The Casa Grande Dispatch is reporting AZ Sourcing President and Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Schoenfelder resigned last week. AZ Sourcing is the parent company of the PhoenixMart global trade project in Casa Grande.

A grading permit was issued last month for the 1.5 million-square-foot project, and officials expect the exterior of the main building could be completed in late 2015. PhoenixMart comprises about a quarter of a square mile that will become the North American Logistics, Trade and eCommerce City (NALTEC) as the entire AZ Sourcing facility fully develops.

More than 1,700 manufacturers and businesses are expected to have showrooms in NALTEC.

A spokesman said Schoenfelder left to pursue other opportunities. Casa Grande Deputy City Manager Larry Raines told the Dispatch the resignation would not affect the timing of the project, which already has experienced delays since its inception three years ago.

Schoenfelder is the second high-level departure for the logistics and trade center in a little over a year. CRE development veteran Steve Betts, now president of Chanen Construction, was with PhoenixMart for a short stint as CEO from June to September 2013.

Schoenfelder took over for Steve Betts who resigned in 2013.

The now-under construction international trade showcase in Casa Grande is considering its options to replace the leader of the fledgling project near Interstate 10 on Florence Highway. The Dispatch says PhoenixMart Chief Operating Office Doug Singer will fill in for Schoenfelder until a replacement is named.

The Casa Grande Dispatch is reporting tractors and grading equipment have started rolling at the 585-acre PhoenixMart site along Florence Boulevard near its intersection with Toltec Buttes Road in Casa Grande.

The city issued a grading permit to PhoenixMart last week to begin landscaping and sign installation work on 7 acres that eventually will be the entryway into the development.

A master-planned community is planned for the 585-acre site. Its centerpiece is to be the PhoenixMart building, a 1.7-million-square-foot manufacturer sourcing center with showroom space for 1,740 tenants.

Although developers are awaiting the final approvals from the city to begin work on the sourcing center, a temporary use permit was approved in March to allow the company to install signs and landscaping. Plans call for monument-style concrete wall signs and landscaping along the edge of Florence Boulevard.

Company officials have said work on the sourcing center could begin late this summer, with an anticipated opening sometime next year.

“All is still on schedule,” PhoenixMart spokesman Patrick Welch said.

PhoenixMart follows a collective marketing strategy similar to developments in Yiwu, China, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where manufacturers gather in one central location to sell goods. Developers have said the project could bring nearly 9,000 jobs to Pinal County.

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The Casa Grande Dispatch  is reporting that little by little, the pieces of PhoenixMart could soon start be falling into place.

The Casa Grande Board of Adjustment on Tuesday approved a temporary use permit that allows PhoenixMart developers to install signs and landscaping on 7 acres of the proposed gateway into the sourcing center.

Once work on the entryway begins, other projects will follow, PhoenixMart Project Manager Brad Holyoak told the Board of Adjustment members. “Our goal is that work will continuously be happening on site until the project is complete next year,” he said.

While a building permit application will not be submitted to the city until May, Holyoak said developers are eager to begin smaller projects. Developing the entryway first made sense as it pinpoints the site location, he said.

“We are excited to show progress, to identify where our site is and make it attractive to the public and investors,” Holyoak said.

The monument signs are a pair of L-shaped concrete walls about 10 feet tall and 60 feet wide with the PhoenixMart logo and lettering. They will be set back about 120 feet from the edge of Florence Boulevard, leaving the developers plenty of room to negotiate with the Arizona Department of Transportation regarding the right of way and road improvements.

The company is awaiting ADOT’s approval on its traffic impact analysis.

Developers believe the 120-foot setback provides enough room to build turning lanes, he said. “If it’s not enough, the risk is on us and we’ll adjust our site plan to conform,” Holyoak said.

PhoenixMart developers plan other improvements to Florence Boulevard near the site, including curbing and landscaping, but Holyoak said a sidewalk is not planned.

“ADOT has told us that their standard is to not provide a walkway on the side of their highway,” he said.

The temporary use permit approved Tuesday allows the signs and landscaping to remain in place for a year.

It can be renewed administratively for another year, but for the monument signs and trees to remain in place permanently, comprehensive sign and landscaping plans need approval by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Should the commission reject the development’s sign and landscape plan, the monuments and plants would be removed or altered to conform to requirements.

PhoenixMart is expected to open next year with space for 1,740 tenants to establish wholesale showrooms. Developers have said PhoenixMart could bring nearly 9,000 jobs to Pinal County.

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