Plan Surfaces for 200,000-SF Retail Project

AVONDALE, AZ-In their first joint venture, Pacific Coast Capital Partners and Empire Commercial Development have acquired 34.1 acres for the 200,000-sf Avondale Town Center. The land cost $8.25 per sf or just over $12 million.

Pacific Coast Capital Partners LLC and Scottsdale-based Empire Commercial Development bought a hard corner at Avondale Boulevard and Van Buren Street. The plan is to break ground in early 2008, with delivery tentatively penciled for later that year.

"We're preleasing now, but don't necessarily have any deadline or formula as to when we'll start building," says Rob Cohen, vice president with the El Segundo, CA-based Pacific Coast Capital Partners. Avondale Town Center will be neighborhood retail with pad sites.

Cohen says the land was bought from Kitchell Development Co. in Scottsdale, which was represented by Hogan & Associates Inc. of Tempe. Pacific Coast is targeting development sites outside Phoenix proper. "We're buying more land next week and expect to make a lot of investments in markets similar to Avondale in the coming year," Cohen tells GlobeSt.com.

Because the construction start isn't until 2008, most project details are still unavailable. But, Cohen says, leasing definitely will be outsourced to a third-party provider.

Avondale, primarily residential, is ripe for retail development as the metro pushes west. In the next 12 to 24 months, more development in all categories, excluding possibly multifamily, is expected to occur. Most experts point out that Avondale, along with neighbor Tolleson, is in the sights of most developers.