2008 and has fully leased all of the buildings constructed since the master-plan development first began.

According to Murphy, Dave Allred was able to successfully lease out Park Place’s first three spec office buildings through the Great Recession, which gave him enough confidence to start his next spec building in the park when no one else was developing spec office in 2012.

“Not only did Allred not stop building, he built and leased himself out of inventory, and continued to build right through the downturn in order to meet the demand for new space within Park Place,” he said. “All office inventory to date at Park Place is fully leased, totaling in excess of 1.233 million square feet of inventory. Future inventory that will be delivered in Q1 2019 will add 270,000 more square feet.”

When completed, Park Place will offer a variety of low- and mid-rise office space, executive suites, hotels, conference centers, light industrial parks as well as mixed-use and corporate campus settings.

Thriving Location

Situated on 47 acres, at the intersection of the Loop 101 and 202 freeways—one of Metropolitan Phoenix’s fastest-growing employment and innovation corridors—Orbital ATK’s new multiple-building facility consists of office space and 261,000 square feet of state-of the-art manufacturing space, strategically positioned within the campus.

“Good schools, neighborhoods, infrastructure, freeway access, a highly-educated workforce and the fastest growing labor base in Metro Phoenix make the Price Corridor an attractive location for businesses,” Murphy said. “However, Park Place’s appeal is its unique, connected-campus environment and Allred’s ability to support tenants needs now and into the future.”

The project is expected to be completed sometime next year.

Willmeng Construction was recently hired for the development of Tolleson Logistics Center, a new, 329,000-square-foot industrial facility in Tolleson, Ariz.

Image courtesy of Douglas Allred Co.