June 17, 2021
or immediate release
Michael Clack, chief development officer, 480-312-7629
From plans to move-in, Scottsdale can turn things quickly for businesses.
Scottsdale continues to be a top city for business, and the recent move of Lifestance Health to Scottsdale is a prime example.
The company, a national provider of behavioral healthcare services with operations across the country, had a full-floor tenant improvement project requiring quick turnaround to accommodate necessary out-of-state staff moves and a critical open for business date. A smooth transition hinged on an in-concert partnership between the city and Lifestance Health’s architectural team to turn things around quickly.
In many cities, this type of plan review takes at least two weeks, and sometimes can take up to four weeks. Thankfully, Scottsdale’s tenant improvement review and approval program is modern and built for speed.
Scottsdale, working with the client’s design team at Evolution Design, turned the plan review around in just 3 days.
The design team on the client side was key – they were responsive, ready and worked alongside city plan reviewers to ensure a speedy process.
With the understanding that time is money, Michael Clack, Scottsdale’s chief development officer, said the city works to customize its efforts to meet the goals of our businesses.
“In many circumstances the city’s process flexes to meet the needs of our customers,” Clack said. “Collaboration and flexibility are the key ingredients – success in this comes from a team effort.”
Nicole Swanson, of Evolution Design agreed, and said that Scottsdale’s team of reviewers graciously accommodated her team by hosting pre-application preliminary plan reviews for the tenant improvement project.
“The Planning and Development department at the city of Scottsdale is amazing to work with,” she added.
Prior to COVID-19, Evolution Design would meet in-person with Scottsdale’s team of reviewers, representing each discipline, to review schematic plans for the upcoming build out and discuss the project scope. When the pandemic paused in-person meetings, the group continued the process by using Microsoft Teams, screen sharing and keeping open dialogue to discuss any questions or concerns the review team had. All remarks were then incorporated into the final construction documents for formal city submittal review.
“For our most recent project, Lifestance at the Portales building, the preliminary design review helped solidify the construction documents enabling an expedited review resulting in no redline comments,” Swanson said. “Through teamwork and open communication between both teams, we were able to complete a streamlined, successful plan review.”
“Our corporate headquarters buildout in Scottsdale has been a great experience, thanks to the city’s development services and economic development staff,” said Anne Keller, LifeStance Health’s office manager. “Their responsiveness and ability to customize a review and relocation process allowed us to achieve key milestones for our project. We appreciate the warm welcome to Arizona and look forward to a long relationship with the city of Scottsdale.”
If your company is considering a relocation, Scottsdale’s Economic Development team stands ready to assist in all aspects of the process, including site selection, labor market research, project development, announcements and everything in between.
To learn more about Scottsdale’s responsive tenant improvement review and approval process, visit ScottsdaleAZ.gov, search “plan review services.”
Holly Walter | Public Affairs Supervisor
City of Scottsdale | Office of Communication
480-312-2655 | hwalter@ScottsdaleAZ.gov
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