175,162-SF Retail Center Gets JV's Nod to Start

The neighborhood retail center will be anchored by a Bashas' Supermarket. Once called Mountain Ranch Marketplace, the Marketplace will be situated on 22 acres at the intersection of Estrella Parkway and Elliot Road. Its completion date is fall 2009.

Greg Bielli, president of the San Diego-based Newland Communities' western region, says Estrella has 3,300 single-family dwellings, but no retail so Marketplace has attracted a great deal of interest. The Marketplace will have a services-oriented tenant mix. In February, the Bade Cos. of Peoria, AZ, also acquired 35 acres for its plan to develop a 30,000-sf retail center on the community's southwestern side.

Phoenix-based Kitchell and Newland landed Basha's in fall 2007, but have then added commitments from a bank, drug store and tutoring operator and restaurant. Because the deals are still under negotiation, Bielli has declined to comment about any specifics. "Given the distance Estrella is from the interstate residents have been wanting these services," he adds.

Hogan & Associates Inc. of Scottsdale, AZ is handling retail leasing. Butler Design Group Architects & Planners of Phoenix is the architect.

Newland has acquired 20,000 acres in phases since 2005 to develop Estrella. Bielli says the just-completed $51-million acquisition of 3,000 acres from Phoenix-based Sun MP LLC will boost the development's commercial component. He tells GlobeSt.com that 139 acres are dedicated to commercial development although the specific uses have yet to be determined.

"The key component of that 3,000-acre purchase is that the strategic parcels are at the entrance to the community," Bielli explains. "When we moved forward on this acquisition, we opened up more opportunities for commercial development."

Bielli says Newland is negotiating with one multifamily developer and two commercial ones for projects that he foresees will break ground within 18 to 24 months. "We're looking at medical uses and commercial office use because the community doesn't have that right now," he says.