Axon CEO Patrick Smith speaks the Arizona Capitol on March 4, 2025, as part of the company’s effort to back legislation that would stop a ballot referendum in Scottsdale brought by residents opposed to its plans to build a 74-acre campus near the Loop 101 and Hayden Road. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror

Even after succeeding in winning support at the state Capitol for a change to state law that cancels a public vote on its proposed headquarters development, law enforcement technology company Axon announced that it is scrapping its plans to build the massive corporate campus and housing project.

“Unfortunately, Axon is withdrawing from negotiations with the City of Scottsdale,” Axon President Josh Isner said in a statement released late Monday after meeting with the city’s mayor. “The internal politics of the City Council currently make it impossible to reach an agreement. I have never seen such a toxic environment in my life. We put a great deal on the table and we tried our best.”

Axon has threatened in the past that a failure to build the north Scottsdale project will force Axon to relocate to another state.

The $60 billion company has been fighting with Scottsdale over its international headquarters project near the Loop 101 and Hayden Road, which includes a luxury hotel and roughly 1,900 apartments, some of which will be offered to Axon employees at a discounted cost.

After voters in Scottsdale gathered enough signatures to send the project to the ballot, the company sought a remedy at the Arizona legislature saying that they’d leave the state if the referendum vote went forward. Lawmakers passed legislation to spare the company from facing an election, and Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it into law in April.

The new law says that any municipality with between 200,000 and 500,000 residents — Scottsdale had 241,000 residents in the 2020 census — must “allow hotel use and multifamily residential housing” for land zoned like the Axon parcel “without requiring any type of application that will require a public hearing” if certain criteria is met.

City leaders and the citizens who created the initial referendum said they would likely pursue legal recourse, and citizen advocates have already filed paperwork for a possible statewide referendum for the new law.

Since then, Axon has been in negotiations with Scottsdale over the project. City leaders have said they’d like Axon to stay, but without the controversial apartment project which was approved by a lame-duck council.

Axon has threatened to leave the state if it is not able to build the project, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has pitched his state to the company amid the drama.

Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky did not respond to the Mirror’s request for comment.

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This post was originally authored and published by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy from AZ Mirror via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.