Target is stepping in as the new anchor tenant for the second phase of Laveen Park Place, the mixed-use development near the Loop 202 freeway and Baseline Road, after Harkins Theatres walked away from years-old plans to build a movie theater on the site. Target has committed to a 140,395-square-foot store on the western half of a 16-acre parcel, according to seed facts drawn from the site's development records.
A Long-Stalled Theater Gives Way to a Big-Box Retailer
The switch closes the book on a project that had been in limbo since 2019, when Harkins first announced plans to build a theater in Laveen, according to azcentral.com. Construction never broke ground, and according to city documents cited by the outlet, Harkins said the Laveen site was “no longer feasible” for a theater. Target had already committed to a new location at the site, the outlet reported, and the retailer's 140,395-square-foot store will occupy the western half of the 16-acre property, according to a report from bizjournals.com. Reporting on the shift was also published by ABC15 Arizona, which noted that the city had approved the development plan for Laveen Park Place and that the previously contemplated movie theater, along with a second major tenant, is no longer part of the proposal.
Phoenix-based Kitchell Development is behind Laveen Park Place, while Scottsdale-based SimonCRE will lead development specifically of the Target site, according to a post from SimonCRE's blog. That same post says the developer is expected to break ground next year.
Laveen's Growth Spurt Is Drawing Retail Attention
The Target announcement lands amid a broader building boom in southwest Phoenix. Laveen Village has roughly 55,000 residents with a median household income above $110,000, according to a report from rli.uk.com, which quoted Vestar describing the area as experiencing “tremendous residential growth” that retailers are “taking notice” of. Across the Phoenix metro, retail vacancy sat at 4.5% in the second quarter of 2026, up 10 basis points year over year, while average asking rents climbed to $1.78 per square foot per month, a 9.37% jump from a year earlier, according to a market report from Kidder Mathews. The same report found more than 3.28 million square feet of retail space under construction across Phoenix as of that quarter, an 11.5% increase from the prior year, even as year-to-date net absorption fell 62.23% compared with 2025.
Laveen residents hoping for a movie theater haven't been entirely left out. FatCats is a committed tenant at the separate Laveen Towne Center project. Laveen Towne Center has been described as a 500,000-square-foot retail, dining and entertainment project across 90 acres by shoppingcenterbusiness.com. RLI reported groundbreaking was scheduled for fall 2026.
Tenants Already Lining Up Nearby
Vestar is advancing Laveen Towne Center through planning and development, according to shoppingcenterbusiness.com. Reported tenant commitments there include Fat Cats, First Watch, Petersen's Ice Cream, Club Pilates, Zara Nails, Mountain America Credit Union, Costa Vida, V's Barbershop, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and a national footwear retailer, per the rli.uk.com report. The project is also expected to include a landscaped gathering space called Laveen Village Green, intended for seasonal events and outdoor entertainment, according to shoppingcenterbusiness.com.
Harkins, meanwhile, hasn't abandoned theaters altogether — it opened a BackLot entertainment venue, which combines a movie theater with a family entertainment center, at the Shops at Norterra in summer 2025, and the company is developing another BackLot for Verrado Marketplace in Buckeye, according to the azcentral.com report and a separate rundown from icsc.com. For Laveen, though, the theater era is over — Target is now the name on the marquee.
