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Glendale’s Sports and Entertainment District is growing with two more developments approved by City Council.
Council gave the final approval this week for the En Fuego retail development near 91st and Glendale avenues and for a 193-unit apartment complex called the Bungalows at Westgate, near 91st and Orangewood Avenue. The apartment complex is just about 1,000 feet north of the shopping center, along 91st Avenue.
En Fuego
Diversified Partners, the Scottsdale-based developer of the En Fuego project, plans to build nine retail lots for restaurants or retail businesses on the 12-acre property. Starbucks, Raising Cane’s, Barro’s Pizza, Biscuits Cafe and Jack in the Box are already committed. The lots range from 3,000 square feet to 15,600 square feet, or 1.3 acres. The center could possibly host entertainment businesses or offices as well.
“This is a big deal for the City of Glendale,” said Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers. “It’s a densely populated area with over 100,000 residents within three miles, not to mention the nearly 25,000 employees also within three miles. This is an excellent partnership and we are fully committed to supporting En Fuego for the long haul.”
Diversified Partners founder and CEO Walt Brown, Jr. said the center will incorporate a fire theme to match the En Fuego name.
“We came up with the name En Fuego, which means fire in Spanish,” said Brown. “The iconic fire circle we designed represents the complex as a center or whole with a flare of the fire elements incorporated throughout the complex, using high-contrasting vibrant colors to engage the consumer.”
More development in the area will follow, as two other vacant properties immediately north of En Fuego, are part of the same Planned Area Development as En Fuego. One property is owned by Fore Properties and the other has yet to be purchased by a developer. Fore Properties plans on adding an apartment complex on its 12-acre parcel.
“It’s an underutilized site and the multifamily component will bring more shoppers to the area to support not only the south commercial development but also Westgate, and it will really revitalize this area,” said Brian Greathouse, a lawyer with the firm Burch & Cracchiolo who represents both Diversified Partners and Fore Properties.
Bungalows at Westgate
The 193 apartments in the Bungalows at Westgate, developed by the Scottsdale-based Cavan Companies, will be spread across five buildings on an 18-acre property.
The property, south of Orangewood Avenue from Raymond S. Kellis High School, is former city-owned property that Glendale sold for $5 million in January 2019. The property used to be a satellite parking lot for Cardinals football games, with shuttles running from the lot State Farm Stadium a mile and a half away.
Prior to the city purchasing the land in 2002, the property was part of the Hickman Egg Farm.
When the city rezoned the lot in late 2018 to make it more likely to sell, the new zoning allowed for a mix of residential and commercial uses on the property, but Cavan Companies is using the entire property for its apartment complex.
At the time of the rezone, Yucca District Councilwoman Joyce Clark, who opposes new apartment complexes under most circumstances, said an apartment complex fit this area.
“Unfortunately to the west of this area is very high density activity. We have the casino, and the casino will be putting in more commercial (businesses) that will probably come very close to 91st Avenue, since they’ve acquired the land that the city owned, the 10-acre strip within their reservation area. So I expect that to be fully developed with high density. And with a high school to the north of this property and relatively high density to the south of this property, it is a good fit for high density,” Ms. Clark said.
The newly expanded Desert Diamond West Valley Casino, owned by the Tohono O’odham Nation, is just northwest of the Bungalows at Westgate.
Bungalows at Westgate is not the only housing being added to the area around Kellis High School. Earlier this year, Glendale’s Planning Commission approved a preliminary plat for a 43-home development called Rovey Park immediately to the west of the school and across the intersection of 89th and Orangewood Avenues from the Bungalows at Westgate. Peoria Unified School District, which included Kellis High School, has told Glendale it can handle the increased number of students brought by these housing developments.
Earlier in development, the Bungalows at Westgate development was called Brownstone PAD.
Mark Carlisle can be reached at mcarlisle@newszap.com or found on Twitter @mwcarlisle.
Mark Carlisle Associate Editor | Daily Independent @mwcarlisle
Mark is passionate about accurately informing his readers to what is happening in their community. He also loves reading and writing about sports.
Mark has worked for Independent Newsmedia for five years. He married his high school sweetheart, adopted a boxer mix, and awaits his first child.
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