TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — We have been working to solve a mystery. What is the big new business Pima County is trying to attract to a large plot of land near the Fairgrounds?
We do know the name of another company being courted to bring its business to Southern Arizona.
Plans for the site near the Fairgrounds are so secret that Pima County gave it a code name—Project Blue. No one will name the company. Now we are learning of another tech company with potential for Southern Arizona.
Raytheon has helped build Southern Arizona’s reputation as a place to build very technical products.
University of Arizona provides advanced research and skilled workers.
Now Senator Mark Kelly has written a letter to a California company called Castelion to convince it Tucson would be ideal to expand Castelion’s work creating hypersonic missiles.
That’s likely on top of the mysterious Project Blue.
The County estimates Project Blue will create more than three thousand construction jobs and have about 180 full time employees paid an average of $64,000 a year.
Pima County suggests a lot of possibilities for the site
But a large data center is most in line with a key detail the county has revealed. Data centers need often use water for cooling.
Plans call for enlarged water lines to bring reclaimed water to the site.
Pima County Supervisors may consider the deal in a meeting next month, or in July.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
