De Rito president Chuck Carlise says there were severalcompelling reasons for the company to buy the center at 9175 E.Indian Bend Rd. from Ralph and Rob Horlacher of Scottsdale.Foremost, he says the center easily could benefit fromredevelopment because it's 87% leased to credit tenants and is aproven shopping destination.

"This is a successful center. It's not as though it's empty andblighted and no one is shopping there," Carlise explains toGlobeSt.com. "It's just a matter of focusing on what isn't presentin that submarket and redeveloping it to meet those needs."

Carlise says that the company is awaiting approval from the SaltRiver Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which owns the land on whichthe center sits, so it can begin cosmetic upgrades like painting, anew parking lot and new landscaping. Future redevelopment willdepend on responses from a community outreach program that De Ritois initiating to determine the best option for the center. "We'retrying to find out what shoppers and tenants are looking for fromthis center," Carlise says. There is no plan, however, to gut theentire center to its bare bones.