The Switchyard to provide some public parking under Queen Creek council agreement

Queen Creek is maintaining public interest in downtown as construction of the $120 million Switchyard mixed-use development continues.

During its March 4 meeting, the Queen Creek Town Council approved an agreement with the owners of the land on the northeast corner of Ellsworth Loop and East Ocotillo roads to maintain public parking, access easements and drainage in some areas.

The Switchyard project is on land formerly owned by the town.

In June 2024, Creation unveiled its plans for the Switchyard, which encompasses 10 acres with 54,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and office space, plus a 215-residence luxury apartment community.

The project’s residential portion is in the design phase. Construction on the retail and office phase began in July. At completion, there will be seven buildings on the site — four single-story buildings with office, retail and restaurant space and three four-story buildings that will house the 215 apartment units along with more office space.

The new agreement, which was part of the council’s consent agenda and approved 7-0, ensures a minimum of 32 parking spaces in the commercial areas remain “unreserved, unrestricted and free of charge for public parking,” according to a staff report.

In total, the project’s commercial portion is anticipated to include more than 200 surface parking spaces.

Queen Creek will continue maintaining easement areas such as roads, walkways and landscaping on an adjacent lot still owned by the town. The Switchyard developer will reimburse Queen Creek for 50% of the cost.

Under the new agreement, a cross-drainage easement will allow natural stormwater flow between parcels, but drainage and retention obligations are clearly assigned, with each lot owner “solely responsible for the operation, maintenance and repair of drainage and retention facilities located on their respective lot,” the report continued.

Creation also must include directional signs to the town library at three locations at no cost to Queen Creek.

In December 2023, the council agreed to sell 6.8 acres of land at Ellsworth Loop and East Ocotillo roads to Creation RE for $7.4 million.

In July 2024, the council approved selling an additional 1.4 acres of land at the site to Creation, raising the total cost of the acquisition to $8.655 million.

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.