The site of a former Motorola manufacturing facility in Phoenix has been purchased by a Chicago-based developer with plans of building a new industrial park.
The Baker Development Company purchased some 44 acres located at the southwest corner of 52nd Street and McDowell Road for $21 million. Last year Baker bought an initial 28 acres at the site for $10.2 million.
Baker wants to build four new industrial structures making up some 1.2 million square feet at the site for a project that the company is calling Park 52. Plans are calling for structures ranging in size between 122,000 square feet and 225,600 square feet. Work is expected to begin soon, with a likely completion date of spring 2023.
The one-time Motorola site was listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund site, due to a release of chemicals from an underground storage tank and has undergone a protracted and complex clean-up process in recent years.
The main Phoenix Motorola plant was opened in early 1956 and remained in operation at the site until selling its facilities in 1999. An earlier Motorola research unit was operational in the city in the late 1940s.
Motorola initially made a name for itself manufacturing car radios. Its radio equipment was later used on NASA space flights, including the initial 1969 moon landing.
By Garry Boulard
