Amazon HQ2 Proposal

Local Community Murrieta, Calif.

Murrieta is a relatively new city which was incorporated in 1991 in order to provide a high level of services and quality of life for its residents and businesses. Murrieta is located at the center of Southwest Riverside County - at the key regional crossroads of I-15 and I-215. Please refer to Figures 1 and 2 which graphically portray Murrieta’s central location within Southern California and Southwest Riverside County. Currently, Murrieta has a population of nearly 115,000, up from 109,000 in 2015. Murrieta is the fourth largest city in Riverside County and the largest city in Southwest Riverside County. In 1991, Murrieta had a population of 24,000. Within a 30minute drive from Central Murrieta, there is a population of 704,460. Murrieta is ideally located for region- serving facilities since the growth in Southwest Riverside County is on a north-ward projectory, placing Murrieta at the “keystone” location for such facilities and services. As quality of life is a central focus for the City of Murrieta, we are proud to consistently rank in the top ten safest cities list by FBI statistics for cities in our size range, have an Honor Roll rated school district and host 51 City parks for our community to enjoy. Murrieta is primarily a young, family-oriented community with an average age of 34. Murrieta is also a relatively higher income, professional community – with an average family annual income which ranges from a low of $97,200 to a high of nearly $106,000, based on a study prepared by Speer Consulting of Coronado, California in 2014. Twenty-eight percent of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher. A number of factors have led to the rapid development of Murrieta as new community for Southern California. First, Murrieta is located at the center of the Southern California

Mega-Region, as illustrated by Figures 1 and 2. The community is strategically locatedmidway between Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego – within the path of growth of both the major Southern Californiametro centers. Within a 60minute (non-rush hour drive) of Central Murrieta there is a population of 5million (Figure 3). The other factors which have caused the growth of Murrieta include the community’s high standard of living, themore affordable cost of housing compared to neighboring Coastal Southern California (average 4 bedroom home price in Murrieta is $375,000) , the highly regarded Murrieta Valley Unified School District (Murrieta’s three high schools are within the top 10 percent of all U.S. high schools), the community’s safety (Murrieta is continuously ranked within the top 10 safest cities in the nation by the FBI), and the proximity to higher paying jobs in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles. The City of Murrieta has established a very comprehensive approach to economic development – with an emphasis on spurring the continued growth of a broad economic base, including the development of healthcare, life sciences, medical devices, research and development, engineering, robotics, software, higher education, and advancedmanufacturing and export companies to serve the larger Southwest Riverside County area – consistent with a City approved visionary plan. The City recently updated its General Plan, with a key emphasis on economic development and STEM-related business growth. Various sites along both I-15 and I- 215 have been zoned for Office Research Park development – with a recognition that very little land remains in the core coastal counties of Southern California for new technology park development. The City has worked with its many partners to invest millions of dollars

for new road and freeway interchange purposes – since it is well understood by the City of Murrieta that infrastructure is critical in order to promote economic development. The City is directly involved in promoting the growth and retention of its highly skilled workforce and works closely with industry, the local community college, the CountyWorkforce Board and the Murrieta Valley Unified School District to promote such growth. The City also works to help create new startup technology companies. This work is centered on the Murrieta Innovation Center – the City-owned former City Hall – where Murrieta has created a partnership with various resource providers to promote the growth of a local tech entrepreneurial eco system. Resource providers at the Murrieta Innovation Center include InSoCal CONNECT (the region’s non-profit organization dedicated to growing tech startup companies), TriTech Small Business Development Center, the Veterans Business Action Committee, 5DWomen’s Entrepreneurship Center, Murrieta Robotics and Electronics Lab (with the Murrieta- Temecula Software Developers Group and Murrieta Temecula Hardware Developers organizations), the Youth Entrepreneurship Success (YES!) Place, and an International Business Resource Center. The former Murrieta City Council Chambers at the Murrieta Innovation Center has beenmade available to Murrieta Genomics, LLC for the establishment of a genomics laboratory incubator. In addition, multiple healthcare related startups are currently utilizing space in the Murrieta Innovation Center that are all focused on technology related solutions. The City has recently created a new partnership with the University of California-Riverside to promote the regional growth of entrepreneurshipmentoring by UC-Riverside at the Murrieta Innovation Center.

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