Sit-down restaurant, big box retailer eye Edison Pointe

May 29, 2021

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BIZ Nandos Mexican Cafe — Nando's Mexican Cafe has filed a pre-application with the city to open its fifth restaurant here in Maricopa. The east Valley chain currently has four locations in Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and Queen Creek. Source: Nando's Mexican Cafe via Facebook

There’s some good news for Maricopa residents clamoring for more sit-down restaurants.

Nando’s Mexican Café, a southeast Valley chain, is looking at Maricopa for its fifth restaurant. A pre-application on file with the city calls for a restaurant of more than 5,000 square feet, plus 700-plus square feet of patio area, at the vacant site fronting Edison Road between IHOP and Planet Fitness.

There’s some good news for pet owners, too.

Next door to Nando’s, pet store giant Petco could be moving in. The retail chain has submitted paperwork for a 12,500-square-foot store.

Tentative plans for development of the site show five additional retail pads of more than 2,000 square feet each that could house commercial, retail or service-related tenants permitted in the CB-2, or general business zoning.

A pre-application is one of the early due diligence steps taken by a developer to explore moving forward on a project.

“It is always exciting to see new retail development in Maricopa,” said Nathan Steele, the city’s director of economic and community development. “We know there are needs for more retail across the spectrum, so it’s great to see more options coming in.”

He said there is no indication yet of who will set up shop in the five smaller storefronts.

“Because it is a pre-application, it is still very early in the process,” he said. “Sometimes the users or tenants of the spaces are determined before construction, but often the individual spaces get filled (leases signed) during the actual construction process. We’ll know more as this project develops.”

According to the pre-application narrative, Fortis Development LLC will add 32 parking spaces as part of the project to alleviate potential parking concerns.

BIZ - Edison Pointe PADs — A Mexican sit-down restaurant is proposed on land in the foreground, with a pet store in the middle and five individual storefronts on the far end of the lot. Photo by Bob McGovern

Nando’s was founded in 2003 in Gilbert and has added three other locations in Mesa, Chandler, and Queen Creek over the last 18 years. The local chain is positioned as a family restaurant featuring traditional recipes.

Petco is the nation’s second-largest pet retailer, with 1,559 stores in North America as of March 2021, including 48 in Arizona. It was founded in 1965.