One of the most popular updates I give to brokerage meetings is a Big Project Update. In Pinal and West Valley, we are fortunate to see our vibrant future coming to life before our eyes.
The Good News on the big project front in both West Valley and Pinal – these projects are moving forward at the same or faster pace than before COVID-19 entered our thoughts.
It doesn’t seem to matter if you are speaking of leased or purchased commercial property, the market is hot and getting hotter. In Pinal, Lucid Motors is almost complete and Nikola is moving forward rapidly. And along with those high-profile projects comes a slew of small and medium businesses that support those industries.
In West Valley, spec industrial space like what is happening in Avondale is being built in record time with a waiting list of tenants.
Let’s start with Metro Center –
It once was one of the grand malls of America, now it is quite a lonely place. On the southern end of the mall near Castles and Coasters is Stag Tobacco, Goodwill, a few other small stores and a space the Phoenix Police use to train their canines.
In the big mall is a movie theatre, Dillards outlet, a few small stores here and there and a new Walmart and Phoenix Sofa Factory. At the north end is a Ross, Starbucks, Vitamin Shoppe and various eateries. The whole thing is ringed by restaurants, a few hotels and Tombstone Tactical. So, what is to become of this place?
Carlyle Group released the plan to renovate/reconstruct the mall and surrounding area in 2016. Four years later, where is it headed? Sears is closed. The JC Penney location was sold last June to Southwestern Property Corp. They plan to redevelop the building into a sports and entertainment center.
The mall renovation plan includes less retail and more office, medical, hotel, entertainment and residential. Valley Metro is working on phase II of the extension from 19th Ave to Metro Center near Walmart. The design is about 90% complete and approved by the Phoenix City Council. Arizona Festivals will provide monthly food truck and other events some including local bands.
Carlyle is selling Metro Center with the redevelopment plan in place. Metro Center covers 130 acres, but the mall is only 1.4 million square feet of space. There is potential in the zoning now for mid-rise buildings up to 17 stories.
West Valley:
As bustling and busy as Phoenix development is, West Valley is even more so and dramatically. For those of you looking for entertainment, 
in Glendale opened its new casino February 19th. I was able to go to dinner there in early March at their Italian restaurant. Very good food and a lovely setting. They have are now open, so check their website for more information. When you go, check out the ceiling and décor. It is really beautiful. I was there with a group of people. None us frequent casinos, but we all intend to go back for dinner.
One of the hallmarks of West Valley development is its large scale. This is a project at 91st Ave and Buckeye. The picture shows you immensity of our West Valley projects particularly south of I-10 and up the 303. It is not unusual to see projects one mile long by one mile wide. You can see how large these projects are.
Lincoln Logistics – is another example. Behind the building you see is an equally large building where chewy is located.
As you travel west on I-10; Avondale, Tolleson, Goodyear and Buckeye all have large industrial and distribution centers. This one is at Avondale Commerce Park.
If you are like me, you love the view across farm fields to the mountains in the south. This is common view south of I-10 in these cities – today. In this photo almost all the land you See will soon be houses. Two of the largest master planned communities in the Valley will soon span from 107th Ave. to Dysart. Verde Trails will be at Broadway and 107th Ave and run west to Avondale Blvd. Lakin Ranch will run from just south of Lower Buckeye Rd and Avondale Blvd.
west to Dysart Rd.
For those of you who remember the Lockheed plant on Litchfield Rd. in Goodyear, it has spent the last three years being redeveloped into a place for custom aircraft and numerous small businesses. Here are a few photos of Flite. Before it was Lockheed, it was the facility where the Goodyear blimp and Macy Day Parade balloons were made. Lockheed is still a tenant as is CavcoWest.
One of the things I like about this project is their conscious choice to pay homage to its Lockheed and military past with murals commemorating some of the projects that came out of this plant.
This is a view from Goodyear Airport looking south west from Litchfield Rd to La Comita, where one of three Microsoft Data Centers is located. The other two are in Goodyear near the 303 and I-10 and in El Mirage at Dysart and Olive. The last time I counted we had not only Microsoft, but 4 other cloud computing companies building their facilities in West Valley.
Following I-10 west brings us to Buckeye. There is a lot of retail going in at Miller Rd, Jackrabbit and Verrado Way. Further up Verrado Way is a new retail center being built in downtown Verrado called Sunrise Market. They already have an interest list forming.
Important to the future ability of Buckeye development west of the White Tanks, is water. To answer that challenge, Buckeye is pulling up water to three new water campuses: Broadway & Dean, Broadway and 239th Ave just west of Watson, and Broadway and Rooks Rd just west of Miller.
By now most of you have heard that Glendale is getting a new White Claw factory and a new Red Bull factory. Here is a picture of those sites in January. They sit across the street from each other at Cactus and Sarival. They are both set to open in June 2020. When completed, it will have taken 9 months for Red Bull and about 6 months for White Claw to complete their respective projects from start to finish including the initial city permitting and land purchase.
With jobs comes a need for housing. There are close to 50,000 housing units planned over the next 5 years with new projects opening quickly across the West Valley and at every price point. Toll Brothers opened Sterling Grove in Surprise earlier this year with pricing starting at the mid $300,000 to mid $600,000 with the homes being situated around a Jack Nicolaus designed golf course.
There are numerous affordable and workforce housing projects planned and underway. Here is a picture of an affordable housing project in old Surprise as it looked in January 2020. They closed their waiting list two days ago on May 5th. These units are 1052sf (2/2) or 1274sf (3/2) renting for $787/mo and $795/mo respectively.
Another product designed for renters is the single family detached rental only subdivision. In the next several years you will see even more of the rental only single-family subdivisions from entry level one-bedroom homes to large, luxury homes. Avilla, BB Homes and Christopher Todd – are the builders of this product in the West Valley. You can these projects in Surprise at Bullard and Reems, and Greenway and Litchfield. You can find these communities at 99th Ave and Indian School, just south of I-10 in Goodyear and in downtown Verrado. There are many more of these opening up in the West Valley so watch for these.
The Texas Rangers and other professional baseball teams are building team housing that after Spring Training can be rented out.
And education is booming in West Valley. Ottawa University in Civic Center Surprise finished their dorms and football field last Fall. We have charter schools, private schools and well ranked public schools as well as West-Mec.
All across the West Valley, small, unique, Arizona restaurants and pubs are popping up. Here are a few establishments I thought of off the top of my head: Mae’s fine chocolates, 8-bit brewery, Barrio Queen, Laura’s Burgers, Churroholic, Lumberjacks, Scale and Feather Meadery, and We Olive and Wine Bar. Old town Buckeye, Glendale and Avondale are all home to wonderful new restaurants and eateries.
Most cities have a restaurant page on their Economic Development Website to help you find the new businesses you want to know about.