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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | OCTOBER 10, 2021
For more community news visit SanTanSun.com
Unique water plant enabling Intel’s massive expansion BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
Intel’s Sept. 24 groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 billion expansion of the Ocotillo campus in Chandler brought out all the top officials. Chandler’s mayor and most of the city council were there. So were Gov. Doug Ducey and U.S. Rep Greg Stanton’s staff. Intel CEO, Patrick Gelsinger was the star attraction. But it’s unlikely any of them would have been there until Intel overcame one key issue to doing business in the desert: Water. It takes a lot of water to run a manufacturing plant. In addition to the potable water needed for a workforce of several thousands, they also need a lot of water for their cooling towers. “This particular expansion, the additional [water] demand for its size was actually lower than other expansions,” said John Knudson, public works and utilities director for the city. “And the reason for that is because their recycling capability that they’re developing through the W.A.T.R.” W.A.T.R. (Wastewater and Treatment Recovery) is Intel’s water treatment and recycling facility and company officials say it’s truly groundbreaking. Knudson said without it, the expansion and all those thousands of jobs would likely not be coming to Chandler. This is the second such facility Intel has built in the U.S., the first being in Oregon. Intel has had a water treatment and recycling facility on the campus before. What makes W.A.T.R. different? “A typical industry like Intel will treat
Intel employees Steve Rossow, left, and Mara Howell inspect the company’s water recycling facility at its Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro, Oregon. (Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)
their water to what they call industrial pre-treatment standards and then they send that water on to the municipality where it has further treatment, and then can be reused,” said Todd Brady, Intel’s director of public affairs and sustainability. “In this case, we’ve actually invested in a water reclaim system where we can treat that water to standards that we can directly reuse that water again at Intel.” So, city facilities are no longer need-
ed to treat a lot of water. “It’s literally millions of gallons of water a day that we can reuse back here at Intel.” Intel’s W.A.T.R. facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, surpassed one billion gallons of water treated less than a year after it became operational. Brady said the Chandler facility became operational earlier this year. The expanded facilities mean Intel can treat nine million gallons of water each day that it can then reuse.
“Intel is taking extraordinary steps to return nearly all the water it uses during construction of these plants,” Ducey said during the groundbreaking. “This is essential for Arizona’s water future, and it lays out a blueprint for conservation strategies for future construction projects.” Dominic Greensmith is overseeing construction of the two new fabs for Intel’s expansion. With construction now See
INTEL on page 29
Investors making bigger impact on housing market BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor
The Phoenix Metro area continues to lead the nation in year-over-year home price increases, according to a national tracker of housing and other economic data. Meanwhile, the Valley’s leading analyst of the Phoenix Metro housing market last week provided data indicating the larger role investors are playing in the region, reporting that “demand is increasingly dictated by investors and iBuyers rather than traditional buyers – the owner-occupiers that make up the heart of the housing market.” The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20City Home Price Index looked at data for July and said Phoenix led the pack with a 32.4 percent year-over-year increase in home prices in July, with San Diego (27.8 percent) and Seattle (25.5 percent) coming in second and third, respectively. Overall, the National Composite Index marked its 14th consecutive month
of accelerating prices with a record 19.7 percent, the report said. That’s had an impact on mortgage rates, which the Mortgage Bankers Association of America said “rose across all loan types” in response. “With home-price appreciation continuing to run hot, increasing more than 19 percent annually in July, applications for larger loan amounts continue to outpace lower-balance loans,” said Joel Kan, an association economist. Meanwhile, Cromford Report, which follows housing trends in Maricopa and Pinal counties, said that Phoenix led the nation with the largest percentage the increase in home prices from August to September. The 3.32 percent August-September increase in Phoenix easily beat those in the next two cities – Tampa (2.94 percent) and Las Vegas (2.77 percent). Cromford also reported that the Chandler submakret last month tipped in favor of sellers, though it ranked well behind the top five sellers markets –
Fountain Hills, Avondale, Cave Creek, Scottsdale and Glendale, respectively. Cromford also shed additional light on the role investors are playing in the regional housing market. Looking exclusively at iBuyer sales, Cromford reported that purchases by institutions or large companies in the region comprised 26 percent of sales so far this year as opposed to only 10-11 percent in each of the past three years. And this year, iBuyer sales by companies and institutions have steadily risen the first three quarters, going from 19 percent of all iBuyer sales in the first quarter to 27 percent in the second and trending upward again to 31 percent in the third quarter. Noting that “iBuyers selling homes to investors is not a new thing” and that “it has been happening for many years,” Cromford said: “However, just as investors are buying more homes in general, they are also buying more homes from iBuyers. iBuyers have been recruiting specialized staff to focus on serving
their investor customers.” But it also said, “Demand is improving but a lot of this is coming from investors and iBuyers so could die away quickly. “Demand from ordinary home-buyers is subdued, no matter what the media might be telling you,” it added. “If the iBuyers stop their spending spree then demand could fall quickly.” Cromford also noted that “demand is looking strong and continues to head higher,” it noted “a large part of that demand is coming from investors and iBuyers rather than traditional home buyers.” It also reported that new homebuyers may also find rough going. “Developers are finding it tough to increase supply, with major problems in the supply chains for building materials and ongoing labor shortages,” it said. “We are not expecting a huge up-tick in supply from new homes in the near term.” Bottom line, Cromford said: “We remain in a market heavily tilted in the seller’s favor.”
