Most people who know PADT don’t really think twice about our home here in the ASU Research Park. When a non-technical friend came by for a tour a week or so ago, I ended up telling the whole history of PADT and then how we ended up here. They said I should put that in a blog post. So here I am, doing just that.
Back before PADT had a name and a clear business plan, we started scouting for space. This is a 1993-ish time frame, and back then, location was so much more important than it is now. It was technically difficult to do engineering from a home office, and more importantly, customers would come and visit you and check you out. If you had a questionable office, they wouldn’t do business with you. And if you wanted to talk to multiple people, you had to go to a meeting room. These days, a good chunk of our customers and vendors don’t even have an office, or they have a small one that is rarely visited. Also, customers rarely come to see us, and we have most of our meetings online.
But back then, the saying was “location, location, location,” and the ASU Research Park was the premier spot for tech companies. Motorola had multiple facilities, and smaller companies were in some of the multi-tenant buildings. The park was beautiful. The lakes were just as peaceful as they are now. And ASU promised high-speed internet connections and access to its libraries. There was even this multi-tenant building that ASU set up to “incubate” and support new hardware companies at 7755 S Research Drive. It was perfect. And there really was no other “tech park” in the city — just random buildings with a mix of companies or industrial space.
Too Small for the ASU Research Park
Well, the reality was that four engineers leaving their corporate jobs to start an engineering consulting company were too small for the space they had, and subletting was not an option. But back then, they had what they called Executive Suites. It was sort of the co-location solution of the day. We could rent one or more offices with doors, and we all shared a receptionist/administrative assistant, a phone system, copiers, and a fax machine. We found one in Tempe, moved into a small one-room suite with a view of South Mountain to the west, and filled it with desks and computers. When that lease was up, we needed more room for more people, more computers, and 3D printers.
We looked at ASU Research Park. Still too small. So we found a small industrial suite in North Gilbert near US60 and moved in. That was our home until the early 2000s. It worked, but we were spread out across two suites and running out of room, especially for our growing product development and 3D Printing teams. It was time to look for a new home, and, of course, we checked the ASU Research Park first.
Motorola’s Loss was PADT’s Gain
The bad news was that in the early 2000s Motorola was losing its grip on the cell phone market, and its other businesses were faltering. One division was leasing a large space in a building in the park, and they were shutting down. It was 7755 S Research Park Drive. And not only were they breaking their lease, but they were also leaving all the furniture and a large amount of equipment. Eager to fill a space that might remain vacant for a long time, ASU worked closely with us, allowing us to take a small portion of the suite and expand as needed.
It didn’t take long to need more room, and we broke down the wall in 2004 and occupied half of the building we’d daydreamed about before we even started the company. We now had a full sales team, a full administrative staff, facilities technicians, a growing army of engineers, and so many different 3D Printers that I lost count.
The Financial Crisis Makes the ASU Research Park PADT’s Permanent Home
Everything was fine until the Great Financial Crisis hit in 2007-2008, which then turned into the Great Recession in 2008-2009. The good news was that PADT’s business plan of being diversified across many industries and many products and services kept us from feeling the full force of the downturn. But that was not true for ASU, especially with the drop in real estate value. They needed cash, so they started selling buildings. And one of those buildings was at 7755 S Research Drive.
PADT got a mortgage, bought the building, and not only made the same facility our long-term home, but we also became landlords. We renamed the building the PADT Innovation Center, and we returned our suite and the other suites to the building to ASU’s original purpose – a place for small engineering companies to build their business, provide testing, and conduct light manufacturing.
The Place for Innovation in the ASU Research Park
And here we are 33 or so years later, since we stood in the parking lot looking at the building, dreaming of the day we might be inside. Not only are we inside and thriving, but we are also home to PADT’s spinout for 3D printing post-processing, Oryx Additive. In addition, we have two new semiconductor-related startups, Purity Resource and Syenta, right next to long-term tenant, CMC Labs. CDI, an ASU space communications startup, is keeping the co-location heritage alive by renting cubicles and bench space in PADT’s suite.
We are not going anywhere, and can’t wait to see which employees, partners, and tenants come and go in and out of this building in the coming years.
If you have never been, a great way to experience the space is to come to PADT’s annual open house, Nerdtoberfest. Last year we had over 700 people join us in our parking lot and in the building. So register and visit us in the PADT Innovation Center at 7755 S Research Drive in the, you guessed it, ASU Research Park in Tempe, Arizona.
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