Gilbert business district lands major corporate headquarters

• Isagenix International will move its headquarters from Chandler to Gilbert.
• Isagenix International will be the first major tenant at the Rivulon mixed-use center.
• Gilbert officials hope the Rivulon center will someday be a job corridor.
• The center is near Gilbert Road and Loop 202.

Gilbert's vision for an enormous employment center along the Santan Freeway is gaining steam with the announcement of a corporate headquarters and about 400 jobs in a relocation of health-product company Isagenix International from Chandler.

Isagenix, a network-marketing company with a presence in 11 countries, will be the first major tenant in the Rivulon mixed-use center near Gilbert Road and Loop 202.

Nationwide Realty Investors, a development arm of the well-known insurance company, will complete a three-story, 150,000-square-foot office building for the company by late 2015.

Isagenix is a privately-held business that reported more than $500 million in revenue from April 2013 to April 2014. Founded in 2002, the company has done more than $2 billion in sales with products in weight-loss, energy and anti-aging.

As part of a multi-level direct sales company, Isagenix associates earn money by selling the company's health products, enrolling other associates and receiving commissions from teams they assemble beneath them. Amway is one of the best-known multi-level marketing companies.

The company has operations in the United States, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, Columbia, Puerto Rico and soon Vietnam.

Isagenix has outgrown its current headquarters near Price and Germann roads in Chandler and decided to move to the Gilbert site in part because of the space available for growth, spokesman Kevin Andrus said. The company expects to grow beyond 400 employees after opening at Rivulon, he said.

The worldwide headquarters building will house executive offices and administrative positions in sales, finance, marketing and customer care, Andrus said. The company would be among Gilbert's largest private-sector employers.

Isagenix would not immediately provide the average annual salary for employees in its corporate headquarters.

NRI, an Ohio-based company that developed Scottsdale's Gainey Ranch Corporate Center, plans to build more than 3.5 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space at Rivulon over the next 10 to 20 years.

Spanning nearly half a square mile in Gilbert's emerging central business district, the development could draw 10,000 to 12,000 jobs once completed, NRI President Brian Ellis told The Republic.

"For us this is an opportunity to create a state-of-the-art business environment," Ellis said. "We're in this for the long-term. We see the town of Gilbert as a great place to invest in an area that will continue to get better over time."

NRI is also preparing to build a four-story, 125,000-square-foot speculative office building directly east of the Isagenix site, with construction slated to begin this year and wrap up in fall 2015. LA Fitness also plans to open a gym at Rivulon by March.

Ellis said the company is spending $60 million for the three buildings, a significant investment that should act as a catalyst to attract more opportunities.

"We feel confident the market is starting to come back," Ellis said. "We're seeing more interest and really approaching a new era in terms of positive growth."

Gilbert Economic Development Director Dan Henderson said the town is working with NRI to ensure the highest quality development with the most density. Isagenix will help Gilbert attract, retain and grow employers in the community, he said.

While the Rivulon project may have seemed like a economic pipe dream during the recession, a $35million tax incentive helped bring it into the realm of reality upon approval by the Town Council in 2012.

Gilbert agreed to refund half of the general sales tax and all of the construction sales tax generated by the development over the next 20 years, with a $35 million cap.

The sales-tax rebates are intended to reimburse NRI for improving roads adjacent to and in the development. Town officials structured the deal to include more rapid payouts if NRI builds denser, vertical buildings and penalizes the developer if it builds too much retail.

The sales-tax rebates are tied to performance, since the Rivulon development has to begin producing tax revenue before any money can be refunded. Gilbert will award the funds only as Nationwide completes new blocs of at least 100,000 square feet of office space.