Is your business looking to locate to a new area? Consider Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Gateway isn’t just an airport, it’s a location that will be incredibly supportive of your business. After starting out as one of the air force’s foremost pilot training facilities, Gateway has grown into a small hub commercial airport, encompassing 3,000 acres. And 1,000 of those acres are still available for use.
Gateway has become incredibly successful and will continue to grow even more. And your business can be part of that growth. Once you find out more about Gateway, you’ll see there’s likely no better environment. Read on below to find out all the benefits you’ll reap by locating at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
- Location, Location, Location
To start, Gateway Airport has an ideal location. And often, location really is everything in business.
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is part of the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area. Aside from the many financial benefits, this is also an area with an excellent quality of life. You’ll enjoy more than 300 days of beautiful sunshine, making this the perfect place for fun outdoor activities. The growing area has plenty of culture too. And even with all these benefits, Phoenix still has a low cost of living. Not many areas offer all of this, but in Arizona, you can enjoy so much without sacrificing anything.
- Ideal Business Environment
Arizona is the number one state in the country for entrepreneurial activity. The state also has one of the country’s lowest corporate income taxes, at only 4.9 percent, and the second-lowest unemployment tax.
The greater Phoenix metro area is also great for business and is ever-growing. Maricopa is a very fast-growing county and currently has a population of 4.4 million people. It’s projected to grow even more in the future! Currently, the prediction is 2.3 percent growth through 2028.
Meanwhile, Mesa’s population is an additional 500,000 people. Perhaps not surprisingly, this area generates the majority of the state’s gross domestic product. The business cost is much lower than in neighboring California, about 32 percent lower. The city also has one of the lowest payroll costs amongst metro areas, low union rates, no corporate franchise tax, and more.
Gateway Airport is even more ideal if your business is in the aerospace and defense industry. Arizona has the third-best aerospace industry tax policy in the country.
- Numerous Incentives
When you decide to locate at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, you’ll receive special tax exemptions and tax credits you aren’t likely to find anywhere else.
Gateway Airport is in a Military Reuse Zone. In case you aren’t clear what this means, let us explain. Military Reuse Zones provide tax incentives to businesses within the boundaries of military bases. How would this impact your business? Specified types of construction would be exempt from the transaction privilege tax.
Properties can be reclassified from Class 1 to Class 6, which can lead to major property tax savings. Class 1 has an 18 percent assessment ration, while Class 6 is only 5 percent. That’s quite a difference that really adds up! Gateway is only one of two Military Reuse Zones in the state, so this is a pretty exclusive opportunity.
Gateway is also located in a foreign trade zone and an opportunity zone. This means that Gateway Airport can provide access to international markets. The benefits Gateway provides as an FTZ include duty exemption and deferral.
Opportunity zones were created to foster economic development. Since Gateway is one of these zones, it allows investors to receive tax reductions by reinvesting their capital gains in zone funds. The reductions you’ll receive depend on how long you hold an investment.
When you lease at Gateway Airport, you’ll actually be exempt from paying any real property taxes. The landowner will pay, not the leasing entity. Businesses in Arizona also benefit from additional depreciation, which reduces tax liability on property used for commercial, industrial, and agricultural purposes.
- Excellent, Highly Qualified Employees
In business, having excellent employees you can count on is essential. Luckily, you’ll find that this location has a great workforce to offer as well. Arizona is actually ranked as the second state in the country for workforce quality.
Plus, you can trust that potential employees are well educated. Arizona is the top state in the country for higher education degree opportunities. In the Mesa area, approximately a third of the workforce has an associate’s degree or higher. There are a number of schools that are located right by Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, including Arizona State University, which has been named the most innovative university by US News & World Report for three years in a row. And the Wall Street Journal named it the fifth for qualified graduates. These schools also have programs that specialize in aerospace and engineering.
The average age in this area is 36 years old, which is the 6th youngest metropolitan area in the country. That means you’ll be hiring employees who will be in the workforce for quite some time yet. Employment growth in the Phoenix area is expected to rise 10 percent in the next decade. That’s even better than the national average, which is 6 percent.
- Large Customer Base
Of course, what your business will need most of all is consumers. If you’re an aerospace-based company, this is where you want to be. There are over 550 businesses in Maricopa County alone that operate in the aerospace field. That’s 55 percent of all aerospace businesses in the Phoenix metro area! Locating your business at Gateway Airport will put you alongside companies like Able Aerospace Services, N1 Engines, and Task Aerospace, Inc., to name a few.
If you’re considering locating at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport but are looking for additional information, you can find plenty more by checking out their website. For instance, you can find a list of companies that are already on-site. And, perhaps most importantly, you can see all the available properties where your business can be located, with additional details about each of them.
