Editor’s note: The following unofficial election results were last updated by the Maricopa County Elections Department at 8 p.m. on May 17. Click here to be directed to the county website to view the most recent results.
Early results in the Litchfield Park special election show that voters overwhelmingly approve of allowing city leadership to sell roughly 12 acres of land to developers as part of the city’s upcoming Litchfield Square project.
Unofficial results posted to the Maricopa County Elections Department website show that of the 1,640 ballots counted, 78% were in favor of allowing the land to be put up for sale.
22%--or 368 people–voted against the ballot measure.
Just 34.48% of eligible voters turned out to vote in the mail-in election.
The land in question is located in the city’s downtown core on the southeast corner of Litchfield Road and Village Parkway. Those parcels–once privately owned, until they were bought by the city between 2014 and 2017– are the future site of the long-awaited Litchfield Square mixed-use development.
Legally, the city needs voter permission in order to sell parcels at or above $1.5 million, which a ‘yes’ vote will allow.
The city will retain ownership of an additional five acres (or 6 parcels) of land at Litchfield Square that will eventually be used for parking or parking garage development, according to the city.
So far, just one parcel has sold at an amount of $600,000, but city leaders expect some of the larger parcels could go for much more in the future, especially if developers are purchasing more than one parcel.
“We’re getting the approval ahead of time,” Mayor Thomas Schoaf told The Independent, “so we don’t have to come back and try to do it later.”
The city stated that it will be obtaining broker assessments for each parcel to determine their value and that “lot prices will naturally increase” as construction gets underway and lots are built out.
The city has contracted with Jones Lang LaSalle for the marketing and sales of available parcels, which range in size from 25,560 to 78,402 square feet.
JLL will release its request for proposal–an open request for bids– “in the next few months,”
according to the city, which stated that it is looking for developers to build a mix-use project including retail, restaurant, office space and luxury residential. Once the space is developed, it is expected to be rented out for $30 to $33 per square foot.
The RFP process will be open to the public, according to the city.
Madeline Ackley Salazar can be reached at mackley@iniusa.org or found on Twitter @Mkayackley.
Madeline Ackley is a Phoenix-area native who joined Independent Newsmedia in July 2021 as a reporter for the Goodyear-Litchfield Park Independent. She is passionate about delivering hyperlocal coverage of issues that matter to her community.
She has previously covered immigration, policing, homelessness, veteran’s issues and breaking news and her byline has appeared in The Arizona Mirror, The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Business Journal and Cronkite News.
Madeline is passionate about animal welfare and the environment. She loves to cook, travel and spend time with her family.
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