ABSTRACT
Glass-encased high rises sprouted at freeway interchanges, corporate campuses became commonplace suburban landmarks, and research and development facilities sprawled across nearby expanses. The leading hotel chains opened three-hundred-room towers to serve corporate business travelers drawn to the metropolitan fringe, adding one more element to the commercial mix of the American suburb. Office parks and low-rise business structures are scattered throughout suburbia, springing up in relative isolation from competing office space. Both sprawl and concentration are readily evident. In 2004 and 2005, the prospect of big-box tax revenues stirred a bitter conflict in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy. Sandy's city council voted to rezone the tract to allow the big-box stores, and some council members were frank about their motives. In the Northeast, the property tax has long been king, and any commercial establishment with a high assessed value is sought after by local officials.
