The largest and costliest of the three projects, the 40,700-sf Peoria Station, costing $2.7 million, is set to open at 10260 N. 67th Ave. in Peoria by November. Tutor Time Daycare already signed with Phoenix-based developer PDG America to take 11,700 sf at the site.

The center has been designed by Bollinger + Cardenas Architects, Inc. and Robert Kubicek Architects & Associates, Inc., both of Phoenix. All three projects are being constructed by the Weitz Co.'s Southwest Division, which has worked for all three developers on similar projects in the past.

West of Phoenix in Surprise, the first phase to the $2.5-million Surprise Marketplace will put 30,000 sf of retail space at the southwest corner of Bell and Grand Avenue. Situated between a recently built Target and Lowes Home Improvement Center, the plaza will bring a Lane Bryant and Bed, Bath & Beyond, along with several other tenants, to that expanding retail street corner. The marketplace is set to open in October.

Clay Wells, Weitz's business development manager, whose firm recently completed construction on the Surprise Town Center across the street for the same developer, CC & G Strategic Investments, tells GlobeSt.com the area's growth will make both centers a success. "It's a booming area," said Wells, noting that residential development has dramatically changed the face of the once quiet retirement community.

At the northeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Greenway-Hayden in Phoenix, the second phase of the Zocallo Shops, a near $2-million, canopied plaza, will put 13,400 sf up for grabs by October. Designed by Butler Design Group of Phoenix, which also supplied the architectural drawings for the Surprise Marketplace, the project is Weitz's second project for owner Scottsdale Place LLC. The project's first phase, also built by Weitz, delivered in June.