Companies at FLITE Goodyear, the former home of Lockheed Martin and Arizona’s new launchpad for 21st century innovation, are expanding and enhancing the success of the 1-million-square-foot, mixed-use campus.

Already home to more than 60 companies on 95 acres, FLITE Goodyear continues to grow with the expansions of Prime Solutions Group Inc. and CAVCO.

PSG, a professional engineering services company specializing in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology, is expanding from 10,000 to 30,000 square feet. The company, which now has 40-plus employees, opened in FLITE Goodyear in 2010 with five employees.

CAVCO West, a modular home builder that has been part of the campus since 1993, is now occupying more than 250,000 square feet. 

“We are thrilled about company expansions for PSG and CAVCO and how FLITE Goodyear serves as a proving ground supporting their successful operations,” said Daryl Burton, owner of Reliance Management of Phoenix and of FLITE Goodyear. “FLITE Goodyear pays homage to Arizona’s great aviation history while offering functional space, accelerating business growth and providing employees the benefits of a more urban connected setting.”

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Adjacent to the Phoenix Goodyear Airport, the office, retail and industrial technology campus is the former home of Lockheed Martin.

Its 20 buildings serve as home to companies with varied business operations such as windshields for fighter jets, satellite radar systems, machine shops, gantry cranes, electric vehicles and manufactured homes. FLITE Goodyear offers a wellness path, furnished outdoor collaborative areas and displays of public art with an aviation theme honoring the site’s history of flight innovation.

The property’s history dates back to 1941, when the U.S. Navy started construction of the Litchfield Naval Air Station. During World War II, the plant manufactured thousands of B-24 Bombers for the Navy’s Pacific Campaign.

In 1948, Goodyear Aircraft Co. purchased the plant and refocused its efforts on radar technologies. The radar operations remained a significant part of the Goodyear Aircraft and the activities of successor companies at the plant. In times of war and peace, the plant employed as many as 4,500 people.

In addition, the Goodyear Blimp and many of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s large floating characters were made at FLITE Goodyear.

Mr. Burton placed a special emphasis on maintaining the site’s history during FLITE Goodyear’s $25 million renovation, which included repurposing hundreds of thousands of square feet of 1960s to 1980s office interiors and keeping intact the 1940s to 1970s exteriors.

The brick exteriors were cleaned and refreshed, a 1940s 100,000-square-foot hangar building with a 56-foot ceiling was converted from an office building into an iconic parking garage and event space, and numerous public art amenities were added

“It was important to preserve Goodyear’s tremendous aviation history while creating a welcoming, attractive environment to growing companies in the West Valley and beyond,” Mr. Burton said.

PSG’s roots trace back to the Goodyear Aircraft Co. that first patented synthetic aperture radar in 1951. Many of PSG’s experts have Lockheed Martin pedigrees. PSG’s space at FLITE Goodyear is qualified for classified work and the company is expected to grow up to 100 employees during the next five years as the applications for their technologies expand.

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“FLITE Goodyear is an ideal location for PSG. Significant advances in radar sensing technologies were invented here going back to Goodyear Aerospace. We are proud to build on the shoulders of those giants in today’s ‘information Age,’” said Joseph Marvin, PSG president and founder. “The FLITE Goodyear campus is a place where many technology advances were achieved.  This place inspires us to extend those achievements into the future.”

CAVCO West is a southwest leader in factory built manufactured homes.

“CAVCO West has found success at FLITE Goodyear. Being located near technology innovators, available labor in the West Valley, the Phoenix Goodyear Airport and Interstate 10 makes FLITE Goodyear the right place to expand,” said Paul DeRoo, the company’s Southwest Region vice president.