History: The city of Goodyear has considered constructing a purpose-built city hall since it purchased 40 acres on the northeast corner of Bullard Avenue and I-10 in 1984. Citizen committees were created in 1985, 1987, 2001 and 2004 to provide input on what residents would like to see in a city hall project. The consistent theme from all these efforts was to create (1) a dedicated space designed for consolidated public services (2) a gathering place for public events and (3) economic vitality through mixed-use development.

Although the efforts to construct a new city hall in the past fell flat, the input gathered from the citizen committees over the decades was key in the vision of the new city hall. The new city hall project accomplishes these goals established by our residents and was completed on time and on budget. Goodyear Civic Square is truly a legacy project that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Private Partner: The Globe Corporation has owned approximately 47 acres on 150th Drive between McDowell Road and W. Monte Vista Road since the 1970s, after purchasing the land directly from Goodyear Rubber and Tire Company. The city of Goodyear and the Globe Corporation entered into a public-private partnership to develop Goodyear Civic Square at GSQ.

GSQ: The modern-sounding name is reflective of Goodyear squared -- or the “G”s that came together to create the vision: George Getz, from Globe Corporation + Goodyear = G-squared. This development is possible, thanks to a great partnership with Globe Corporation. It was this public/private partnership that made Goodyear Civic Square a reality, and Globe Corporation is bringing GSQ to life.

Project: Phase 1 of the project included the city hall with a two-story library, two-acre park, a Class A office building and the city’s first parking garage. Future phases will include a sister office building and mixed-use development, such as the restaurants, retail and entertainment we know our community desires.

City Hall: A new purpose-driven city hall with expansive council chambers, community rooms and a two-story library. All public-facing departments are housed there, including: Mayor/Council, City Manager, Digital Communications, Legal, Finance/Budget, Parks and Recreation, City Clerk’s Office, Development Services and Economic Development. The building was designed for growth, looking ahead at least 15 years.

Civic Square Park: This two-acre park is designed to be the heart of Goodyear. This is a public place to gather with friends and family for festivals, concerts and parades, creating a sense of pride and hometown feel for our community. It will also serve as a welcome amenity for the office workers at city hall and surrounding office buildings.

Parking Garage: The city’s first ever parking garage was built as part of this project to support the office building and city hall during the work day, and will be open to the public on weeknights and weekends to support events at the Park. Globe owns and operates the garage.

Office Building: Globe delivered a 100,000-square-foot spec Class A office building – the first of its kind in the West Valley. Class A is a real estate term that describes a high-end office product, and this type of office space has not been available in Goodyear. It commands the highest rents and is usually occupied by prestigious tenants. Spec refers to the project being built without a tenant.

Funding: The total project cost is $87,718,000. The voters of Goodyear had previously approved a city hall/street infrastructure project with bond authority up to $53M, and the balance came from construction sales tax collected when new businesses locate in Goodyear. There were no new taxes or increased taxes to construct this project.

Deal Points:

• Globe donated 6.15 acres of land for the Goodyear City Hall and two-acre park
• Globe served as master developer and the city hall and park were build-to-suit with ownership transferred upon completion of the project
• Globe constructed a 100,000-square-foot Class A office space with one floor dedicated to a single tenant; if unleased after one year,15,000-square-feet would be reserved for a single tenant for the second year, with no restriction thereafter
• The city funded all costs for improvements to the donated 6.15 acres
• The city paid a 3% management fee to Globe to manage and deliver the project
• The city contributed $3.3M in infrastructure with an additional half of the cost of offsite wet/dry utilities up to a max of $500,000
• The city paid $5M towards the structured parking garage and received 200 dedicated spaces with an option to purchase or lease 200 additional spaces

Timeline:

Former City Hall: The former city hall building located at Litchfield and Van Buren was purchased in 2001 to serve as an interim city hall while a proposed city hall was under design/construction. Now, after nearly 20 years, the building needed reinvestment and expansion if a new city hall had not been pursued. The use the building will be evaluated as part of a Facilities Master Plan and will likely be sold or leveraged for a future economic development opportunity.