Future business on commercial property unclear

Piles of dirt. Construction equipment. And a metal fence.

All signs point to future development taking place on 23 acres of vacant land near the intersection of John Wayne Parkway and Edison Road.

Aside from a planned car wash business that will take up about an acre, it’s unclear what business or businesses will inhabit the remaining stretch of commercial property in the near future. 

Andrew Seidenberg, director of client relations for VWP Realty, said building crews are currently working to remove the property from a floodplain designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The work, which will prepare the property for future development, will continue for about the next two months. 

VWP Realty is a brokerage firm that represents tenants and landlords around the Phoenix Valley. 

“We anticipate the site to be out of the floodplain and onsite work to be completed by the end of the year,” he said.

Seidenberg said issues with flood mitigation placed deals with several interested businesses on hold. He could not disclose who has looked at the site, but said there has been some “intense interest” with the location and his group is “aggressively seeking” businesses to set up shop on the land. 

“We’re excited to get this development finally off the ground,” he said. 

Plans to build a Fresh & Easy grocery store on the property were announced in 2007. The grocery retailer, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, backed out of those plans in 2009.

The majority of the property is owned by Arizona-based Sonoran Creek, LLC. A small piece of land owned by California-based 3D Development & Holdings LLC in the southeast corner of the plot will be the future home of Fast & Friendly Express Carwash.

According to the Pinal County assessor’s office, 3D Development purchased its 1-acre plot from Sonoran Creek in June 2012 for $785,000. Sonoran Creek currently is handling the site improvements on both pieces of property. 

Jeff Dadam, CEO of 3D Development, did not have an estimate on a ground breaking, but said he hoped to see the car wash up and running no later than March 1. It likely will be the business’ fifth establishment. 

“Fast & Friendly carwash is 100 percent committed and devoted to the Maricopa market,” he said. 

Dadam said the business plans to hire locally. Also, once the business opens every resident in the city and surrounding areas will receive a free car wash, he said. More details will be announced in the future. 

Dadam said the business should have opened a year ago, but there were some setbacks in the development process. He did not go into detail but said it was a situation in which multiple entities – the county, federal government and local utilities – needed certain things to move forward.