By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
A 1MSF-plus non-residential mixed-use proposal that had sat dormant for more than a year has come back to life and resumed the entitlement process in Avondale.
Ashley Furniture HomeStore had filed a minor General Plan amendment and rezoning request for a 70.08-acre site at the NWC of 107th Avenue and Roosevelt Street in March 2021. Following a series of reviews and responses, progress stopped on the plan until late last year, when a revised set of requests was submitted.
Under the updated proposal, project owner Ashley Furniture HomeStore and developer Hodgdon Group Reality have planned two buildings. Building 1 will be approximately 503.5KSF with a single tenant and a mix of retail, office, warehouse, distribution and call center uses. Building 2 will be approximately 551KSF with manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and office uses.
In the Planned Area Development narrative submitted last November, the applicants note the property is currently used for agriculture and is bound by Interstate 10 to the north, 107th Avenue to the east, the Roosevelt Street alignment to the south and the 111th Avenue alignment to the west.
The site is located in the Avondale Gateway Center Planned Area Development, which allows for land uses of Employment/Commercial, Business Park and Office. “That said,” the narrative states, “specific uses are only permitted on certain portions of the Property, therefore, because the Property is now contemplated by one single anchor, which will comprise all but 2.84 acres intended for future pad retail, it is necessary to revisit the zoning for the Property to address the multifaceted land uses of the proposed project and its functions.”
To accommodate those uses, the project will require a change to the General Plan Land Use Map from Freeway 4 Commercial/High Intensity Office/Mixed Use to Business Park.
Project Details
The development will be split into three phases and built according to market demand. The Phase I and II conceptual site plan identifies two buildings with a variety of tenant uses.
The narrative says, “The primary mix of uses within the Project building include (an) 80KSF retail showroom, a call center for up to 200 people, regional office, manufacturing and related warehouse. The proposed building height is approximately 50 feet, with architectural features that may extend to approximately 60 feet.”
The master site plan breaks out the two buildings as follows:
Building 1 (503,491SF):
- Retail – 1st floor: 85,345SF;
- Office – 1st floor: 8,840SF;
- Call Center – 2nd floor: 8,840SF;
- Warehouse: 353,015SF;
- Warehouse Mezzanine: 47,451SF.
Building 2 (551,039SF)
- Office – 1st floor: 20,000SF;
- Warehouse: 531,039SF.
A total of 1,503 auto parking stalls, 294 trailer stalls and 55 delivery truck parking stalls are planned.
The plan calls for six access drives, two from 107th Avenue and four from Roosevelt Street. “Beyond the two west driveways along Roosevelt Street are gated entrances to Building 2,” according to the narrative. “To disperse traffic, each building will have its own dedicated entry from Roosevelt with controlled access. Pedestrian access to the retail showroom is proposed via 107th Avenue.”
The developer will also build the standard half street improvements along the Roosevelt and 107th Avenue frontages.
Phase III will be the development of 2.66 acres retained for Freeway Commercial uses that will probably be developed as one or two commercial pads accessed from 107th Avenue. There are no specific development plans in place at present.
The Minor General Plan Amendment narrative submitted in December says existing water supplies should be adequate for the development, adding, “Any water and sewer infrastructure needed to support the proposed development will be completed by the developer with no cost to the City.”
Ashley Furniture HomeStore is the project owner. The developer is Hodgdon Management and Construction, Inc. HPA Architects is the design firm. Civil engineering and landscape planning is by Hunter Engineering. Southwest Traffic Engineering is the traffic engineer. The project is represented by Withey Morris Baugh, PLC.
No general contractor or construction timeline details have been released and no public hearings had been scheduled as of press time.
