A Phoenix-based developer has set its sights on a 34-acre stretch of Avondale, proposing a shopping center anchored by a still-unnamed grocery store alongside an industrial building. The project would rise at the northwest corner of Avondale Boulevard and Van Buren Street, placing it squarely inside the city's fast-growing BLVD district.
Pederson Group's plans call for a shopping center built around a roughly 99,000-square-foot grocery anchor, paired with a 118,000-square-foot industrial building, according to ABC15 Arizona. The Phoenix-based firm is working through Avondale's city approval process as it tries to bring the project to life. The grocery tenant's identity has not been disclosed in any available filings or reporting.
Additional detail on the proposal comes from AZBEX, which reports the deal is actually a joint venture between Pederson Group and real estate firm Barclay Group. That outlet describes roughly 165,000 square feet of commercial uses spread across 24 acres of the site, with the anchor most likely being a grocery store paired with a fuel center totaling around 99,000 square feet. The remaining eight acres are earmarked for light industrial and warehouse space totaling roughly 118,000 square feet.
Conflicting Numbers on Industrial Space
AZBEX also notes a wrinkle in the paperwork: a conceptual site plan shows two separate light industrial buildings, one at 124,800 square feet and another at 93,750 square feet, figures that don't line up neatly with the roughly 118,000-square-foot industrial total cited elsewhere in the proposal. The discrepancy has not been explained in the available documentation. Pederson Group is listed as the project owner, with Butler Design Group handling design work and the law firm Bergin, Frakes, Smalley & Oberholtzer providing legal representation, per the same outlet's report.
Before any dirt moves, the project needs amendments to the area's specific plan and zoning, AZBEX reports. Avondale's own public engagement page describes the zoning text amendment for the BLVD district as a proposed project, stating that no decisions had yet been made by the public hearing boards reviewing it.
Part of a Much Bigger BLVD Puzzle
This site is just one piece of Avondale's sprawling BLVD project, which ABC15 describes as spanning 356 acres south of Interstate 10 along Avondale Boulevard — though AZBEX separately characterizes the overall master-planned area as roughly 350 acres. Either way, the district is envisioned as a commercial core blending retail, hospitality, residential and employment uses, a vision that AZBEX says has already evolved into a mixed-use destination featuring commercial, retail, hotel, restaurant and multifamily development.
The specific parcel Pederson Group is eyeing falls within Avondale's Village District zoning, which permits mixed-use development including retail, office and multifamily components, according to Parkland Development. That zoning designation allows buildings as tall as 10 stories and requires a minimum residential density of 18 dwelling units per acre.
Growth Numbers Driving the Demand
The push for more grocery-anchored retail in Avondale tracks with regional growth projections. The West Valley, which includes Avondale, is projected to reach a population of 2.1 million people by 2030, according to Avondale Economic Development. The BLVD specialty district already counts more than 2,000 multifamily housing units, and the city says it draws over 1 million visitors annually, with its American Sports Complex alone pulling in more than 700,000 visitors a year.
Grocery-anchored development has been picking up pace across the West Valley more broadly. In Avondale, construction recently began on the Marketplace at Tres Rios, a 28-acre, grocery-anchored shopping center built around a Fry's Marketplace with three multi-tenant shop buildings and seven retail pads, KTAR reported. That site sits just north of Alamar, a 1,150-acre master-planned community expected to eventually provide more than 4,000 homes.
Nearby in Goodyear, Common Bond Development Group has announced a premium, grocery-anchored shopping center within the Estrella master-planned community, according to AZ Big Media. The first phase there will total approximately 35,224 square feet, anchored by a 23,024-square-foot Sprouts Farmers Market, with groundbreaking targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
For now, the Avondale proposal remains in the approval pipeline, with zoning and specific-plan amendments still ahead before any construction could begin.
