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Carefree Partners President Rick West is thinking big these days.
For the Surprise City Center land his company owns, he envisions retail along Elm Street from Litchfield Road to Bullard Avenue.
He imagines resorts and high-rise timeshares and a medical center at Greenway Road and Litchfield.
But most of all he’s picturing buildings that are going up toward the sky, including 10-plus-story buildings from Elm to City Hall
“Our goal is to continue to push density and verticality,” West told the Surprise Planning and Zoning Commission at its April 21 meeting.
West, his son, Rico, and Carefree Partners Vice President Scott Phillips gave a quarterly report to the P&Z, which focused on the residential projects already in progress but also on the future plans for taller buildings.
“I hope we can see some of it during my lifetime,” Rick West said.
The city center property is bounded by Greenway Road on the south, Bell Road on the north, Litchfield Road on the east, and Bullard Avenue on the west.
It includes City Hall, the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex, the Northwest Regional Library and the Surprise Aquatic Center, as well as the Ottawa University-Arizona campus.
A series of three- and four-story multi-family units are coming to the area, but the group wants to push higher in the market, with the development of some five-, six-, and seven-story units.
“We plan on taking that next step up in products since we have a lot of that three- to four-story product right now,” Rico West said. “We’d like to up our game a little bit and start getting those six-story and up apartment projects with a parking garage.”
Included in the current lower-story projects are the following:
• Wood Partners, Alta Surprise, a 320-unit, three-story walk-up off of Litchfield. Rico West said Alta Surprise will likely be the only three-story walkup that’s developed in the City Center.
• Gehan Homes will have 130 townhomes units for sale just north of the Alta Surprise project. Officials said the homebuilder is closing in May and construction should start toward the end of year.
• Leon Capital has 325 rental units and elevators over four stories in northeast quadrant of the square mile.
• Town Surprise, which is behind a series of restaurants along the south side of Bell Road, features 114-unit rental townhomes with two-car garages.
The latest project is another multifamily residential one, featuring 325 units and elevators over four-stories.
Zoning allows up to 32,000 housing units total in the Center, but West said it will be about half of that at full buildouts.
“You just never know with these types of markets and the demand for housing,” he said. “It could be a little bit more. It could be a little less. We’ll see how this plan evolves over time.”
The southwest quadrant of the City Center is dominated by the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals team housing facilities as well as the 190-unit Mera City Center off Greenway Road.
“It leased up pretty nicely and it looks great,” Rico West said. “It’s an asset to the community.”
In the northwest quadrant, which was previously marketed as the Quarter at Surprise, a walkable urban scene is still envisioned with partners Simon CRE helping out Carefree Partners find tenants.
“There’s nobody who is doing more projects and understands this market better than Josh Simon,” Phillips said.
The name Quarter at Surprise is being dropped because Phillips said it created some confusion in the market with the Scottsdale Quarter in the East Valley.
But Elm Street is planned as the walkable, urban street, similar to Scottsdale Quarter, as well as Kierland and the Heritage District in Gilbert.
“Bell Road drives the traffic, but Elm Street drives the lifestyle,” Phillips said.
The area, which will likely be the spot for future high-rises, will be developed over several phases.
“We have great tenant interest already,” Phillips said. “I can’t tell you timing and I can’t tell you names, but I can tell you we have a partner who understands our vision of creating that walkability on Elm Street.”
Former NAU Lumberjack who loves going to concerts (or I did), watching sports (or I did) and hanging out with friends (oh, never mind). I also enjoy backgammon, surfing and men who are not afraid to cry.
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