By Sammy Williams for AZBEX
Trammell Crow Company of Dallas announced plans to develop nearly 29 acres located southwest of Power and Warner Roads in Gilbert. The proposed project, Gilbert Gateway Commerce Center, consists of three industrial/office buildings totaling approximately 416KSF.
The subject site is located directly west of the existing American Furniture Warehouse and just north of the Santan 202 Freeway. According to the application, the area is zoned Light Industrial with a PAD overlay and is within the Gateway Character Area.
The buildings, ranging from 124KSF to 153KSF, will be used for light manufacturing and warehousing and will support as many as 14 combined tenant entries.
As the site borders a residential neighborhood, the developer, “was made aware of these [neighbors’] concerns early on and took them into account when designing the subject site,” the application states.
A neighborhood meeting was held in September of 2018 for a potential rezoning of the property directly north of the proposed project. During the meeting, attendees brought up concerns about industrial development along the entire eastern boundary of their residential neighborhood (including the subject site). A public hearing for the Gilbert Gateway Commerce Center is upcoming.
In the meantime, the developer states that, “all three buildings have been oriented in such a way to ensure that truck courts are either back to back or concealed from the main avenues of approach. Truck courts will be screened from view via an 8’ high masonry end-screen wall.”
To further address residents’ concerns, the developer proposes, “the private drive on the east side of the site will help pull the larger truck traffic away from the residential homes to the west and relieve the ingress/egress point on Nunneley Drive.”
The detailed landscape plan includes, “significant on-site and off-site perimeter landscaping as well as adequate foundation landscaping on the front and sides of all three of the proposed industrial buildings.”
Gilbert Gateway Commerce Center plans to exceed the 15 percent minimum on-site landscape area, proposing 25 percent coverage. The bulk of the landscaping will serve as a barrier between the site and the bordering neighborhood. In addition to an eight-foot masonry screen wall, the developer proposes, “a 90-foot wide landscape buffer with non-deciduous trees and shrubs oriented in a natural, undulating pattern as well as a wrought iron decorative fence.”