North Phoenix is staring down a retail and hotel boom, with Phoenix developer Vestar moving to snag two Arizona State Land Department parcels just east of Interstate 17. The pitch is big: a mixed use cluster of hotels, big box retail and a nearly 100,000 square foot fitness club directly across the freeway from TSMC’s rapidly expanding chip campus.
If Vestar’s plans clear the city and the state land auction, the quiet desert frontage along I 17 could turn into a full blown retail and hospitality corridor in the middle of one of metro Phoenix’s fastest growing employment hubs.
What Vestar Wants To Build
On the larger site, Vestar’s conceptual submittal to the City of Phoenix brands the project Dove Valley Towne Center and lays out anchors and pad sites for several big box stores, four hotels totaling 544 rooms and a two story fitness club of about 85,868 square feet. City staff documents show anchor footprints in the 70,000 to 100,000 square foot range, with a net planned development area of roughly 85.4 acres on a site that totals about 126.6 acres.
A big chunk of the plan is still stamped “conceptual,” and the details can shift, but the square footages and layout reflect Vestar’s current site plan on file with city planners, according to the City of Phoenix.
Two State Parcels, One Auction Process
Both of the targeted sites are state trust land, which means any sale has to run through a public auction run by the Arizona State Land Department. Vestar has filed applications tied to two separate parcels on the east side of I 17: one near Dove Valley Road and Sonoran Desert Drive, and another at the I 17 and Carefree Highway interchange…