Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 82

The Arizona Republic SECTION SUNDAY OCTOBER 21, J990 Business A MALL Economic development panel gaining PtIMK 1 cott Eubanks sailed into Phoenix a year ago to take on the job of running the fledgling Arizona Economic Council, a privately financed umbrella organization dedicated to coordi nating economic-development efforts statewide. Eubanks arrived from Dallas, where he had been a key player in arranging the relocation of several major employers to the Dallas area, to doubts about TO LIFE the need for another economic-development organi zation. Don EmpieThe Arizona Republic This bronze sculpture of the legendary Lost Dutchman is in the center's botanical garden. What has the Arizona Economic Council done 7 for Arizona? "We decided our first mission was to gain trust," Eubanks said. "We spent a lot of time working on that.

You know, 12 sAL months isn't reallv a lot of v' 7 1 time" 1W I There is no question 7 if ff VLX(few 'A fOv All a AX NAAMAN NICKELL The Arizona Republic velopment organizations in the state viewed the Arizona Economic Council and Eubanks as interlopers of sorts and were reluctant to cooperate. That situation has im .1 i I 5 mi zrrt (Yd 6' proved, but still, there are some non-believers around. "Six months ago, I would have said I was very frustrated, that we haven't accomplished much," Eubanks said. "But now, I feel like we have made some giant strides. Six months ago, I hadn't even been invited to meet the people at the Arizona Department of Commerce.

We now are working on some projects with other groups. So I think cooperation has improved a great deal." But he'd like to see some more improvement. "One-way cooperation is boring, and at some point you lose interest," he said. "But we still want to put together the best teams possible to close some deals." Eubanks also points to getting his staff of seven in Freeway's end is site for huge center in Mesa By Jean Novotny The Arizona Republic Mesa's new Superstition Springs Center, set to open Nov. 1, appears to be in an unlikely location for success.

The Superstition Freeway, the far east Valley's link to the rest of the Phoenix area, now dead-ends at the shopping center's doorstep. But the mall, which is about 25 miles from downtown Phoenix, won't be out in what most Valley residents consider the boonies for long. All indications are that the shopping center, the first regional mall to open in the Valley in nearly 10 years, will mark the start of something big. Big because it will provide a focus of activity for residents of the far east Valley and of communities as far away as Globe and Miami. The area has plenty of residents but not much in the way of shopping and entertainment opportunities.

And some say it will do for the far east Valley what Fiesta Mall did for the area around Alma School Road and the Superstition Freeway in the late 70s and early '80s. It, too, was near the end of the road when it opened in 1979. Now, it's the east Valley's commercial hub. Superstition Springs Center, Power Road and the Superstition Freeway, is 10 miles east of Fiesta Mall. The new center is an area that is likely to take off as the $120 million mall and two adjacent developments to the west, the Superstition Springs Power Center and Superstition Springs Auto Park, are completed.

I Price tag on entire project, when complete, will be about $750 million. The development area covers 1,700 acres. I It's the start of something big also because it introduces Valley See NEW, page F2 If A-, place, getting permanent offices and developing marketing programs for the state as accomplish ments of note. John SamoraThe Arizona Republic "I'm proud of the way the private sector has supported (the council)," Eubanks added. They didn just write us a check and ride off into the sunset.

They are involved. For instance, we have a new public-policy committee, chaired by (APS chief executive) Mark De Michcle. It will be concerned with big issues affecting economic development such as tax reform or environmental policy." Eubanks is very reluctant to talk about the These brightly painted lizards will be part of a climbing apparatus in the playground at Superstition Springs Center. This water flume (at left) in the plaza area of the center carries water 60 feet overthe plaza before dropping it 18 feet into a retaining pond. number of jobs created.

However, he pointed out that the Arizona Economic Council was very involved in the effort that resulted in Toyota selecting an area in Maricopa WlwffWwlIr lift jtrn fi, TW' County for the site of a planned test track. Another effort involved a recently announced credit-card service center in Tempe that will employ about 300 people. The Arizona Economic Council helped find space, contractors for renovation, set up meetings with Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell and Jan Schaefer, Tempe economic-development director, I 1 Eubanks said. The council also had a role, in helping Tucson land an American Airlines reservations center. "And we are working with Yuma on some Don EmpieThe Arizona Republic prospects," Eubanks said.

Eubanks and his staff have spent quite a bit of time during the past 12 months out in the state getting acquainted and learning what the state has to Fiesta doesn't expect its pinata to go bust offer. Convincing community leaders in rural Arizona that somebody from Phoenix wants to help them is no easy job. There are only two ways they 11 be totally satisfied with (the council)," Eubanks said. "First, when we bring them business and second, when they learn to call us in to help close deals." Calling the council for help is part of that trust Eubanks believes is so important, and until those calls start coming from all economic-development experience is that none of the shopping centers involved have lost sales. "That's a shopping center in its aggregate the combination of the sales in all of the stores.

That's what we look at. While individual categories may be affected, the whole mall won't be." Fiesta Mall, which ranks among the top 15 percent of regional malls in the country in terms of sales per square foot, has been virtually the only game in town and has had a market of more than 500,000 people to itself for years. It now is considered a regional mall as it has four anchors. But it is seeking to add a fifth, which would put it in the superregional category along with Superstition Springs when it's completed next year. Fiesta is also the No.

1 mall in the Valley, favored by 21 percent of the shoppers polled for Inside Metro Phoenix, a publication of Phoenix Newspapers Inc. See FIESTA, pageF2 ager, Janice Olson, who works for Homart Development Co. the company that leases and manages the mall. Homart, coincidentally, also is involved in Superstition Springs. It is a financial partner with Westcor and JCP Realty in the multimillion-dollar project.

"In my 16 years with Homart, as well as in Homart's 30 years in business, there have been situations like the one we're facing here," Olson said. "Our By Jean Novotny The Arizona Republic So just what effect will the opening of Superstition Springs Center have on sales at Fiesta Mall, Mesa's other big shopping center? It's a question going around the east Valley these days as Fiesta Mall prepares to face competition for the first time from another regional or superregional in this case mall. "Any answer to that question is pure speculation," said Fiesta Mall's man organizations in the state, the council is not going to really fulfill its charter. Bringing about that type of cooperation almost certainly will require a firm push from the Governor's Office. And so far in the campaign, neither Terry Goddard nor Fife Symington has talked much about economic development.

Native son wears Best Western crown '7 Best I (Astern 'A- countries around the world. Best Western's worldwide headquarters is in a gracious Spanish-style building near the Arizona Biltmore. Best Western members pay entrance and annual fees, and in return they get customers referred by the central reservation system in Phoenix; use of Best Western's gold-crown logo; the benefits of its worldwide advertising, advice and training; and the right to vote on company changes. Evans has been chief executive officer of the international company for 10 years, giving him a great seat to watch the increased globalization of business. For example, as fast as communism has been winding down, Best Western has sought hotels in formerly commu- See NATIVE SON, page F5 and live in my hometown, which I love.

In that sense, I've been very lucky," he said. Evans, 50, has fond memories of growing up in Phoenix. Rose Mofford, now the state's governor, was a kindly neighborhood lady who served Kool-Aid to kids. And when he was 13 years old, he claimed to be 16 to get a job in a downtown Phoenix theater for 60 cents an hour. "I thought that was the best job in the world.

I was inside, where it was cool, I could watch all the movies I wanted, and I made a penny a minute," he said. Now he manages a non-profit company of about 3,300 independently owned hotels, motels and inns in 37 By Betty Beard The Arizona Republic You don't underestimate Ron Evans even when playing a joke on him. At Best Western International Inc's 1984 convention in Las Vegas, coworkers decided to call him to the stage unexpectedly to sing with Marie Osmond, who had performed with her brother Donny. "I guess it was supposed to be a gag, where I was supposed to stumble and fumble through it, right in front of 2,500 people," said Evans, chief execu- tive officer of Best Western. But Osmond suggested a song to which Evans, a country-Western fan, knew the words.

It was Crazy, made popular by Patsy Cline. "I said, 'Boy, that fits, it fits the moment he quipped. But he sang well enough to stun at least one friend, Russell Stamm, president of Vector Enterprises in Phoenix, which plans conventions and meetings. "He was absolutely fantastic. He knew every single word to the song.

It just blew me away," Stamm said. The fact that employees would feel cozy enough with their boss to put him the spot in front of a large group, says a lot about Evans. But the fact that he grew up in Phoenix and became head of an international organization based in the Valley says a lot more. "For me, it was a perfect match. It was an opportunity to lead a company of the size and scope of Best Western Tom StoryThe Arizona Republic Ron Evans manages Best Western International a company of 3,300 independently owned hotels, motels and inns in 37 countries..