’23 RECAP: Business

In 2023, Maricopa’s retail economy made great strides with several businesses opening and more on the way.

In April, Home Depot confirmed its intention to open a store on Stonegate Road between Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Alan Stephens Parkway on the city’s southeastern side. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer, with more than 2,300 stores across North America, broke ground last month and will open this fall.

The average construction time for a Home Depot from groundbreaking to opening is typically 10 months, a company spokesperson said.

Discussions with Home Depot began a long time ago.

In 2009, Brad Hinton, then a permit official with the city, said the home improvement retailer got site approval from city council in mid-2008 but did not submit construction drawings and the project died due to the Great Recession.

Home Depot filed paperwork with the city early in 2023 and the process began anew.

The big orange box may bring with it a big green light for further development.

While it fills a need for residents whose closest stores are in Chandler, Ahwatukee and Casa Grande, it likely will mean much more to the city in the long term, City Manager Rick Horst said.

“Other things are likely to accompany it from just the fact we announced it,” Horst said. “Home Depot is a significant retailer for us and, of course, they will attract others. If you look around the greater Phoenix area and you see one of these big boxes pop up, a lot of other businesses like to sit next to them. They like to sit next to each other.”

The home improvement store’s site plan shows the project spans nearly 13 acres, which includes the addition of five proposed shops and restaurants just west of the main attraction along Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway.

“The additional retail is significant and will [measure] approximately 23,000 square feet,” Horst said.

Lowe’s likely, too
Holding true to form, Home Depot’s biggest competitor, Lowe’s Home Improvement, proposed a new store in the empty lot at John Wayne Parkway and Honeycutt
Avenue in November.

Preliminary plans show a 109,000-square-foot store with garden and rental centers, as well as parking for up to 358 cars.

Second hospital canceled, then back on
The city faced a setback when it canceled a contract with Phoenix-based S3 BioTech to build the city’s second hospital in October.

The reason? S3 reneged on its commitment to build here.

But then, two months after trespassing the healthcare company from that lot near Copper Sky, the on-again, off-again relationship went back on again as the city flirted with giving S3 BioTech a second chance — this time with the help of a California investor. Construction will begin in the early months of this year with an estimated opening in June 2025. The hospital will cost $41.1 million and the medical office building will cost $25.3 million.

Butcher-grocer added south-of-the-border flare
One of the Valley’s best-known butcher shops opened in Maricopa.

Carniceria Sonora saw a steady line of customers since its debut in February in a refurbished building on North Maricopa Road that once was home to Good2Go gas station and market.

Carniceria Sonora, owned by Martha and Oscar Jimenez, is known for its marinades, authentic salsas, tortillas and guacamole. Shop personnel make the tortillas, guacamole and salsas on site daily. It sells certified Angus Beef.

Surf park downsized
Waterpark PHX Surf quietly submitted updated, though downsized, plans to Maricopa’s Development Services department.

Its new paperwork showed a size reduction — scaling back to one surf pool from two. The park now is proposed for 9.44 acres — down from 71 acres in the first proposal.

Other changes in the updated plan eliminate a lazy river and water slides as well as an outdoor music venue.

The development, still regarded by the city as a quality project, is expected to include housing, lodging and retail space. It was first announced in 2021, to sit between Loma and Green Roads at Garvey Avenue.

GNC joined Edison Pointe
Maricopa residents looking to stock up on vitamins and nutritional supplements saw another health store pop up in the city in October.

The health and wellness store GNC was among several new shops joining Edison Pointe shopping center near John Wayne Parkway and Edison Road, including Nekter Juice Bar, Petco and Nando’s Mexican Café.

Second urgent care opened
Maricopans gained a new option for same-day medical care in 2023.

NextCare saw its first patients in August at its new clinic next to Thai Chili 2go on North John Wayne Parkway. Clinic Manager Diana Sharp was fired up for opening day.

“I’m really excited because we now have urgent care in Maricopa that can be affordable,” Sharp said. “No one has to drive to Chandler or Casa Grande for care anymore.”

Dallas-based NextCare is the second stand-alone urgent care facility in Maricopa. Dignity Health Urgent Care, located about a half-mile north on John Wayne Parkway, opened to much fanfare a decade ago.

Ak-Chin lost, regained sports betting license
The Ak-Chin Indian Community’s foray into live event wagering wasn’t so smooth in 2023.

The ink of then-Gov. Doug Ducey’s signature legalizing sports betting had hardly dried when the tribe pounced to secure one of just 10 coveted licenses in 2021.

Lady luck frowned upon the tribe as it became the first and only in Arizona to lose its sports betting license.

Each tribe was partnered with a sports betting operator. But New York City-based Fubo Gaming wasn’t all-in on Arizona, leaving its partner Ak-Chin high and dry after pulling out of the state in July.

At the end of August, however, the Arizona Department of Gaming allocated an event wagering operator license to bet365 as the designee for the Ak-Chin Indian Community, replacing Fubo Gaming.