By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
After a unanimous vote by the Carefree Town Council to pursue finalizing a development agreement, The Empire Group of Companies and Diversified Partners announced the official commencement of their Carefree Quarter development at the NEC of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road.
Council is expected to formally approve the agreement next month.
The development agreement centers around a Retail Development Sales Tax Incentive. A presentation to Council explaining the plan and agreement terms shows the roughly 20-acre property divided into three distinct development areas and bisected by a wash feature, which had negatively impacted previous development plans.
Parcel A, situated directly on the corner, is tentatively planned for a large development. A site plan included in the presentation shows a planned PetSmart at 18KSF, a second major retailer at 13.5KSF, and smaller shops and pads ranging from 800SF to 10KSF.
Parcel B is located east of Parcel A and will feature an oil change location, three more freestanding shops and another pad, with sizes ranging from 1.7KSF to 8KSF.
Parcel C, on the northern section of the generally triangular site, will feature a two-story office building of up to 27.75KSF.
The project was announced in a joint press release from Empire Group and Diversified Partners, which says Empire will serve as the developer and Diversified will handle leasing. Both parties, “are working closely with the Town of Carefree, which has been a transparent and supportive partner throughout the planning process,” according to the release.
The site plan in the presentation lists RKAA Architects as the design firm. The landscape plan graphic included with this article was supplied by McGough-Adamson.
According to the presentation materials, Empire Group has completed sufficient due diligence and Diversified has actively marketed the site to prospective tenants and prepared the project economic data. The Town of Carefree reviewed the data and found that assisting with the development costs was in all the parties’ best interests, since it delivers appreciable benefits to the Town in terms of retail development and sales tax revenue for a project that would not otherwise be constructed.
Under the five-year terms of the incentive, at least 60KSF must be built by the end of 2026. The incentive is capped at $7M and covers public infrastructure development for the wash/trail area, water lines and street improvements.
