What's Hot

    Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

    July 9, 2025

    Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

    July 9, 2025

    Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

    July 9, 2025
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    AZBEX
    NEWS TICKER
    • [July 9, 2025] - Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions
    • [July 9, 2025] - Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites
    • [July 9, 2025] - Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction
    • [July 8, 2025] - Surprise Council Approves 295-Acre Rezone for Mixed Residential
    • [July 8, 2025] - Construction Hiring Remains Sluggish
    • [July 8, 2025] - Ariz. LIHTC to Sunset Under New Budget
    • [July 8, 2025] - Industry Professionals 07-08-25
    • [July 8, 2025] - Commercial Real Estate 07-08-25
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    • Home
    • News
      1. View Latest
      2. Planning & Development
      3. Local News
      4. Classifieds
      5. Editorial Analysis
      6. Budgets & Funding
      7. Commercial Real Estate
      8. People on the Move
      9. Arizona Projects
      10. Legislation & Regulations
      11. Trends

      Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

      July 9, 2025

      Surprise Council Approves 295-Acre Rezone for Mixed Residential

      July 8, 2025

      Retail Center & Senior Residential Development Planned in Casa Grande

      July 1, 2025

      New 108-Room Hotel, Conference Center Planned in S. Phoenix

      July 1, 2025

      Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

      July 9, 2025

      Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

      July 9, 2025

      Mesa P&Z Recommends Data Center Zoning Restrictions

      July 2, 2025

      Arterial Life Cycle Program Covers 20 Years of Street Development

      June 27, 2025

      Glendale Voters to Determine VAI Resort’s Fate

      May 16, 2025

      Legislation Would Effectively Strip NIMBYs of Referendum Tool

      February 11, 2025

      2025 Forecast Tries to Clarify an Uncertain Market

      February 7, 2025

      KOREPlex Buckeye Site Quietly Listed For Sale

      January 31, 2025

      Ariz. LIHTC to Sunset Under New Budget

      July 8, 2025

      State Government Shutdown Averted as Hobbs Signs Budget

      July 1, 2025

      Arterial Life Cycle Program Covers 20 Years of Street Development

      June 27, 2025

      $56M+ MAG Program will Enable $90M in Arterial Street Widening Projects

      June 24, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-08-25

      July 8, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 07-01-25

      July 1, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 06-24-25

      June 24, 2025

      Commercial Real Estate 06-17-25

      June 17, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-08-25

      July 8, 2025

      Industry Professionals 07-01-25

      July 1, 2025

      Industry Professionals 06-24-25

      June 24, 2025

      Industry Professionals 06-17-25

      June 17, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-27-25

      June 27, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-20-25

      June 20, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-13-25

      June 13, 2025

      Arizona Projects 06-06-25

      June 6, 2025

      Ariz. LIHTC to Sunset Under New Budget

      July 8, 2025

      Tax Bill Would Make LIHTC Permanent

      July 2, 2025

      State Government Shutdown Averted as Hobbs Signs Budget

      July 1, 2025

      Hobbs, Legislators Reach Water Use Compromise

      June 24, 2025

      Construction Hiring Remains Sluggish

      July 8, 2025

      Ariz. Construction Shed 1,700 Jobs in May

      June 24, 2025

      NABH Council Partnership Wants to Expand Workforce Pipeline

      June 17, 2025

      Project Abandonments Hit a Record in May

      June 13, 2025

      Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

      July 9, 2025

      Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

      July 9, 2025

      Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

      July 9, 2025

      Surprise Council Approves 295-Acre Rezone for Mixed Residential

      July 8, 2025
    • AZBEX
      • Subscribe
      • Classifieds
      • Advertising
    • DATABEX
      • Webinars
      • Monthly Snapshot
    • Events
      • 2025 Mid-Year Update
    • About Us
      • Meet the Company
      • Meet the Sales Team
      • Meet the Editorial Team
      • Meet the BEXperts
    AZBEX
    Home » Planning & Development » No News, but High Hopes for LGES Factory Start
    Planning & Development

    No News, but High Hopes for LGES Factory Start

    BEX StaffBy BEX StaffAugust 25, 2023No Comments6 Mins Read
    Credit: Gansam Architects + Partners/Town of Queen Creek
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By Roland Murphy for AZBEX

    Even though not a single brick has been laid and the first product is two to three years from rolling out the doors, the LG Energy Solution battery plant in Queen Creek is already being hailed as a success story.

    Also, despite a narrowing window to put all the necessary bureaucratic and process components in place, local and company officials remain optimistic about breaking ground this year.

    An Aug. 16 blog post from the advocacy group U.S. Environmental Defense Fund names the project as one of five high-profile endeavors benefitting from incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act—a Biden administration incentive program to promote clean energy investment in the United States. Having recently marked its first anniversary, the IRA is playing a major part in President Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

    The LGES plant is planned for a total investment of $5.5B to create two battery plants on the 300-acre site at Ironwood Drive and Germann Road. Upon completion, the project will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and make LGES Queen Creek’s largest employer.

    According to a March announcement from the Arizona Commerce Authority, the planned development consists of a $3.2B electric vehicle cylindrical battery manufacturing facility with a total capacity of 27 GWh and a $2.3B lithium iron phosphate pouch-type battery plant with a capacity of 16 GWh for energy storage systems. BEX Companies’ research has estimated the construction-specific costs for the two plants at between $1.5B and $2B.

    Multiple announcements and sources have cited the Queen Creek plan as the largest single investment for a stand-alone battery manufacturing facility in North America.

    Project Alpha: A Brief Review

    AZBEX was the first news outlet to report on a proposed development agreement between LGES, Pinal County and the Town of Queen Creek in March 2022. Codenamed Project Alpha, the initial investment element was set at $2.8B in the agreement, though further progress set the actual investment plan at $1.4B. Plans included project and workforce development incentives for a 1MSF battery production facility, creation of a workforce development program with a workforce training facility, and $50M in infrastructure improvements around the plant site. (AZBEX; Mar. 18, 2022)

    Three months later, AZBEX was also the first to report the project had been put on hold. Contractors involved with the project estimated the hold time to last anywhere from four-to-six months and said construction could be delayed by two-to-three years. Shortly after our story ran, LGES confirmed the project’s on-hold status, and The Korea Bizwire quoted company officials saying the decision was prompted by global inflation and a drop in the South Korean currency causing development costs to balloon. The company said the hold was implemented to give it time to evaluate all its global investment plans. (AZBEX, June 24, 2022; July 8, 2022)

    As of this January, media inquiries reported no change in status as the company continued to review its investment strategies.

    In March, however, AZBEX was among the first in the U.S. to report the project’s potential restart based on LGES’ North American subsidiary providing the Arizona Commerce Authority with a sworn certification that it intended to make at least $50M in capital investments to build the facility and the approval of an intergovernmental agreement between Queen Creek and the Arizona Department of Revenue for partial reimbursement of the Town’s planned infrastructure improvements. The certification cited incentives under the IRA as contributing to the decision to move forward with the development. (AZBEX, Mar. 8, 2023)

    Shortly afterward, LGES confirmed its commitment to the project in a news release. Later that month, LGES and the ACA rocked the economic development community with an announcement that the project would not only move forward, it would expand the initial facility and $1.4B investment to include both planned factories and a total investment of $5.5B.

    The announcement said both facilities were planned to break ground in 2023.

    Project Still a ‘Go,’ but Window is Narrowing

    With the exception of citations in various “State of Economic Development/Advanced Manufacturing” stories, there has been little progress reported in the last few months.

    When we saw the EDF post celebrating the project as a win under the Inflation Reduction Act, we reached out via email to both the Town of Queen Creek and LGES for updates. Both responses were carefully couched and devoid of specifics, but both also affirmed the project’s intent to move forward.

    Responding by email, Queen Creek Economic Director Doreen Cott said, “Town staff continues to work with the LG Team and is making progress towards a groundbreaking in the next few months. LG representatives also met with regional workforce partners to identify training opportunities.”

    In a separate email, LGES Sales Operations Analyst Sophia Kim said, “Unfortunately, at the moment, there’s nothing we can share, other than the fact that the Arizona facility is expecting its groundbreaking within this year.”

    The most recent status update to the LGES entry in the DATABEX project said, “As of 8/20/23, no updates are available and the project is still in planning and permitting with the city.”

    Still, if, as the saying goes, past performance is the best indicator of future behavior, the LGES email is cause for optimism. When there is no good news to report, the company has typically not responded to requests for updates, whereas they have been relatively accessible when the outlook is good. The response to this particular inquiry came within six hours.

    The lack of publicly available progress information should not be taken to mean progress is not being made behind the scenes. Even though, generally speaking, the window is narrowing to put all the pieces in place for a groundbreaking to happen before the end of the year, a project of this size and scope can move rapidly once everything aligns.

    Inertia is a similar principle in both physics and in project development. It takes a great deal of applied force over time to get a massive boulder rolling down a hill, but, once the tipping point is reached, that boulder—or that project—can quickly gain enough momentum to become a force unto itself.

    ACA Arizona Commerce Authority Arizona Department of Revenue BEX Companies Biden Administration development agreement Doreen Cott economic incentives Industrial Inflation Reduction Act IRA LG Energy Solution LGES Pinal County Private Project Alpha Sophia Kim Town of Queen Creek U.S. Environmental Defense Fund warehouse/manufacturing workforce development workforce incentives
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

    July 9, 2025

    Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

    July 9, 2025

    Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

    July 9, 2025

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Our Picks

    Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

    July 9, 2025

    Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

    July 9, 2025

    Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

    July 9, 2025

    Surprise Council Approves 295-Acre Rezone for Mixed Residential

    July 8, 2025
    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    Don't Miss
    Local News

    Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

    July 9, 20250

    Despite dire warnings from economic development officials, the Phoenix City Council has unanimously voted to…

    Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

    July 9, 2025

    Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

    July 9, 2025

    Surprise Council Approves 295-Acre Rezone for Mixed Residential

    July 8, 2025

    BEX serves architecture, engineering and construction firms as well as all the ancillary product and service categories that market to them. These include manufacturing representatives, public agencies and private real estate organizations, specialty subcontractors and services providers related to our industry.

    Our Picks

    Phoenix Council Votes for Data Center Restrictions

    July 9, 2025

    Project Blue Developers Considering 2 Additional Tucson-Area Sites

    July 9, 2025

    Sundt to Build Industrial Facility in Apache Junction

    July 9, 2025
    Contact Us

    Phone: 480-709-4190
    Address: P.O. Box 12196 Tempe, AZ 85284
    Email: sales@azbex.com

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.