Downtown Phoenix district targeted as startup hub
- Mayor Greg Stanton is proposing designating an "Innovation District" downtown
- The designation would try to leverage the Warehouse District for startups and entrepreneurs
- A veteran-focused startup hub will also open downtown
When San Francisco-based tech startup DoubleDutch announced expansion into downtown Phoenix earlier this year, the CEO said the city's talent pool, co-working spaces and warm entrepreneurial community made it a natural home.
And as more emerging companies flock to the urban core — particularly the Warehouse District — those are the assets Phoenix could try to harness through a new "Innovation District."
City officials haven't offered many details on the "what" or the "how" — what an Innovation District would be, or how it would work. When Mayor Greg Stanton announced the initiative during his State of the City address on April 19, they mostly voiced the "why."
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"There is something special going on in the heart of our city right now," Stanton said, "and this Innovation District is going to take it to a whole new level."
The idea focuses on promoting and improving the "innovative ecosystem" that Stanton said has attracted entrepreneurs to central Phoenix, where transit meets university programs and the biomedical campus.
Phoenix Community and Economic Development Director Christine Mackay described the concept as an "innovation and research area on an urban scale."
The proposed district would focus on branding, marketing and coalescing the entrepreneur community, she said. Policy changes could make it easier for emerging businesses to locate there, especially in old warehouse buildings.
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The vision is in its early stages, Mackay said, and forming the district would likely fall within her department's existing budget to start. The city is preparing to meet with community partners for input.
One of them, Galvanize, a tech school opening in the Warehouse District later this year, is hoping to help increase the connectivity among other startups and tech companies nearby, co-founder Lawrence Mandes said. He, too, didn't have many concrete details, but said he supported Stanton's charge.
"I think it's all about creating a gravity towards that area," he said.
Phoenix's Warehouse District is a "diamond in the rough," said Heidi Jannenga, president and co-founder WebPT, in an email. The tech company was one of the earlier businesses to move into the district.
The company keeps expanding from one location to another in the area, leaving behind building "shells" other businesses can move into, Jannenga said.
“We’ve started to think of ourselves as the hermit crab of the Warehouse District," she said.
Jannenga said she's excited city leaders and other businesses see that potential.
The emerging proposal wasn't the only idea Stanton presented about downtown development. Other announcements came with more immediate implications for technology, medicine and people.
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New tools for app developers
Phoenix was selected as a "Smart Gigabit Community," Stanton announced. The program, supported by U.S. Ignite and Cox Communications, gives cities the resources to develop so-called next-generation applications.
Smart Gigabit Communities receive access to an ultra-fast network that supports "highly interactive and visually immersive experiences not possible on today’s commercial Internet," according to a press release from Cox Communications.
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Phoenix will also have access to apps developed across the other 15 participating cities, the release said.
Stanton said the designation will "give Phoenix app developers exciting new tools to enhance the lives of our residents."
Incubator developing on Phoenix Biomedical Campus
Phoenix will partner with the University of Arizona to launch an incubator on the downtown Phoenix Biomedical Campus, Stanton said. The university's Eller College of Management would give expertise to scaling health-care, medical-device and bio-startup companies, Stanton said.
Judy Bernas, the UA's associate vice president of university relations in Phoenix, said in an email that details are limited but the incubator would aim to "advance discoveries made on the campus and translate them into scalable startups in hopes that they can eventually go to market."
Veteran entrepreneurs to get new home
Downtown Phoenix will soon be home to the Armory, a entrepreneur facility dedicated to military veterans, Stanton announced.
The space at the Arizona Center will include a co-working area, training, mentoring and other programs, co-founder Phil Potter said.
"The beauty of Phoenix is we have a lot of veterans," he said.
The site will also offer the services of organizations including Bunker Labs, which helps educate, mentor and fund veteran entrepreneurs. Potter expects the Armory to open by early summer.
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