Phoenix Mart (Mall/Shopping Ctr) Breaking Ground in December in Casa Grande (Tucson: amusement park)

[PhinsFan1]

Southeast Valley Ledger » Phoenix Mart likely to break ground in December

Does anyone know anything about this? I'm really surprised they're building this in Casa Grande. I imagine the developers must have been offered some huge tax breaks or something for them to chose that location. Seems like there are other areas of high unemployment, closer to Phoenix or Tucson, that would have allowed them to take advantage of the immigration thing. That location seems a bit removed from "civilization" which is odd considering the huge number of shoppers they'll need to support a mall this size. I drove by the Casa Grand outlets the other day on my way to Tucson and was shocked by how it looks now. It's practically abandoned and looks terrible. Is the Phoenix Mart actually going to succeed, or will it go the way of the Eloy amusement park and the GM proving grounds conference center?

[Finger Laker]

It's not a shopping mall and the public retail component of it will be relatively very small (although definitely a part of the entire project)

This is from their webpage, which provides a good bit of information about the location

Phoenix Mart - America's Product Center is perfectly situated in Arizona's Sun Corridor, the emerging distribution hub for the United States. Only five hours from Los Angeles, this location is at the intersection of both north/south and east/west highways that connect both coasts of the U.S. and Canada & Mexico as well. Rail and road infrastructure is currently being expanded and updated. Most exciting about this location, however, is the strategic location to the ports of the future in Baja, Mexico, which are only a few hours away. These ports will become more and more popular in coming years as the Los Angeles port continues to be congested beyond its capacity.

Phoenix Mart is designed with over 100,000 square feet of an on-site logistics center to meet the business needs of its tenants. The logistics center will provide tenants with rentable space, combined delivery services as well as distribution services that are available to all tenants. Phoenix Mart logistics center offers warehousing services, inventory management and cargo transportation with the most current market available technology.

Warehousing, Fulfillment & Distribution - Phoenix Mart

It's actually a pretty good location when you consider what they needed for the incentives - they found an area with cheap land and development costs that will allow them to use the visa benefits and other federal incentives that is 30 minutes from a major airport, located between Phoenix & Tucson and more importantly located near I-10 / I-8 and some rail yards

This is important because the bulk of what they will do is corporate buying and distribution

Most of the project is going to be overseas companies that will set up product displays and warehousing, they want to get some domestic in there as well - but the real impact comes from overseas companies.

They can have a physical presence to display their good - then corporations can send a buyer to the Phoenix Mart, see the product and place an order and feel comfortable in how easily it can be moved

They also think that it will be beneficial in getting products into the US - either through LA or Baja shipping from primarily China and others going across the pacific

The goal is to consolidate companies in one area, so a buyer will only have to make one trip to compare & buy - for example, if a company produces shower heads they could set up with other companies that do the same ..... then the buyer from Marriott could fly in, see the various products, negotiate and place their order

[Kimballette]

There's a long thread on this topic right here: //www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...sa-grande.html