152 acres in Chandler could be turned into green, tech hub

Motorola site brings in $18.5 million

The prime 152-acre Motorola site on Price Road in Chandler has sold for $18.5 million in cash and is poised to provide the area with worldwide recognition, city officials say.

There is interest from renewable-energy companies, including solar, as well as firms in semiconductors and nanotechnology. The last Motorola employees on the site moved out in September.

“It could be a true employment hub for Chandler,” said Chris Mackay, the city’s director of economic development.

She envisions what she described as a world-class business park to integrate business and technology.

“The Motorola campus is one of the identified innovation zones for Chandler, and it allows us the opportunity to get away from only large-campus users,” she said. “We can put smaller, knowledge-related users there.”

Karl James is managing director of the company that bought the site, Austin-based Capital Commercial Investments. He said there is great interest from national and international companies.

“We certainly see (the site) as a great opportunity for the state of Arizona,” James said.

“We think there certainly will be some good things to come from it.”

The site could be leased to one large user, he said, but he didn’t preclude several smaller tenants.

“As far as what direction, we are still exploring all the options,” he said. “It’s a very open question at this point. We don’t have any vision for it now other than to say we want to look at all of our options.”

The zoning along the Price Road Corridor requires at least 15 acres for any one company.

The campus, between Germann and Queen Creek roads, contains a two-story, 512,000-square-foot building that had been used for offices and research.