Binder.pdf

PhoenixMart is on target to break ground late next year.  Construction of the 1.5 million square foot complex should take approximately 12 months.  An inadequate supply of available housing could create a serious problem when the work force arrives.  Production home builders would be well served to consider returning to Casa Grande sooner rather than later.

Phoenix Mart Location & Amenities

Phoenix Mart in Casa Grande AZ will be the largest international trading center in North America.  Essentially, it will serve as the gateway for the supply of world-wide products in U. S. markets.  Products will be available at their wholesale price.   Rivaling similar trading centers in Dubai, China, and Cancun in Mexico, the Phoenix Shopping Center eventually will employ thousands of full-time employees.  It conceivably could ease substantially the unemployment problems in Pinal County in general and Casa Grande in particular.

It is obvious to all that the commercial & residential future of Casa Grande is bright.  All tiers of business will be needed as the population increases due to Phoenix Mart.     It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of new visitors will come to Casa Grande.  Additional hotel and hospitality services, entertainment venues, and retail shopping will be needed to satisfy the needs of an immediate population increase.  Plans are on the table for the Phoenix Mart to include some of these services within the complex.

Casa Grande Properties

Availability of Casa Grande real estate will be just as important to the success of the international trade center.  At this time, there is not a huge supply of single family houses on the market.  In fact, the supply is critically low.  Much of the current inventory is owned by banks and would be considered sub-standard in quality.  These homes help keep the average list price low and the average days on the market higher.  Good quality homes in the better neighborhoods are at a premium.  Their prices are higher and they do not remain on the market for long periods.  The home buyer of one year ago would be surprised to see what similar homes are selling for today.  It isn’t quite the attractive buyer’s market that it was twelve months ago.

There are literally thousands of improved but empty lots in Casa Grande.  New home builders abandoned their projects when the economic downturn arrived in 2006.  By the middle of 2008, the vast majority of these builders had “folded their tents” and returned to the more populated areas of Metro-Phoenix and cities in The East Valley.  Some neighborhoods are sparsely inhabited, with vacant real estate on all sides.  Many neighborhoods in other cities have this problem, but none much worse than Casa Grande.

Some production builders are returning to Casa Grande and will be constructing homes in some of these neighborhoods.  They have purchased vacant lots not owned by them previously.  Their primary reason for returning is due, in no small part, to the plans of the new Mart.  With home sale prices increasing, it makes perfect sense to start now, before the trade center breaks ground.  Their price point will be a reflection of the current increased resale home sale prices and the anticipated increase in demand.

Phoenix Mart should help transform Casa Grande from a relatively quiet community into a major commercial player in The Valley.  In one year, we should begin to see some of these changes.  However, before Casa Grande’s real estate potential can be realized, home builders will have to return and finish the job they started back at the turn of the century.  Subdivisions need to be completed and not left with empty lots and other signs of neighborhood blight.