Target, Safeway and a Harkins BackLot entertainment complex will be the anchor tenants for the planned open-air Verrado Marketplace with their doors opening by the end of 2025, along with a host of retailers, restaurants and amenities organized into different “districts”, Phoenix-based Vestar and DMB Associates have confirmed.
The department store district will include a discount retailers Marshalls, Ross and HomeGoods will open stores totaling 70,000 square feet at the center. This district will also include Target, who will open in a nearly 150,000-square-foot space at the southeast corner of the property and also offer its buy online and pick up at store shopping options. Total Wine & More is another tenant that is expected at the new retail center. The department store district portion will front I-10 and will be the dominant part of the shopping center.
The entertainment district will be anchored by the 75,000-square-foot Harkins BackLot — a new concept for the Scottsdale-based movie theater company — that will feature a full-service restaurant and bar with a sports viewing arena, arcade games for all ages, a bowling alley and private event space. Harkin’s first BackLot is scheduled to open in 2024 in North Phoenix, but will not include a movie theater, although press releases for the Verrado Marketplace Backlot do mention a theater and reportedly there is a blueprint showing 6 movie auditoriums. Just like the movies, we’ll have a little suspense to see how this turns out. Fingers crossed!
Outside the BackLot will be the outdoor amenity area for Verrado Marketplace that includes a PopJets splash pad and gathering spaces such as a central lawn, shaded green spaces, patios, and a performance stage to host community events, holidays, concerts and social activities.
The grocery district will be anchored by Safeway and will have more of a focus on neighborhood services,
Verrado Marketplace will be modeled as a smaller version of Vestar’s Desert Ridge Marketplace with a major department store, soft goods, entertainment plaza and neighborhood center with a grocery store. Following the model of Vestar’s Desert Ridge Marketplace and Tempe Marketplace, the Verrado project will also implement the sip and stroll program, which allows adults over 21 to walk around with alcoholic beverages in designated areas.
Construction is expected to start in the summer of 2024 on the retail project. Vestar has been working on pre-development work on Verrado Marketplace since early 2022. After they put together their plan, design and concept, their team spent most of 2023 securing tenants. Through the anchor retailers, the shopping center is about 80% of space that is either leased or in negotiations to be leased.
Verrado Marketplace is expected to generate more than $50 million in tax revenue to the city of Buckeye over 10 years as well as 1,500 permanent jobs. It’s expected to have a $1.8 billion economic output over 10 years, according to Vestar.
This summer, the city of Buckeye approved a development agreement with Vestar to reimburse the developer up to $3.7 million for a police substation, a public event plaza and other infrastructure, which will be paid through construction sales tax and permit fees.
Vestar also plans to implement energy-efficient building materials, solar power, water harvesting, white “cool” roofs, artificial turf, LED lighting, onsite recycling and composting, drip system landscaping and electric vehicle charging stations at the marketplace.
Vestar’s Verrado Marketplace will be part of DMB Associates’ 8,800-acre master-planned community, Verrado, which has more than 6,000 homes with an additional 8,000 planned in Buckeye.
UPDATE:
This list was found on a construction planning site for Verrado Marketplace, but not verified by Vestar or DMB:
Verrado Marketplace Retailers
Read previous Verrado Marketplace stories:
Sneak peak of Verrado Marketplace opening in 2025
Verrado Marketplace Site Plan Revealed
Verrado Marketplace Construction to Begin
Verrado Marketplace
Verrado Marketplace