Business View Civil & Municipal l November 2022

146 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 PREFERRED VENDORS/PARTNERS n Van Tuyl Companies www.vtcompanies.com n SRP www.srpnet.com SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving more than 1 million customers. SRP is also the metropolitan area’s largest supplier of water, delivering about 800,000 acre-feet annually to municipal, urban and agricultural water users. n Midwestern University www.midwestern.edu | www.mwuclinics.com | www.mwuanimalhealth.com As Arizona’s largest medical school, Midwestern University has invested more than $400 million in Glendale, created over 900 jobs, and trained 15,000+ alumni, with 42% practicing in Arizona. We provide a rigorous experiential education in state-of-the-art facilities and a range of healthcare services for all ages at our community clinics*.* n Cox Business www.coxbusiness.com/cloud selectors, property developers, and even individual investors have come to understand that Glendale’s story is a notable one. A big part of that collective trust is also built on the idea that the city will help provide for new residents as well as investors. “Our job is to help (residents) get a job and create an atmosphere of success,” Friedman explains. “ If we can show that anyone can make it here and there is reason to be optimistic, then everything else can fall into place.” The future will lead to more of the same, assuming Glendale’s strategic growth plan remains on track. Perhaps the only thing to slow it down is an unanticipated severe economic slowdown, but Glendale’s reputation precedes itself even in a worst-case scenario. It’s a reputation that Friedman wants to “guard with our professional lives.” One example is the future opening of VAI Resort, the largest hotel and entertainment destination in Arizona. It is set to open in late Spring of 2023 with the mission to bring a water oasis to the desert. With over 1,200 luxury hotel suites and rooms, a large state-of-the-art 360-degree concert stage, 13 elevated fine dining concepts, flowing white sand beaches, and pristine Caribbean-blue water, it will become one of the premier resort destinations in the U.S. A 52,000 square foot island will be a center point for this unique 60-acre entertainment resort. With the path Glendale is on, it will continue to earn more revenue per capita than Gilbert, Arizona, a city that saw its population grow at an annual rate of over 10 percent from 1980 – 2020. Glendale already offers more jobs per capita than Mesa or Gilbert and is the fifth- largest job center in the Valley of the Sun. “It is the West Valley’s time to shine,” Friedman says. “There are high-end developers who are the best at what they do in their industries who can develop anywhere in the area or the country but they choose to be here. We want to make sure that will continue.”