Heavy equipment is grinding away at the southeast corner of Rancherias Road and Highway 18 in Apple Valley, where block walls and structural columns are now rising on a building near the eastern edge of the property. The site, once a largely undeveloped stretch of desert west of Walmart, has transformed into an active construction zone for what will become Buffalo Trading Post Plaza, a commercial center anchored by ALDI and set to include Chipotle, Wendy's and Dutch Bros Coffee.
New drone images captured this week by Victor Valley News Group show a large portion of the roughly 10.7-acre site cleared and graded, with crews developing the plaza's first buildings. Town-approved plans call for a 39,219-square-foot commercial development with 234 parking spaces, and developer Ara Tchaghlasian has said he remains committed to moving forward with construction as soon as possible, though no official groundbreaking date had been established when the project was originally approved.
What's Replacing the Old Roadside Stop
The property was previously home to the Buffalo Trading Post, an older commercial building constructed in the 1950s that stood for nearly 70 years before its demolition, according to Town of Apple Valley records. Facebook user Suzanne Phinney Meyer-Dalzell posted photos of the demolition in September 2025, capturing the end of a structure many longtime residents recognized as a local landmark despite its deterioration over the decades.
A historical resource study conducted as part of the project's California Environmental Quality Act review determined that alterations made to the building over time had diminished its historical significance, meaning it did not qualify as a historical resource under CEQA guidelines. The Town of Apple Valley completed a 30-day public review period in September 2024 for the project's Mitigated Negative Declaration, finding that required mitigation measures would keep environmental impacts below significant thresholds, per the town's own environmental filings.
Tenants, Tree Permits and a Buffalo Sculpture
Approved floor plans break down exactly how the 39,219 square feet will be divided: 20,599 square feet for ALDI, 5,700 square feet for a tire shop, 2,400 square feet for Wendy's, 2,305 square feet for Chipotle, 950 square feet for Dutch Bros Coffee, and 7,265 square feet of general retail space, according to floor plan details reported by the same outlet. Developer plans call for preserving the Buffalo Trading Post Plaza name and installing an 8-foot-tall buffalo sculpture along Highway 18 as a piece of public art.
Getting to this point required some give-and-take with town officials. Tchaghlasian agreed to drop plans for a car wash and gas station to win Planning Commission approval in December 2024, expressing frustration over lost revenue and what he saw as inconsistency in how the town had handled car wash approvals elsewhere, the outlet's report notes. The plaza received Planning Commission approval in 2025, and the property was also subdivided under Tentative Parcel Map No. 20702, approved in October 2024, splitting the 11.8-acre site into nine parcels — 43,909 square feet across seven parcels for Phase 1, with Parcel 8 held in reserve for up to 35,000 square feet of future commercial space, according to Town of Apple Valley planning documents. Parcel 8 has been identified for potential future general retail, office space or additional drive-thru restaurants, though any such proposal would still need to go through the town's development review and permitting process.
Because the site includes protected Western Joshua trees, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued an Incidental Take Permit in January 2026 authorizing removal of up to six of the trees, an allowance later amended in April 2026 to permit removal of up to 10, according to filings on CEQAnet. The trees are protected under California's Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, which requires developers to secure state permits and pay mitigation fees before clearing land where the species grows.
Part of a Broader High Desert Growth Push
The Apple Valley project follows a bumpy path for ALDI in the region. The grocer pulled out of a planned commercial center at Hook Boulevard and Amargosa Road in nearby Victorville in December 2023, citing broader market uncertainties, as reported by Victor Valley News Group at the time. That retreat came six years after ALDI opened its first Victor Valley store in Hesperia on Bear Valley Road in September 2017, establishing the chain's initial High Desert footprint.
The renewed commitment to Apple Valley tracks with regional growth trends. The High Desert's population grew by more than 8% after 2020, according to Livability.com, prompting Apple Valley and neighboring cities to push commercial development along corridors like Highway 18 to capture local sales tax revenue. Apple Valley itself recorded a population of 75,791 in the 2020 U.S. Census, a 9.6% increase from 69,135 residents in 2010.
For now, the visible progress is concrete and steel: block walls going up, columns taking shape, and heavy equipment moving across a lot that not long ago sat largely undeveloped. Whether Parcel 8 eventually brings more retail, office space or additional drive-thru restaurants remains to be decided through the town's standard review process.
