More restaurants opening in Maricopa as commercial real estate market rebounds

More restaurants are on their way as the market for retail development in Maricopa is improving.

Chris Gerow, senior vice president of NAI Horizon Commercial Real Estate Services, a Phoenix-based company, said the commercial real estate market in Maricopa is doing well.

“I think Maricopa has rebounded as far as its residential housing (market), and I think its commercial development is following,” Gerow said.
“I think Maricopa is definitely on a resurge,” he added.

A Freddy’s Frozen Custard and a Chipotle Mexican Grill have plans to open on the northeast corner of Smith-Enke Road and John Wayne Parkway in the first or second quarter of 2015, said Brad Douglass, associate vice president of Cassidy Turley, a real estate services company based in Phoenix.

A Plaza Bonita Mexican food restaurant is coming to Fry’s Marketplace in three to four months, said Gabe Ortega, vice president, NAI Horizon Commercial Real Estate Services.

Maricopa Economic Development Director Micah Miranda said the future for Maricopa’s retail development looks “bright — we are chronically underserved in a number of retail categories. As we share information with potential retailers, the interest grows in the city as a destination.”

A number of commercial sites are planning to move forward, Miranda said. “We are talking with about a half dozen restaurants about locating here.”

Gerow said Vintage Partners is trying to secure an anchor tenant for its 15-acre parcel south of Fry’s Plaza. Holiday Inn & Suites has plans to locate on John Wayne Parkway south of Edison Road.

Although Maricopa’s commercial development prospects continue to grow, developers say the city has some challenges to overcome.

Dignity Health has purchased 18.56 acres at the intersection of John Wayne Parkway (State Route 347) and Smith-Enke Road on which it plans to build a free-standing emergency hospital, according to a company press release. Initial plans call for a 34,800-square-foot, two-story hospital.

But, Miranda said Dignity’s plans are “tentative” and the health-care provider has not submitted any formal plans to the city.

William French, vice president of Cassidy Turley, said before more commercial development happens in Maricopa, “housing has got to continue to get better,” referring to home-construction expansion.

“(Commercial development) has definitely improved,” French said, but “there is still a lot of room to improve.”

He said the city has some challenges to commercial development. Constucting a road across the railroad tracks to open north and south access would be very expensive.

“There’s only a handful of access points from north to south,” he points out.

Also, widening John Wayne Parkway, although necessary for the city to develop, would be expensive and “who is going to pay for that?” he asks.

Primary co-owner and designated broker for The Maricopa Real Estate Company Steve Murray said one challenge the city faces with its commercial development is that the state owns State Route 347 and to acquire easements on and off the highway is difficult.

The city’s floodplain issues also affect commercial development, Murray said.

“The bottom line is we don’t see anything getting done,” he said, adding it may be that the city is not talking about projects.

Miranda said the city is aware of a “couple of project (that) are coming out of the ground –projects in the works I can’t detail. As a point of policy, the city doesn’t comment on businesses locations until we’ve been given the green light from the businesses or the developer.”

French said Maricopa lost some time working on commercial development as it focused on its fast-growing residential development, he said.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated Maricopa would have taken off as quickly as it did.”

“In general, commercial activity is on an up trend in Maricopa,” Miranda pointed out. “We’ve had quite a bit more interest (lately) from commercial developers and retail.”

He said Maricopa’s commercial development would have grown more rapidly but for the timing of the recession.

ìMaricopa was the last (metro) city to take off in growth spurt,Ó he said. By the time the city had a big enough population to attract commercial development, the recession unfolded.

Also, impacting Maricopa’s development was that metro cities had developed an overabundance of retail before the recession, affecting the demand for more local commercial development.

And, the city is “not large enough for a regional mall,” Miranda said. “The soft goods – clothing apparel will be the next retailers, not the big box stores.”