Diversified Partners Secures 2 Retail Leasing Assignments in Phoenix

Diversified Partners has assumed leasing and brokerage duties for the under-development retail spaces at The Sydney and The Edge, two adjacent retail and mixed-use projects in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Locally based Palmer Development Group is developing the properties, which will include retail, entertainment and hospitality space.

The new assignment marks Diversified and Palmer’s third collaboration with development and leasing. In 2020, the companies worked together in similar roles at The Block at Pima Center, a 22-acre, 260,000-square-foot mixed-use district that includes medical office, retail, dining and hospitality spaces. This was Palmer’s first ever project.

The projects’ current states

The Sydney, which broke ground last year, is taking shape on 26 acres at the intersection of 90th St. and Loop 101, near the western edge of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Butler Design Group served as architect, while Haydon Building Corp. is providing general contracting services, according to ConnectCRE.

Slated to come online in 2026, the $80 million development will include more than 122,000 square feet of retail space, in addition to an 180-key Hard Rock hotel. The campus will offer a mix of music and sporting venues, combined with traditional sit-down restaurants.

Among its already secured tenants is The Rustic, a chain of live-music focused bars and restaurants, which will add its first location outside of Texas to the property. Pickle & Social, an event space that includes a restaurant, bar, live entertainment space and pickleball courts, is also set to open its second location at the development.

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The Edge shopping center, located across Loop 101, has finished construction and will officially open later this year. The ten-building, 212,000-square-foot property already features some currently operating spaces, which include Little Fig, Cafe Rio, Thai Chili, Back Rock Coffee and Dirty Dough.

The properties’ sites are roughly 13 miles to the northeast of downtown Phoenix between Scottsdale Ranch and McCormick Ranch, two upscale master-planned communities. The Block at Prima Center, in addition to an array of sports, hospitality and office complexes, lines the southern bend of Loop 101.

The Valley of the Sun heats up

Driven by consistently strong population and job growth, Phoenix has retained may positive retail fundamentals this year, so far. A first quarter 2024 report from Avison Young clocks the city’s vacancy rate at 5.2 percent, just 30 basis points away from its historic low at the end of 2023.

Asking rents for all asset classes are on the upswing, with lifestyle centers, power centers and community centers seeing rates near or above $25 per square foot. The report shows that fast food offerings, superstores and shopping centers are the most popular types of properties, recording north of 30 million, 20 million and 15 million monthly visits respectively.

Another large retail development currently underway in the Phoenix market is Sunbelt Investment Holdings’ 410,000-square-foot Buckeye Commons. The property broke ground in March, and is slated to encompass 18 buildings across 64 acres.

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