CASA GRANDE, AZ (March 27, 2026) — Promenade at Casa Grande is gaining fresh momentum as Target plans to reopen a previously vacant 137,000-square-foot box, joining a broader wave of leasing, hotel construction, residential development, and nearby redevelopment that continues to reshape one of Casa Grande’s most visible commercial corridors.

Chris Campbell of Lamar Companies, the listing broker, adds a major new chapter to the story unfolding around Promenade at Casa Grande, the nearly 485,000-square-foot regional power center at 1005 N. Promenade Parkway. Long recognized as the dominant retail hub between metro Phoenix and metro Tucson, the center has served as a key commercial anchor in Casa Grande and is now benefiting from renewed retailer interest, adjacent housing growth and ongoing investment throughout the trade area.

According to the broker, Target is now under construction and slated to reopen in May 2026 in its former approximately 137,000-square-foot space, a notable move for a retailer returning to a box it had previously closed. The broker also reports that HomeGoods and Ashley Furniture have opened at the center and continue to perform well, while Burlington, Five Below and Tillys all signed leases in 2024. Burlington leased 20,469 square feet, Five Below took 10,394 square feet and Tillys leased 7,019 square feet. The broker said Burlington posted a strong grand opening, alongside Five Below, Tillys, and Cold Stone Creamery.

The renewed activity underscores how the Promenade is evolving from a traditional regional shopping destination into a broader mixed-use growth node tied to Casa Grande’s expanding population and employment base. The center’s location near Interstate 10 and Florence Boulevard places it at the center of one of Pinal County’s most active development corridors, where retail, housing, hospitality, and adaptive reuse projects are beginning to reinforce one another.

Additional momentum is also building around the property. Two adjacent pads were sold to Applebee’s, according to the broker, and the restaurant has received site plan approval and is now in the city’s permitting process, with construction expected to start in 2025. A four-story, 150-room Fairfield by Marriott is also under construction on site and is expected to be completed by February 2026. Once open, the hotel is projected by the broker to bring approximately 85,000 guests annually to the center. Barro’s Pizza has also opened in the freestanding former Mimi’s Cafe building fronting Florence Boulevard.

Across the street, redevelopment of the former Sam’s Club property adds another layer to the corridor’s transformation. Mullin 360 Automotive Group redeveloped the site into what has been described as Arizona’s largest indoor auto showroom, and the broker said Carvana has since bought into the redevelopment. That project turned a long-vacant big-box property into an active new use, reflecting the broader repositioning now underway in the Casa Grande market.

Residential growth around the Promenade is also helping drive the story. The broker said Modus Companies has received permits to build a 209-unit build-to-rent home development on land immediately east of Promenade at Casa Grande, while a 336-unit multifamily project to the north is in for permits. Earlier plans tied to the area had already pointed to large-scale residential construction intended to meet housing demand driven by Casa Grande’s recent wave of job-creating industrial investment.

That housing story has been central to the corridor’s appeal. The broker noted that single-family permits in the trade area climbed from 117 in 2017 to 1,539 in 2021, while more than 3,000 multifamily units have since been constructed and opened, even as housing starts in 2024 and 2025 slowed amid higher interest rates. Casa Grande was also cited as the seventh-fastest-growing city in the United States in 2021 based on percentage growth. While Tucson remains far larger in total population, Casa Grande is currently growing at a much faster pace, with Arizona’s 2025 estimates showing annual growth of 5.3 percent for Casa Grande versus 0.1 percent for Tucson.

At the same time, Casa Grande’s position within Arizona’s industrial expansion continues to influence the retail outlook. The broker said Lucid, Nikola and Kohler were expected to bring more than 6,400 jobs to Casa Grande, while Lucid’s purchase of the bankrupt Nikola plant added further to its footprint in Pinal County. Farther east, Post Ranch, a 2,135-unit single-family and multifamily development, was recently approved along Florence Boulevard, adding another major residential growth component near Interstate 10 and the Promenade area.

Taken together, the projects show how the corridor around Promenade at Casa Grande is being reshaped by more than retail leasing alone. It is now a broader growth district where retailer reinvestment, hotel construction, residential density and redevelopment of legacy big-box properties are moving in the same direction.

Even with the recent activity, leasing and development opportunities remain at the center. Current availabilities include a 7,200-square-foot divisible suite between JCPenney and Dillard’s, a 2,000-square-foot vanilla shell space adjacent to Target, a 3,280-square-foot suite near Target, additional entertainment district suites and multiple pads available for purchase, ground lease or build-to-suit.

For more information, Chris Campbell can be reached at 877.307.4468.

TUCSON, AZ (March 27, 2026) — Arizona Public Media has begun moving staff and broadcast operations into its new 61,500-square-foot Paul and Alice Baker Center for Public Media at UA Tech Park at The Bridges, marking a major milestone for one of Southern Arizona’s most important public-serving media institutions. AZPM said on March 2 that the move was underway as part of a nine-week transition from its longtime home in the basement and sub-basement of the University of Arizona’s Modern Languages Building.

For Tucson, the move represents more than a routine relocation. The Baker Center has been positioned as a long-term investment in public media infrastructure, giving AZPM a purpose-built home with upgraded production and broadcast technology, expanded community engagement space, and new capacity for original local programming. The building is located within the Bridges district near South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street.

AZPM reached substantial completion of the $65 million project in October 2025, when it announced construction was finalized and crews were installing furniture, technology, and broadcast equipment. In its 2025 annual report, the organization said the 100 percent donor-funded facility was complete and that contractors were on-site commissioning systems ahead of a full opening in spring 2026.

The phased move-in now underway is the clearest sign yet that the building is starting to operate as AZPM’s new home. According to the March update, Classical 90.5 was the first service scheduled to broadcast from the Baker Center, with other radio and television services to follow as the transition continues. AZPM has described the facility as a hub not only for broadcasting, but also for education, storytelling, community events, and public connection.

Ground was broken for the Baker Center in January 2024, and the project has moved steadily from a donor-backed vision to a functioning media facility with a much greater public presence than AZPM’s former campus location allowed. At a time when many media organizations across the country are retrenching, Tucson is seeing the launch of a new public media center designed to serve audiences, students, and the broader community for decades to come.

While AZPM has not yet announced that the entire move is complete, the phased relocation now underway marks the operational start of the Paul and Alice Baker Center and a significant step forward for Tucson’s civic, cultural, and communications landscape.

Real Estate Daily News previously reported on the project’s early construction progress in July 2024 and on a major roof-installation milestone in March 2025. The latest development is that Arizona Public Media has now begun its phased move into the new Baker Center.

TUCSON, AZ (March 26, 2026) — Pima County supervisors have now decided how to use more than $20.8 million in net proceeds generated by the controversial Project Blue land sale, redirecting the money into a mix of economic development, neighborhood investment, environmental health, capital improvements, public records response, and utility assistance programs. The land sale tied to Beale Infrastructure’s proposed data center project closed on Dec. 24, 2025, and delivered a net deposit of $20,855,849 to the County.

The spending plan evolved over several weeks. County Administrator Jan Lesher first presented a framework to the Board on March 3, then returned with a revised proposal for the March 24 meeting after receiving feedback from supervisors. In the updated version, the County removed the earlier categories for “Special Programs and Projects” and “Contingency” and instead shifted that $2.5 million into three new buckets: public records request enhancements, utility assistance and weatherization, and code enforcement expansion.

Under the revised allocation, the largest share — $10.75 million — is earmarked for capital improvement projects. Those include Arthur Pack field lights, Presidio elevator modernization, countywide solar projects, the Canoa Ranch campground, and middle-mile field inspection, cultural monitoring, and historic preservation work. Another $3.12 million is set aside for economic development, while $2 million will go toward neighborhood reinvestment efforts. The County also designated $1 million each for environmental health initiatives and workforce development, along with $485,849 for intergovernmental relations.

The new additions to the final proposal reflect issues that have drawn growing public attention. The County proposes $1.017 million for public records request improvements, including a new request management system, implementation costs, and added staffing in the Clerk’s Office. Another $1.178 million is slated for expanded utility assistance and weatherization programs, while $305,000 would fund a new code enforcement officer and related startup costs for three years.

The decision closes one chapter in the long-running debate over Project Blue, the proposed data center campus southeast of Tucson that has generated months of public controversy over water use, energy demand, transparency, and land-use policy. Although opponents urged County leaders to halt the deal, Pima County closed on the land sale in December after the buyer waived certain conditions and proceeded with the acquisition. The project is moving forward on the county-owned site off South Houghton Road, north of the fairgrounds.

The focus has now turned from the land sale itself to the public benefits that can flow from it. Under the County’s spending plan, the proceeds will fund tangible community investments, from infrastructure improvements and environmental health initiatives to neighborhood reinvestment and utility assistance for residents across Pima County.

In practical terms, the allocation plan makes clear that Pima County intends to convert a politically difficult land sale into a broader countywide investment package. Whether that softens opposition to Project Blue remains to be seen. But the board’s action signals that, at least from the County’s standpoint, the proceeds are no longer being treated as one-time windfall money. They are positioned as a tool to fund visible public projects, improve government responsiveness, and support economic and neighborhood priorities across Pima County.

See the memo to Pima County Supervisors with recommended use of the proceeds here: Recommended-Use-Project-Blue-Land-Sales-Proceeds