Axon Enterprise Poised to Pull Headquarters From Scottsdale

Axon Enterprise has threatened to move its hub out of north Scottsdale after a likely public referendum to kill its $1.3 billion, mixed-use headquarters expansion.

The maker of Taser electroshock weapons was approved to build the 70-acre campus with nearly 1,900 apartments at Loop 101 and Hayden Road, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

But then neighbors, disgruntled about the size of the future tech campus, filed a referendum petition containing 26,748 signatures, of which 15,353 must be verified to appear on the ballot no later than November 2026.

That’s when Scottsdale native Rick Smith, a native of the upscale city northeast of Phoenix, threatened to take his company out of state.

“I think the odds of us waiting until 2026 are zero,” Smith, the founding CEO of Axon, told the Business Journal. “There’s a point where you’ve just got to move on.”

Smith cited Texas and Florida as potential destinations, while also suggesting the potential to “double down” in Boston, Seattle, or Washington, D.C., cities where Axon has a presence.

The $1.3 billion headquarters plan, approved by the City Council in November, includes a 250,000-square-foot headquarters building, a 435-room hotel, up to seven restaurants and 1,895 homes.

The idea was for Axon to create a tech campus with enough homes for its 1,500 workers to compete for talent against blue chip firms such as Apple and Microsoft.

Residents, however, were vehemently opposed to the apartments, cited by one opposing councilman as adding density and traffic. Axon strongly defended it.

“I can’t build half the campus. My board won’t approve it,” Smith told the newspaper. “This campus doesn’t work if we don’t have the ability to do this as an integrated project.”

Lisa Borowsky, the newly elected mayor of Scottsdale, said it was “disheartening” to see Axon officials talk openly about moving out of state, but said she’s “comfortable with the legal timeline” laid out for the referendum, provided the required signatures are verified.

While Borowsky noted she would love to see Axon stay in Scottsdale, she said the decision to hold a vote on the Axon HQ ordinance before the new City Council was sworn in on Jan. 14 was a recipe for “fueling the fire” of opposition.

“I think it was clear to anyone watching the situation that the opposition would seek a referendum and would have no difficulty whatsoever getting the signatures,” Borowsky told the Business Journal. “I would not be in favor of accelerating the election on the referendum, especially if it costs the taxpayer any money whatsoever.”

Axon Enterprise, once known as Taser International, was founded by Smith in 1993 after two of his friends were shot and killed. The publicly owned firm has a market cap of nearly $45 billion after expanding its products to include body-worn cameras, drones and artificial intelligence.

— Dana Bartholomew