“The city of Surprise is one of the fastest growing communities in the West Valley, and the residents want access to the same options that have been available for the eastern Valley for years,” said Joshua Simon, SimonCRE’s CEO, in a statement. "We can see that this community is going to continue to grow quickly, and want to do everything in our power to provide those options to Surprise."

Prasada North will comprise about 280,000 square feet of anchor space, 21,000 square feet of pad space and about 22,000 square feet of shop space, according to marketing materials from Western Retail Advisors, the leasing brokerage for both Prasada developments. RKAA Architects Inc. is the architect for both Prasada centers, while a general contractor has not been selected.

The Prasada North center is expected to be completed in early 2024 following the development of the 700,000-square-foot Village at Prasada, which is nearly fully leased by national, local and regional stores and restaurants including Sprouts Farmers Market, Hobby Lobby, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria and Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers. The Village at Prasada has made significant construction progress and is set to open its first stores by the end of this year.

Utah-based FatCats Entertainment is also building a nearby 63,000-square-foot entertainment venue with movie theaters, bowling and an arcade. The two new shopping centers will also be supported by the existing Costco, new health care facility and planned multifamily units in the same center.

Surprise attracting major growth in all sectors

The new retail projects are some of the largest planned for the West Valley in recent years to support an influx of people and industrial growth along the Loop 303 and other freeways.

"This development is going to succeed because Phoenix is continuing to grow, despite economic headwinds, and the West Valley is the heart of this growth," the company said in an email response to the Business Journal. "With industrial vacancy rates in the old shipping and logistics hubs of California sitting under 1%, such as Inland Empire and Torrance, many distributors are looking to Arizona to bridge the gap."

The city of Surprise currently has about 150,000 people and is seeing a shift in its demographics, housing and commercial offerings as it prepares to expand further northwest to historically rural areas.

While regional malls were once slated for areas like Goodyear and Surprise, the Great Recession and market changes have brought new plans forward instead.

As retail development continues to keep up with demand and undersupply of space, much of the new commercial space is planned for the west side of the Phoenix metro to support some of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.

In the northwest part of the Valley, more than 1 million square feet of retail space has been proposed or planned for Surprise and Peoria in recent months.

Southwest Valley cities are also attracting new retail development with projects such as Goodyear's new downtown area, GSQ, and several large retail centers along Verrado Way and Interstate 10 in Buckeye.

Recently, the Howard Hughes Corp. also broke ground on a 37,000-acre master planned community in Buckeye called Teravalis.

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