GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The West Valley is booming and cities, like Goodyear, are embracing it.
Everywhere you look in Goodyear there's growth.
"I came out here a year and a half ago, to this day I'm stunned and amazed at how it's changed," Steve Kovach said.
Kovach is the owner of the Stillery. It's a new restaurant, bar and music venue that's getting ready to open in a few weeks.
"We do dancing, our dance floors are never big enough," Kovach said. "We're in the East Valley and north Phoenix, and honestly we kept getting asked by our talent, our artists, can you get out to Goodyear?"
The project has been about a year and a half in the making and is one of multiple businesses in the area that's now making the city of Goodyear home.
"I get excited pulling up to this place," he said. "When I see what we've done from seven years ago when I came out to work on the ballpark, it's exciting. I'm a contractor, I like growth, growth stimulates the economy, job creation is what it's all about."
"We're only about 15% built out in the city of Goodyear," Laura Kaino said.
Kaino is the city's vice mayor. She said since the pandemic, construction has taken off.
"We're experiencing just unprecedented growth in all sectors," she said. "Residential, multi-family, commercial and industrial."
Since last year, the number of new single-family home permits has gone up 88%. Multi-family homes also nearly doubled in 2023 from 2022. At least 39 new retail establishments have opened in Goodyear since last year and more than 30 others are under construction or in the planning phase. But what's the attraction?
"What makes the West Valley extra special is there's a lot of opportunity, a lot of workforce," she said. "We also have a lot of land, a robust portfolio of water, still a lot of power out here and so that's what's drawing a lot of tech data centers as well as commercial businesses."
With the Stillery's grand opening right around the corner, there's excitement for what's happening.
"There's a little pride for my family, my wife, we created 90 jobs in Goodyear," Kovach said.
There's also excitement of what's to come.
"Goodyear, Avondale, Buckeye, Surprise, all the cities are thriving and doing very, very well," Kaino said. "People are coming to the West Valley because we're still a good value, we have jobs, we have homes and a place for people to live and we have things for people to do."
Multiple new businesses are in the works in Goodyear including multiple restaurants and other businesses. Buc-ee's is also expected to break ground any day.
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