Log in

Development

Goodyear commission suggests less office space in proposed 70-acre development

Posted 3/10/23

The city of Goodyear's planning and zoning commission has decided to reconsider the amount of office space it plans to develop in a proposed 70-acre mixed-use development near the I-10 and Litchfield …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
Development

Goodyear commission suggests less office space in proposed 70-acre development

Posted

The city of Goodyear's planning and zoning commission has decided to reconsider the amount of office space planned in a proposed 70-acre mixed-use development near the Interstate 10 and Litchfield Road.

The development, called Goodyear Celebration Plaza, is a 70-acre mixed-use concept comprising new office, housing and retail near the City of Hope cancer treatment center.

Jeff Blilie,  zoning attorney with Phoenix-based Bues Gilbert McGroder representing property owner Phoenix-based ICIC Property Investment 5 LLC, said the mixed-use of office and multifamily is nice, but the proposed office square footage is above market demand.

"We had an extensive economic analysis done on the property by Elliott D. Pollack & Co., a company that the city uses for their own economic analysis," he said. "They determined that this entire region could support about 50,000 square feet of office and office condo. The 15-acre site that we have already will support 300,000 square feet. So we're six times what the economic analysis said just on parcel C alone."

To mitigate the issue, the developers asked the commission to extend a 15-acre parcel's hybrid (office and residential) designation from 18 to 24 months. The extension would afford the developers more time to secure interest in office leasing while having the flexibility to develop space into multifamily if efforts fell short.

Commissioner Maria Sambito agreed flexibility is needed to safeguard a successful project.

"Ultimately, it's really going to be the market that drives what happens there," she said. "We can all say we want one or the other. I've seen properties that have sat for 20 years fronting Route 66. And over those 20 years, it started out as commercial and office and finally developed as multifamily. So ultimately, it's the market that's going to drive what happens here. We may have the desire to have more office, it may not happen there."

City of Hope, whose cancer treatment center is directly west of the development area, drafted a letter supporting the creation of affordable multifamily housing directly near the campus. In the letter, president Kevin F. Tulipana said multifamily homes near the campus would further create an environment of community, giving his incoming nurses and workers a place to work and recreate in a nearby affordable community.

The original parcel concept planned to house ample medical office space to supplement support for the adjacent hospital and other office opportunities for existing and future businesses in the area. This office area included two 54,000-square-foot medical office buildings and a three-story office building totaling 140,000 square feet.

The commission approved the more flexible zoning change, pushing the matter to the Goodyear city council for approval.

Michael McDaniel can be reached at mmcdaniel@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.