Two industries in the Tucson market are growing steadily and quietly. But because the majority of their employers are small, the growth has gone unnoticed by some.
The logistics, distribution and fulfillment industry has added hundreds of jobs in small increments, sending the real estate vacancy rate in the industrial market below 10 percent for the first time since 2006.
The startup industry in Tucson has also drawn many entrepreneurs to the market.
In the past couple of years, more than 40 companies with between five and eight employees have started or relocated to Tucson with access to shared workspace and urban living.
βItβs bigger than it seems,β says Justin Williams, founder and CEO of Startup Tucson. βEvery large company that exists was once a startup.β
As downtown Tucson has come back to life, millennial innovators have taken note. Co-working spaces are filled with entrepreneurs exchanging formulas, recipes and marketing ideas.
βWe donβt know who the next Steve Jobs is,β Williams says. βHe could be working at a downtown restaurant by day and working on his restaurant app at night that will become the next best thing.β
Among the products being created by local startups are steel fabrication, bicycles for law enforcement, optics technology, energy bars and ice cream.
Keeping the businesses here once they are up and running is critical, he says, because when they stay they draw more innovators to Tucson.
Such is the case for the logistics industry.
Major operations that built or expanded in Tucson last year include regional logistics company OnTrac, which leased more than 56,000 square feet at Rockefeller Group Distribution Center, south of Valencia and Palo Verde roads.
Furniture retailer HomeGoods is constructing an 800,000-square-foot distribution center in the 3600 bock of East Corona Road, near the airport.
FedEx opened its new 210,000-square-foot ground-distribution center at 7050 S. Palo Verde Road.
And Ventana Medical Systems built a 60,000-square-foot logistics and distribution center in Tangerine Commerce Park on Tangerine Road, near Interstate 10.
As more companies locate here, complementary companies follow, says Dennis Minano, chairman of the board for Sun Corridor Inc., a regional economic-development agency (which changed its name from Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, or TREO, in 2015).
βOur targeted industries, such as logistics β¦ are great fits for the countyβs focus and that of the airport here,β he says. βHomeGoods is a good example of that and there are more opportunities in our pipeline. Companies want to see visionary development such as this becoming a reality.β
