Close to 190 new jobs moved into town during 2018 and more than 150 additional ones are in the pipeline, Town Economic Development Director Scott Cooper reported Dec. 6 to a Chamber of Commerce committee.

The town has benefited from $4 million in capital investment, he added. The focus has been to recruit businesses in finance and insurance, health care, professional and technology, and higher education.

Among the recent success are:

* Med to You is one of the newest companies to create 8 to 10 jobs. The medical care business at 13620 N. Saguaro Blvd. expects to be operating this month. There will be a walk-in clinic but they will focus on doctors and lab specialists making house or office calls.

*Mayo Clinic operates an office for administrative and information technology services at 16848 E. Palisades Blvd. They are transitioning the space into a call center for 50 employees, Monday through Friday.

“That’s a great thing,” said Cooper. “We will have 50 cars and people being here during the day…to eat lunch, getting groceries and getting gas.”

*Vitargo, a California vitamin supplement company, added two employees to make a six-person operation here. Cooper said he is working with the owners to move their manufacturing facility to town.

*FTS Watch Group plans to employ 30 in its first year and is making a $500,000 capital investment. Through a partnership with Titan Co., the company makes watch components and finishes watches on the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) campus in a former elementary school. It is FTS’s goal to become the only USA watch manufacturer in the country, said Cooper.

*Team Training Institute, a company on the Avenue of the Fountains, focuses on business training for dental practices.

Activity in Park Place’s retail units has increased, said Cooper. Opening soon will be Classy-Jazzy Cutique, a women’s apparel store; Grand Canyon Title Agency, Oka sushi restaurant and an architect’s office.

“Ideally, we would like to attract businesses to create activity morning, noon and night,” said Cooper.

Since January, the town reported 150 new business licenses within the community and 750 business licenses from outside firms doing business in the town.

Town business licenses total about 1,200, split in half between traditional brick and mortar stores and home-based operations.

Looking ahead, Cooper said he is pursuing 16 leads in relocating or having a presence in town. The businesses include small retail, a burger restaurant and tech companies.

Cooper commented that the town is an “exporter of jobs,” in that two-thirds of the 12,000 employed residents leave the community daily to work elsewhere. About 3,000 drive from adjacent communities to work in Fountain Hills.

Narrowing the exodus of employees is a town objective by having more people living and working here.