How Glendale’s $400M infrastructure investment is paying dividends

January 2020

Sometimes the glitz and glamour of the upcoming Super Bowl, bucket-list concerts, thrilling finish of the recent Fiesta Bowl, and the roar of F-35 jets from Luke Air Force Base seemingly overshadow the infrastructure needed to pull it all off.

But it’s there nonetheless – the roads and freeways, water and sewer, signs and signals, power and police. It has been years in the making.

Over the past 15 years, the City of Glendale has invested more than $400 million in infrastructure improvements to create a world-class environment for businesses large and small to thrive. The city’s Westgate Sports and Entertainment District straddling the Loop-101 has become a regional employment center with multiple Class A office buildings, Westgate Entertainment District, Tanger Outlets shopping, sprawling Cabela’s sporting goods and the Topgolf entertainment venue. The area is also home to 63,000-seat State Farm Stadium and the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, the 17,000-seat Gila River Arena and the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, and Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox play at Camelback Ranch Glendale during Cactus League Spring Training.

Recent improvement projects also coincide with Envision Glendale 2040, a forward-looking master plan passed by voters in 2016 that catapults Glendale onto the international stage as a leading economic powerhouse in the booming Southwest. Companies like Austria-based Red Bull have heeded the call, as have appliance manufacturer Conair, defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Magellan Aerospace, among others.