Comcast Inks New 1,100 Employee Call Center Adjacent to Tucson Mall
Comcast has leased the entire landmark building at 4690 N Oracle Road in Tucson, the former American Home Furnishings, and parking garage with 1,043 spaces. The 211,152-square-foot building sits adjacent to the Tucson Mall at Oracle and Wetmore Roads and had been vacant since 2008 when American Home Furnishings closed its 7 Arizona locations, including four stores and a distribution center in Tucson. The other tenant in the building is Grand Cinemas.
Comcast leased the property for a call center and plans to hire 1,100 workers later this year, partly because of the area’s significant Spanish-speaking population.
Gov. Doug Ducey announced the cable giant’s plans from his offices on May 5th to mark the largest expected corporate opening in Arizona during his tenure, however the building location was not disclosed until yesterday.
“It means a direct economic impact of $35 million to our economy. It means more than 1,000 quality jobs for Tucson,” Gov. Ducey said at a press conference from his office last May. “It means one more major signal to the world that Arizona is open for business.”
While Comcast has relatively few customers in Arizona — it serves 67,000 homes in the Tucson area — the 148,000-square-foot customer-service center it expects to open will specialize in billing and repair inquiries for the company’s subscribers nationally.
When the building renovation is complete, the center will include product training labs, training rooms, video conference facilities, a cafeteria and a fitness center. Comcast has also announced that 15 percent of the hires at the Tucson center will be reservists, veterans and their spouses or domestic partners – part of the company’s commitment to 10,000 military hires by the end of 2017.
As part of a deal with the Arizona Commerce Authority, Comcast is eligible for tax credits worth up to $9,000 over three years for each worker paid at least the median wage in Pima County and with health insurance. The company also will receive assistance to defray the costs of training some employees. The company selected Tucson, in part, because Arizona’s time zone is favorable for such work and because the Tucson area has a significant bilingual population, said Mike Eastman, director of the customer support center. For more information about Comcast job opportunities visit its website at https://jobs.comcast.com/en/job-opportunities/customer-care.
Greg Furrier, Retail Specialist with Cushman & Wakefield | Picor in Tucson handled the lease transaction for the landlord, Tanager Company of Alburquerque, New Mexico. To learn more Furrier should be contacted at 520.748.7100.