A sprawling retail center south of Phoenix just changed hands for $63.1 million as development continues around Casa Grande. The Promenade at Casa Grande, anchored by Harkins Theatres and Michaels, is now under new ownership following the sale.
According to bizjournals.com, the retail complex south of Phoenix traded hands to a firm focused on redeveloping and repositioning retail properties, with Harkins Theaters and Michael's named among its anchors. The center sits at the northeast corner of Interstate 10 and Florence Boulevard, according to Lamar Companies, whose property listing also names Ross Dress for Less and Five Below among the center's co-tenants, alongside Harkins and Michaels. As first reported by Connect CRE, the buyer in the transaction was Prep Property Group, which paid the full $63.1 million for the property.
A Firm Built for Redevelopment
Connect CRE's reporting describes Prep Property Group as a company that focuses on redevelopment and value-add projects, working across single-tenant retail, power centers, enclosed malls and mixed-use properties. Per the outlet, the firm describes itself as a fully integrated real estate company built on the strategic investment and net lease divisions of Phillips Edison & Company. Connect CRE's report also notes that neither Dillard's, JC Penney nor Target were part of the deal, and that Target had already closed and reopened earlier in 2026 under separate circumstances.
That Target turnover has its own backstory. The store originally closed at the Promenade in 2016, according to pinalcentral.com. Earlier this year, the same outlet reported that owners of the Promenade expected at least three new tenants within the coming year as leasing activity picked up at the center.
Momentum Building Before the Sale
Separate reporting from earlier in 2026 sketched out just how much was already moving at the property before this latest sale. In late March, realestatedaily-news.com reported that Target was under construction and slated to reopen in May 2026 in its former roughly 137,000-square-foot space, while HomeGoods and Ashley Furniture had already opened at the center and Burlington, Five Below and Tillys had signed leases in 2024. Connect CRE described the Promenade as a 470,000-square-foot regional power center, a different figure than the roughly 550,000 square feet cited when Lamar Companies and Real Capital Solutions acquired the property from Macerich in 2018, according to a release on prnewswire.com.
The same March report detailed a wave of development sprouting around the retail center. Two adjacent pads had been sold to Applebee's, which had site plan approval and was moving through the city's permitting process, while a four-story, 150-room Fairfield by Marriott was under construction on site. Modus Companies had also received permits for a 209-unit build-to-rent development immediately east of the center, with a 336-unit multifamily project to the north in for permits as well.
Why Casa Grande Keeps Drawing Investment
The growth surrounding the Promenade tracks with broader shifts across Pinal County. A MODUS executive said Lucid, Nikola and Kohler were expected to bring more than 6,400 jobs to Casa Grande.
Those numbers fit a pattern Pinal County has seen for years. The county's population grew from about 180,000 in 2000 to an estimated 539,000 in 2025, according to axios.com, with Casa Grande itself now home to nearly 70,000 residents — more than double its population at the turn of the century. Axios also reports that Pinal County communities are ramping up apartment construction after years of inactivity, and that Casa Grande has attracted major employers including electric vehicle maker Lucid, which operates a large manufacturing campus in the city.
Against that backdrop, the $63.1 million sale of the Promenade reads less like an isolated transaction and more like a bet on a town that keeps adding people, jobs and rooftops. With new leasing already in motion and surrounding development still working through permitting and construction, the center's next chapter under Prep Property Group will likely hinge on how much of that growth continues to spill over from the highway into the storefronts.
