A preliminary site plan for the second phase of the Queen Creek Crossing retail center was approved by the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission June 8.
Trish Flower of Upward Architects LLC for site plan and preliminary plat approval of a 12.8-acre commercial center north of Queen Creek Road on the west side of Ellsworth Road adjacent to the future Costco, which is under construction.
According to a staff report, “The applicant is proposing a total of approximately 138,782 square feet of commercial uses, which include two anchor tenants, Major A, which is 55,000 square feet, and Major B, which is 45,000 square feet. In addition to the anchor tenants, the site plan also shows two inline shops buildings, three drive-thru restaurant pad sites … and one pad site with no drive-thru … No specific users have been identified at this time.
In October 2021, retail development giant Vestar announced plans for Queen Creek Crossing, a 31-acre property featuring 300,000 square feet of retail. Groundbreaking is set for June, with an opening set for March 2023.
It was announced in July 2021 that Costco will anchor Queen Creek Crossing. Local Developer Carson Brown and his team at The Legacy Group have been working on the Costco land development deal at Queen Creek and Ellsworth roads.
Brown and his team have worked with Costco for the past two years and are selling a portion of the site directly to the Costco group.
The Legacy Group is also in a joint venture development with Vestar for the balance of the property.
“Two other major retailer, furniture store and a craft store, as well as numerous restaurants and service tenants [will also be in Queen Creek Crossing],” Vestar President and COO David Larcher said in October while announcing the new development.
There still is no word on what the furniture and craft stories anchoring the project will be, although in the narrative reported to the Planning & Zoning Commission, the only new hint as to which store would be on the site is one that is closed on Sundays. The major retailer closed on Sundays is Hobby Lobby.
The representative for Queen Creek Crossing acknowledged 668 parking spaces are required for the uses indicated on the site plan.
“As part of this request, the applicant is proposing to provide a total of 546 parking spaces for this development. The applicant has provided justification for this request based on site conditions, potential tenants and their experience in developing similar projects both locally and nationally,” the staff report stated. “As previously mentioned, the subject site is adjacent to, and shares a parking field with, the recently approved Costco that is currently under construction. The approved site plan for Costco shows a total of 801 parking stalls. Based on the size of the Costco, 465 stalls would be required, which results in an excess of 336 parking stalls. While the Costco site is being developed separately from the subject property, there will be cross-access agreements in place between the two developments and they will essentially function as one site.”
Access to Queen Creek Crossing will be provided at one point along Ellsworth Road, two points along Fulton Parkway and one point on 206th Place.
The staff report further states that “there is also one access point on Ellsworth Road, two on Queen Creek Road and one on 206th Place that were approved with the adjacent Costco development that will also provide access to the subject site.”
On Ellsworth Road, there are two existing traffic signals, one at Queen Creek Road and another at Fulton Parkway. The staff report states as part of the Costco development, a third traffic signal will be installed on Ellsworth Road at the primary entrance to Costco.
Along with Queen Creek Crossing, Vestar announced last year the development of Vineyard Towne Center in Queen Creek and The Shops at Lake Pleasant in Peoria for a total of more than 650,000 square feet of retail space at a combined development cost of nearly $90 million.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley @AzNewsmedia
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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