BUSINESS

Tech giant Insight settling into new Chandler digs

BY KEN SAIN

Managing Editor

Glynis Bryan, the chief financial officer for tech giant Insight, was not a fan of working from home before the pandemic. “I’m going to tell you another secret,” Bryan said. “I wanted all my teammates in the office before the pandemic hit. Insight had a flexible work policy that says whatever your managers determine is what you can exercise in terms of flexibility in working in the office or working remotely. “And I told my teammates that this manager chooses to have you in the office pre-pandemic.” And then the pandemic happened in 2020 and changed everything, including the plans for Insight’s new world headquarters off Gilbert Road, between Germann and Queen Creek in Chandler. The company completed its move from Tempe this summer. “We bought the building in 2019, we struck a deal to sell our existing buildings in Tempe and live there for a year, but before we were going to move COVID intervened and kind of threw everything into the air,” Bryan said. “We were going to have very dense office cubes. However, we made a decision that we’re going to go back and we’re going to actually do six feet of separation because you never know when another pandemic will hit.” Bryan said company officials wanted to move out of two buildings they were using for their corporate headquarters in Tempe into one building. They chose Chandler for a variety of

The main lobby atrium of Insight’s new headquarters in Chandler offers visitors a sparkling introduction to the company. (David Minton/Staff Photographer) seeINSIGHT page 46

Dogtopia of South Chandler marks 3rd birthday

BY KEN SAIN

Managing Editor

The tail on each dog that walked into Dogtopia of South Chandler was wagging. Owners Michael and Susan Perlman greeted each animal by name – which can’t be easy since they care for about 100 different dogs in a given week. “We really do want to be an extension of the family,” Susan said. The Perlmans plan to celebrate their third anniversary since opening their business at the corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Heights on Sept. 17. They will be giving tours and giving away movie tickets and other prizes. Because of limited space, guests are asked to RSVP by calling the day care at 4901 S. Arizona Ave. at 480-447-0655. Dogtopia also offers boarding and a spa, though Michael said they are first and foremost a day care business, which takes up about 80% of their time. The business is thriving now, but did not start out that way. The Perlmans opened just before Labor Day 2019. “We were not quite catching a head of steam in February,” Susan said. And then March 2020 arrived and the world changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Perlmans had to shut down for 10 days in early March because one of their employees may have been exposed to the coronavirus. There was little testing being done at the time and little information on how to contain the spread. Then, just after they were sure their employee did not have COVID, they had to shut down for a second time by or-

‘Chandler site sold for $2.7M to ‘Toy Barn’ �irm

ARIZONAN NEWS STAFF

AScottsdale developer of luxury storage units for pricey vehicles, small planes and other big toys has bought two large lots in the Chandler Industrial Business Park for $2.75 million. Wesley Development Company paid $13.37 a square foot for approximately 4.7 acres on the southwest corner of Germann and Gilbert roads, according to Valley real estate tracker vizzda.com. The land, zoned Industrial, is home to the buyer’s Toy Barn Chandler Luxury Garage Ownership facility in an area that’s adjacent to Chandler Airport that is scheduled to open next year, according to the company’s website. A marketing brochure for the property showed six lots ranging in size from 35,381 square feet to 98,160 square feet with the potential for buildings ranging in height between 28 feet and 30 feet. Toy Barn Luxury Garage Ownership doesn’t just offer storage for cars, boats, RVs, racecars, motorcycles and off-road vehicles. It’s a community for vehicle enthusiasts, Jason Wesley said in an interview last year with a sister paper of the San Tan Sun News. Units come with amenities such as prewired internet and TV access, plumbing, insulated walls and ceilings, RV outlets, electric garage doors, community restrooms and access to clubhouses. The father-and-son team behind Toy Barn, Paul and Jason Wesley, have expanded its business since opening its first location in 2010 at Cave Creek and Peak View roads. Originally from Ohio, the two were residential land subdividers before they became involved in the luxury garage business in 2008. Jason said there were luxury garages in the East Valley when they started their business, but nothing in North Scottsdale. “We were really trying to accommodate people who lived in the North Scottsdale communities who didn’t have any additional storage options. It’s realestate ownership, so it’s an investment

Wesley Development Company of Scottsdale, which builds and owns a number of storage facilities for large luxury items like pricey vehicles and boats, recently bought nearly 5 acres of land near Chandler Airport for $2.75 million. (vizzda.com)

seeTOY BARN page 46

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reasons, including ease for their workers to get here and because many tech companies they work with have offices in Chandler. She also said Chandler has the educated workforce her company needs to fill its jobs. The building the company moved into was originally designed to be three stories. Insight changed that, making it a two-story building because it wanted to bring as many people together as it could instead of keeping them apart. Brothers Eric and Tim Crown started Insight in their Tempe garage in 1988. Eric had written a business plan for an assignment at Arizona State University’s business school. He received a C-. Not deterred, he decided to go ahead with that business and in the first eight years he earned $1 billion. Insight has changed its business model a few times from those early days. “We are on a journey to become a leading solutions integrator, not systems integrator, but solutions integrator,” Bryan said. “When we talk about being a leading solutions integrator that is marrying the product base, that we have hardware and software products, across the spectrum of all hardware and all software, with services that we wrap around to actually create solutions for our clients.” Most of Insight’s customers are Fortune 500 companies. The company operates in 20 countries around the world and employs about 12,000 people globally. In Arizona, they employ 1,600. The Chandler office is home base for 1,100 of those employees. The new Chandler headquarters has most of the features that tech employees have come to expect, including its own cafeteria, coffee bar, fitness center, private rooms for new moms to breast feed their children and a health clinic. Each work area has a common space where workers can collaborate with one another. Bryan said Insight has earned a reputation for being a great company to work for. “One of the things that we’re really proud of is the fact that at Insight, we have won a series of awards for the culture that we have here,” Bryan said. “We’re best places to work in almost every country in which we exist. It’s really a tribute to the culture that we’ve created here at Insight, through the values that we have, our purpose statement and the fact that we live those values every day.” Bryan said the company wants to become part of Chandler. Officials plan on hosting community events, suggesting the Chamber of Commerce might be interested in hosting something in its 300seat Crown Room. But that will have to wait until they finish upgrading the building. “We’re going to maybe open up the facility to some Chandler-type functions,” Bryan said. “We just want to everything’s not quite perfect yet.”

Information: insight.com

DOGTOPIA from page 44

der of Gov. Doug Ducey. They reopened a few months later, but shut down for a third time after a new wave of COVID infections spread around the country that summer. Some of the changes the Perlmans made because of the pandemic have stuck. They added a drive line, where customers drop off their dogs right in front of the store and an employee walks them inside. They also do more cleaning. One other change was to streamline the spa experience, offering it only on Mondays and Thursdays. An additional employee is brought in on those days to handle the workload. Susan said every dog receives a health check before they can enter one of three play areas. An employee checks the ears, the gums and the body looking for any problems. “We’ve noticed things on dogs the owners didn’t realize were there,” Susan said. “One little poodle that comes to play, she had something in between her toes. Mom took her [to a vet] and it was a malignant cyst. She was fine, it was caught early.” The cost of day care ranges from $48 for a single day pass to $140 for unlimited play during the week. There are also discounted rates for two- and three-play sessions a week. The Perlmans had others jobs, but decided they wanted to work together and were looking for a franchise opportunity. Dogtopia was the first they looked at, but they continued looking. Finally, they decided they liked the support Dogtopia gives to its franchise owners and decided to make the switch. Now, they said they are preparing to open a second location in Northwest Gilbert next year. “Dogs need, crave and have to have socialization, they need that exercise, and they need the consistency,” Michael said. “So it is all about the dogs to us and the dog experience, which ultimately impacts mom, dad, because the dogs gain more confidence, they can go to the vet much easier. I’m blown away every day what we hear from our pet parents about how their dogs are easier to train after coming here.” Susan said a recent study found dogs in day care averaged about 30,000 steps a day. Dogs that stay home alone get around 4,000. “We’ve got dogs that have been with us for all three years, and we are so deeply grateful,” Susan said. “So we’re doing raffle prizes all week. So were just trying to do stuff to say thank you to the customers that we do have.” “It’s really a big thank you that we’ve had the most loyal, phenomenal customers,” Michael said. “And we want to thank them and recognize this achievement.”

TOY BARN from page 45

versus just paying rent on a storage facility,” he said. “A lot of them have been around 10 years. They have double-lot equity. They get the tax benefits that come with realestate ownership.” Because businesses like this were few, they had to figure it out on their own. “It’s extremely niche,” Jason said. “There was no roadmap for getting into the garage/condominium business when we did.” Their time in the luxury garage business has been a learning process. They have continued to adapt, especially with delays in new constructions during the pandemic. “We have learned quite a bit about the construction process, the challenges associated with it, how to manage those challenges, managing schedules and people’s expectations, what works and doesn’t work,” Jason said. “We try to incorporate the lessons learned from every community into the new one.” The two men have their own “toys” that they enjoy in their spare time. Paul owns vintage Indian motorcycles, and Jason is an aviation enthusiast with a Cirrus plane. Jason said he’s also interested in Porsches, and his father enjoys ’60s-era Corvettes. One of the biggest perks of owning a luxury garage business is occasionally clients allow the team to try out vehicles. “It’s always nice when they say, ‘Just take the Porsche for the day,’” Jason said. Jason and Paul have five locations, including the Chandler Airport site. Jason said there has been little turnover in units, and some owners have spaces in different facilities. He said building a garage can be expensive, and many communities have CC&R regulations prohibiting additions. The Toy Barns offer a luxury garage experience for those who are downsizing or needing space for their vehicles, family heirlooms or automobilia such as neon signs or vintage gas pumps. They are gated with 24-hour access. Adjacent clubhouses come with amenities such as high-end finishes, plush seating, flat-screen TVs, full kitchens and bathrooms. Jason said he and his father wanted to create not just storage facilities but close-knit communities. “I think what separates us from a regular storage facility or an industrial park is the fact that we are trying to cultivate a community of like-minded individuals. The facility functions more like a private club than it does a warehouse,” Jason said. Unit owners can customize the units with touches such as Epoxy flooring and half baths. They are expected to adhere to CC&R guidelines, such as not operating businesses out of their units. Many of the unit owners spend time at the facilities, working on their own vehicles or getting time to themselves. “Some of the retired guys who don’t golf, that’s where they spend all their time. That’s what they do. They tinker in the garage,” Jason said.

What the In�lation Reduction Act means for you

BY HAROLD WONG

Guest Writer

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was recently passed and signed by President Joe Biden and according to Wikipedia, these are the main parts. The first is allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drugmakers and limit out-of-pocket expenses to seniors on Medicare to $2,000 per year. The second is a 15% corporate minimum tax on companies with at least $1 billion or more in annual profits. The third is the hiring of up to 87,000 new IRS employees at a cost of $80 billion. The fourth part is providing $369 billion to fund energy and climate projects with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. This article will focus on the fourth part. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced the 30% solar tax credit for residential or business solar installations. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, this dropped to a 26% solar tax credit. With the recently passed IRA, the tax credit goes back to 30% from 2022 through 2032, before dropping to 26% in 2033 and 22% in 2034. The credit will expire after 2034. For any solar projects done in 2022, even if started before the IRA was signed into law on Aug. 16, the solar tax credit is 30%. This solar tax credit can have 10% “adders” that can bring the total solar tax credit to at least 50%. The eligibility depends on: whether the solar project pays “prevailing wages”; whether there is a certain minimum amount of domestically produced iron and steel; whether the project is located in a Native American land; whether the project was built on a site that was formerly a closed coal plant; whether the project is in an “economically disadvantaged” area. The IRS will need 6-12 months to spell out the rules for these “adders” and undoubtedly there will be many test court cases. However, one can clearly count on the 30% solar tax credit for residential and business solar projects. Example: A Mesa company produces solar-powered refrigeration units (known as reefers) that replace the diesel-powered reefers that attach to refrigerated food trailers. These units cost $70,000 and are leased for 10 years to large grocery chains and food distribution companies at a 7% annual return. The investor who buys one gets a 30% solar tax credit of $21,000 and has a depreciable basis of $59,500. Depending on whether one is a “passive” or “material participation” investor, one can deduct the $59,500 immediately in the year of purchase or take accelerated depreciation over 5 years. The tax benefits are huge and the most powerful way of reducing federal income tax in today’s tax code. Investor Example: An individual buys seven solar reefers and eliminates all the federal tax on $280,000 of 2022 taxable income and recovers most of the $250,000 tax owed on $850,000 of 2021 taxable income. Note that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 allows one to take excess solar tax benefits generated in 2022 back one year and forward 20 years. The IRA seems to increase the carryback to 3 years and the carryforward to 22 years. The investor will receive a 7% annual return of $34,300 from large food companies for 10 years and will sell the equipment for $490,000 (to recoup the original purchase price) at the end of the 10-year lease. The typical client who buys a $70,000 solar reefer saves $35,000 in total federal and state income tax. Free seminar and lunch: 10 a.m. Sept. 24 at Hyatt Place, 3535 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler, with lunch at 12:15 p.m. Topic is “Beat Inflation by Saving Lots of Tax and Increasing Cash Flow!” To RSVP or schedule a free consultation, contact Dr. Harold Wong at 480706-0177 or harold_wong@hotmail. com. His website is drharoldwong.com.

Dr. Harold Wong earned his Ph.D. in economics at University of California/ Berkeley and has appeared on over 400 TV/radio programs.