Caterpillar is slated to bring 600 jobs to Arizona via the headquarters development. (JustGoodNewsBiz.com photo)

Sundt Construction is getting the go-ahead to start construction on a new $43 million division headquarters in Arizona for Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpillar's Surface Mining & Technologies division is to be based in Tucson at the base of A Mountain just west of Interstate 10.

Caterpillar is slated to bring 600 jobs to Arizona via the headquarters development, according to a Rio Nuevo spokesperson.

The Rio Nuevo Board — which oversees a voter-approved development district to bring jobs and investments to Tucson — has authorized finalization of a lease deal with Illinois-based Caterpillar.

The board has also approved actions to allow Sundt to move forward with the Caterpillar headquarters.

The Rio Nuevo group has paid $7 million to acquire the title to the property where the CSM&T base is going and is spending $4.8 million to clean up a landfill on the construction site.

Caterpillar would be a big boost to Tucson's corporate base which is much smaller than Phoenix. Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) has its missile division based in Tucson.

Caterpillar is one of the 30 stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Other blue-chip Dow companies with big Arizona footprints include UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Caterpillar's stock was trading at $104.86 in Wednesday action. The machinery, tractor, construction and mining equipment manufacturer's stock is up 13 percent so far this year, according to Google Finance.

Sundt is based in Tucson and has a big office in Tempe.

Mike Sunnucks writes about stocks and financial markets, real estate, government and sports business.

(Source: Phoenix Business Journal http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/06/14/construction-starting-on-43m-600-worker.html)

Today's top stories

New Bridges Part of Iowa's $114M Madison Avenue Project

Eagle Bridge Co. Works On Final Leg of U.S. 35 Upgrade

Fay Preps Way for Pittsburgh International Airport Modernization Project

SAKAI Achieves Record Sales, Production

Takeuchi Recognizes Top Dealers at 2024 Dealer Summit

ASCENDUM Machinery Opens New Savannah, Ga., Facility

FEMA Repaying Vermont $22M for Cleanup Costs Due to July 2023 Floods

Mecalac Holds Road Shows at Case Power in Miami, Orlando