Retailers Lining Up for Two Suburban Projects

Goodyear's Palmilla Center is 60% pre-leased, with five more leases waiting for final signatures and another nine in letters of intent, Miles Sanchez, Houston-based Weingarten's associate leasing director in Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com. The 50,000-sf expansion to the 105,000-sf center will be at 95% occupancy by April 1 when space is turned over to the tenant mix that includes a 17,000-sf PetsMart. The inline roster also includes Metropolitan Mattress and Verizon Wireless while Washington Mutual has signed for a 5,000-sf pad site.

In Northeast Mesa, pre-leasing stands at 70% on the newly started 75,000-sf Red Mountain Gateway. Sanchez and Brad Balbo, Weingarten's leasing executive, predict it will be fully leased by its June delivery.

Red Mountain Gateway is going up on 11 acres the northeast corner of Power and McEllips. The northwest corner has a Home Depot under construction by Grace Development of Phoenix and two more retail centers in the planning stages for the southwest and southeast corners of the high-traffic Mesa intersection.

The Red Mountain Gateway tenant roster already includes Bed, Bath & Beyond, Famous Footwear, Hi Health, Wendy's, Metropolitan Mattress and Panda Express. And, says the leasing duo, there are a number of leases under negotiation for the project designed by Ellerman & Schick of Phoenix. "The goal is to open at 100%," says Sanchez.

KDRA & Associates of Scottsdale designed the second phase to Goodyear's Palmilla Center, which rolled out in 1999 with a 65,000-sf Fry's grocery as its anchor for the 13-acre tract at the intersection of McDowell and Dysart. O'Neil Construction Co. of Phoenix is the general contractor for both projects.

The hardy leasing, says the team, is simply indicative of the market. Metro Phoenix is home to many of the nation's fastest-growing communities, a natural magnet for the build out of retail that's now under way. "It's a fantastic market for us," Balbo says.