Mixed-Use Developer Holding $50M Land Option

GLENDALE, AZ-A local development group has the last tract of land under contract for the Riverfront, a 2.5-million-sf, 500-acre mixed-use project. The company is planning to close on 125 acres later this year, paying more than $50 million to several landowners.

Rightpath Limited Development plans to develop amenities to support a spring training facility for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. Brent Moser, senior associate with Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC, says the stadium will break ground in six months on nearly 120 acres of city-owned land at Camelback Road and 107th Avenue in the Camelback Ranch area. Rightpath's dirt abuts the stadium site.

"The stadium will be the area's first project along with the infrastructure to support it," Moser says. He and Grubb & Ellis' senior associate Patrick Sinnott have been working with Rightpath to assemble the development site. The Riverfront plan is still being fine-tuned, but the developer plans to include retail, office and residential space.

Rightpath's team has mapped out support amenities like a golf course, hotel and hangar space beside the Glendale Municipal Airport. A groundbreaking date is not available as yet.

"For the Dodgers to make this move, they wanted a top-of-the-line facility with access to a golf course for some of their executives," Moser explains. "The airport added a nice nearby amenity and it's easy access in and out of L.A." Moser adds the hotel project has not yet started, but the developer wants to see a resort-style hotel on the site.

Moser tells GlobeSt.com that the entire build-out, just for the stadium area, will take five to 10 years, based on market demand. "As far as submarkets go, this area's as hot as any of them for development of employment-type and entertainment-type of product," he says. "This will evolve as a major city center for the West valley during the next several years."