BUSINESS

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New performing arts center opens in Gilbert

GSN NEWS STAFF

Inspire Entertainment has opened a new performing arts center and school in Gilbert.

The 14,000-square-foot building, located at 4469 E. Baseline Road, houses seven large dance studio spaces, a preschool, cafe, recording studio and dancewear boutique. “We have always believed in the arts,” Inspire CEO Michael Sackett said. “We’ve seen it transform individuals and inspire others to make a difference in the world. This new facility will enable us to do that on a bigger stage.”

Inspire was renting space in Mesa and in Gilbert for its classes. Now at its new location, it continues offering classes in dance, music and theater.

“We love doing business in Gilbert so it’s a great location for us to expand our operations,” Sackett said. “It’s near some important established businesses and it’s a convenient location right off the 60 for our current and future studio families, too.”

The company has seen explosive growth since putting down roots in the East Valley in March 2015, growing to over 650 students from 75, according to Sackett.

The new building will allow the business to grow at the new location, able to accommodate up to 1,200 students.

“We believe in building community, inspiring positivity and encouraging hope in others,” said LaDawn Pettitt, Inspire president. “We are achieving this through our established programs in music, dance, theater, education and development for all ages.”

Inspire touts its family-centered lifestyle that includes value-based training, modest costumes age-appropriate music and no Sunday training.

“We have been planning this building for a year now,” said Sackett in an earlier interview. “There will be a dedicated room for tumbling space, room for all our classes we currently have and additional classes we can add.”

Sackett said the new building will allow the business to grow at the new location, able to accommodate up to 1,200 students.

Inspire touts its family-centered lifestyle that includes value-based training, modest costumes age-appropriate music and no Sunday training. The company also has a nonprofit arm – Inspire: music.service.hope. Each year a group of students go on an international music service tour to developing countries like Puerto Plata, Columbia and Costa Rica, taking supplies and performing service projects.

Sackett said the company has plans to

Sadie VanShaar, 17, teaches a TikTok dance class at Inspire Dance Studio in Gilbert.

(Pablo Robles/GSN Staff Photographer)

see INSPIRE page 21

Fulton Homes marks 45 years of building

GSN NEWS STAFF

Fulton Homes is marking its 45th anniversary.

The Tempe company said in a release it prides itself on “quality single-family homes with high-grade amenities and plentiful greenspaces in communities across the Valley.” “Forty-five years of building residences in which families grow and raise children in is an amazing achievement,” said CEO Doug Fulton. “We are proud to share this success with our current and future homeowners. We look forward to many more years.”

Fulton Homes was founded in 1975 by Ira Fulton after successfully buying and turning around a clothing business that was closed to bankruptcy.

The company grew from building several homes a year to completing more than 1,200 single family units in 2020.

“Quantity is not Fulton Homes’ motivating factor; the company’s overarching goal is to fulfill the needs of the ever-changing American family as best as possible,” the company release said. “It is important that homeowners know they’re moving into a home that is not only built with care, but with unmatched quality.”

Fulton Homes said its key to its business has been a variety of charitable endeavors, including large donations to educational institutions, water safety awareness campaigns, musical educational promotions and giveaways benefiting family pets and children literacy.

Recently, the Tempe-based homebuilder announced details on more than 5,200 secured lots the company currently has in different stages of development in the local market.

“As a company, we know exactly who we are and what we do best: Build single-family homes and large-scale master-planned communities featuring the highest grade of amenities and shared gathering spaces, all within our local market,” said Fulton. “Our pipeline is proof of that and our commitment to the community.”

Fulton Vice President Norm Nicholls added, “For a local homebuilder that operates in-market, we believe we are in an extremely good position to compete with national builders in an active and healthy residential real estate market.

“The lots are in front of us, and once the trades and supply chain catches up to the demand – a challenge all builders

Inspire’s new performing arts center in Gilbert includes a preschool. (Pablo Robles/GSN Staff

Photographer)

INSPIRE from page 20

do fundraising to build a theater in the future.

“The sooner the better,” he said. “We’re hoping in the next five years. Hopefully it won’t take us that long.”

Inspire also has a Fit Club, a musicvideo production program and a preschool program that centers around music, movement and the arts, while educating 3- to 5-year-olds. More programs are added each year.

Fit Club is one of Inspire’s most recent offerings. The program’s classes at the Gilbert location include yoga, cardio kickboxing, and tap for adults.

“The Fit Club classes for adults are popular,” Sackett said. “Our main goal is to train the youth in the arts but we also want to have offerings for parents. If someone drops their kid off, they can come to a fitness class and simplify their life. Bring the family to one place to do it all.”

Information: inspireent.com.

FULTON from page 20

face right now – we can start announcing sales and pre-sales.”

Its major Southeast Valley development currently is Barney Farms in Queen Creek, a master-planned community that will total more than 1,700 homes on 550 acres, including 114 acres of open space anchored by a 22 acre lake.

With established master-planned communities underway and nearing close-out, and newer projects in different stages of development, Fulton Homes expects to build approximately 3,500 homes on secured lots in the West Valley in the coming years.

Currently in development, Escalante has more than 1,000 lots near US 60 and the Loop 303 freeway in a burgeoning part of the Northwest Valley.

In Goodyear, Fulton Homes closed on land at Yuma Road and Estrella Parkway surrounding the Goodyear Ballpark Village that will eventually be home to more than 790 homes. The project will feature higher-density designs in a gated setting. This project is not expected to go into development for at least a year.

Additionally, the company recently secured a parcel totaling 187 acres at the northwest corner of Perryville and Indian School Roads in the West Valley. The recently approved master-planned community will have 675 homes.

Surprise will also feature a Fulton Homes master-planned community of 550 homes on 110 acres of land.

“The approved projects remain in the early stages of raw land in predevelopment, and the company will look to break ground on homes in the summer of 2022,” the company said.

Information: fultonhomes.com.