By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Add one more large-scale industrial development to the nearly $2B and 19MSF in Buckeye’s planning and development pipeline. Merit Partners is requesting a site plan approval for Merit Buckeye Industrial Park – a 414KSF building and 136.5KSF outdoor storage yard near the SEC of Turner and Baseline roads.
The site lies approximately one mile west of SR 85. As Carefree Partners VP Scott Phillips discussed at the BEX Companies Leading Market Series September Session: Commercial Real Estate Hot Spots, the area around I-10 and SR 85 is a key industrial development zone both in terms of current projects and long-term vision, in large part because of the future-planned Interstate 11 route. Carefree Partners’ own vision for the area includes the 280-acre Buckeye Apex mixed-use master plan that’s currently undergoing the City of Buckeye’s entitlement process.
According to the planning staff report to the Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission, Merit Buckeye Industrial Park’s site is surrounded by undeveloped land, with the exception of a few rural home sites on unincorporated Maricopa County land to the south.
The property is zoned General Commerce, and staff report says the site meets all development standards for building height, parking, architectural detailing and landscaping. Truck courts are arranged on the interior of the site, and the employee and visitor parking is situated adjacent to the three rural homes to the south.
Notices were sent to property owners within 300 feet of the planned site. One resident called with questions. According to the staff report, the project plan and existing zoning were explained and the resident was given the applicant’s contact information to follow up with additional questions.
The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to review the proposal this week.
Buckeye Industrial Snapshot
Buckeye has been garnering a great deal of attention from developers, state and regional economic development officials and news outlets in the last several years because of its explosive growth. Much of that attention has focused on the $750M, 2MSF KOREPlex lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility currently in the Pre-construction phase. While KOREPlex is the largest individual project in terms of construction valuation and one of the largest in terms of square footage, it is hardly alone in terms of the large project pipeline, all of which are centered in the 85326 ZIP Code.
The DATABEX project database shows 16 active individual projects in various stages of development in the area. Of those, three have been completed, totaling 1.9MSF and $175M in estimated construction valuation. Another five – $245.4M and 4.1MSF – are actively under construction.
Given Merit’s reputation as a careful and steadfast developer, and taking into account both the project activity and the ongoing buzz Buckeye continues to generate in economic development circles and both local and national media, while the Merit Buckeye Industrial Park is the latest major project in the city, it will almost certainly have more company joining it in the months to come.
