Known largely as a farming community, the city of Laveen has headed off the urban sprawl that has engulfed most of the Valley during the last decade--until now. With hundreds of homes under construction or being planned for this once sprawling farming area at the base of South Mountain, retail developers are buying up land for future shopping centers and big box stores at a record pace.

"The total build out over the next 18 months or so is going to be eye-popping," Frank Egan with Eastbourne Investments tells GlobeSt.com. "The growth in the Laveen area is as strong as anywhere now."

Egan should know. He recently spent $1.1 million to buy two parcels of land totaling eight acres at the northwest corner of 35th Avenue and Baseline Road for one of the area's first major retail centers in the coming years. A deal for a nearby second eight-acre site also is under negotiations. Tentative plans call for the corner to become a 120,000-sf, grocery-anchored shopping center, one of several currently being planned for the Laveen area, Egan said.

Randy Titzck, a broker with Tempe-based Hogan & Associates, tells GlobeSt.com that other big name retailers are already lining up to grab prime corner sites in Laveen. "Fry's is committed and Safeway, Albertsons, Walgreens, Eckerd and CVS are all looking for space," Titzck said.

What has made this rural community suddenly so appealing is not just its vast expanse of developable land, but also its prime location about five miles south from downtown Phoenix. "The (area's) makeup has a rural feel, but there are high- and middle-income homes with parks and schools," said Titzck. "The utilities and transportation corridors are already there and it's very close to employment, whether in industrial district up north or downtown. It has all the components of a nice area to live."

Retail developers think so too. They are already lining up to stake their claim on the area's commercial cores planned along Baseline Road and Southern Avenues at 51st and 35th avenues, Titzck said.

But the retail boom that will turn this farmland community into another Phoenix suburb is still years away. Titzck predicts that it will be at least two years before Laveen sees its first major shopping center. But when it does, others won't be far behind.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Retail Developers Mining Laveen

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