5 businesses coming to corner, more likely to follow

By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

Residents may have noticed some recent activity on long-vacant land at one of Litchfield Park’s busiest crossroads. The intersection at Camelback and Dysart roads will soon transform, with five businesses planned to build on the site and possibly more to come.

Some building has started. The most noticeable addition is a recently erected building directly at the southeast corner of the intersection, which will house a Dignity Health Emergency Room.

Other additions include a Taco Bell along Dysart Road south of the Dignity Health facility, a Quick N Clean car wash south of the Taco Bell, an AutoZone along Camelback Road near the center of the site and a self-storage facility at the southeast corner of the lot.

“High-end, self-storage projects are becoming a new trend as people live in smaller houses and need more storage,” said Chris Anderson, managing director and Arizona leader for Hines, the real estate firm building the self-storage facility.

About half of the space on the 20-acre site is still available. There are three vacant areas facing the road — two facing Camelback Road on either side of the AutoZone — and one facing Dysart at the southwest corner of the site, between the Quick N Clean car wash and the Hines self-storage facility. The entire lot is zoned for commercial use.

Dignity Health was the first to invest in the 20-acre lot. The city then required a master development plan to be formed in order to see how the whole property would work in terms of building layout, access, circulation, off-site improvement needs, etc.

The city is using this system as an example for future infill projects to ensure cohesion between developments. Staff’s intent with the Dignity-lot was to plan an overall site that was rezoned as a single parcel and not let individual lots be created piecemeal with no overall vision of development.

Self-storage

Hines, which has previously focused on office and mixed-use developments, is new to the self-storage industry but is diving in head-first. The company has already announced plans for two self-storage facilities in the Valley — in Gilbert and Tempe. The company plans to add three to five more self-storage facilities each year in “well-populated growing suburban areas with high incomes” in the Southwest.

“Class A self-storage facilities are desirable amenities for upscale residential areas,” Mr. Anderson said.

At 96,000 square feet, the storage facility in Litchfield Park will be Hines’ largest in Arizona.

Planning consultant Jason Sanks noted in a planning and zoning meeting that the self-storage facility will create a good buffer between the other commercial uses on the site and the houses to the southeast of the site. He also said it would be good for the storage facility to occupy an area many businesses would find less desirable because it does not face either arterial street.

Traffic

Not only is Camelback and Dysart one of the busiest intersections in town, it is the most dangerous. There were 128 collisions at the intersection between 2016 and 2018, according to data from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Only Camelback and Litchfield roads came close, with 94 collisions. Aside from that, no other intersection in town had even a third as many collisions as Camelback and Dysart roads did.

With the increased traffic these businesses will bring, the city is expanding the intersection at the southeast corner to compensate. There will be a third travel lane added to both Dysart and Camelback roads near the site and there will be multiple driveways into the site.

Additions

The Quick N Clean car wash will be the first car wash inside city limits. There is a Cobblestone Auto Spa just across the border into Goodyear at Litchfield and Indian School roads.

The Dignity Health facility is the company’s first in Litchfield Park. Dignity’s nearest location is in Goodyear. There are two similar health facilities — a MedPost Urgent Care and a Banner Health Clinic — at Camelback and Litchfield roads, a block west of the new Dignity facility.

The Taco Bell will be the first in Litchfield Park. A Burger King was recently added a block to the east at Camelback and El Mirage roads.

The AutoZone is also the first in the city. The only other auto parts store in town is O’Reilly Auto Parts a block south near Dysart and Indian School roads.

Mark Carlisle can be reached at 623-876-2518 or mcarlisle@newszap.com.