We all know Arcadia, Roosevelt Row, Tempe’s Mill Avenue and Old Town Scottsdale have been hot spots for real estate from infill and apartments to offices and restaurants.

Our panel of executives and industry experts at our Sept. 1 commercial real estate round table offered some expected and unexpected submarkets that could be the next big thing, as did Valley mayors at another Sept. 9 forum hosted by Valley Partnership.

The key, according to Lorraine Bergman, president and CEO of Tempe-based Caliente Construction, is that the trend toward downtown living continues, even in historically suburban-oriented Phoenix.

“Everybody wants to have that community, their own little hood, where they can work, play, eat,” said Bergman. “They don’t want to have to go very far.”

That could spread success of downtown Phoenix and Roosevelt Row to the Warehouse District and other areas of central Phoenix.

South Scottsdale is benefiting from being between Old Town and Arizona State University’s main campus in Tempe.

Areas between the Biltmore and Arcadia sections of Phoenix also feature new infill and developments. Phoenix’s 44th Street corridor is seeing low office vacancies and planned projects, as well.

Mesa Mayor John Giles said he hopes a planned ASU center and Tempe’s tight vacancy rates will spur his city’s Main Street area.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton at a Sept. 9 forum said he hopes the planned Metro light rail extension will help the Warehouse District and south Phoenix.

Gilbert has been riding a wave of high incomes that allowed developers to draw in restaurants, new developments and employers. But there also are some suburban markets hit hard by the recession starting to recover, said Jordan Rose, managing partner of Phoenix-based Rose Law Group.

A recent upswing in home purchases has occurred in some unlikely markets, such as south Buckeye, south Goodyear and Avondale, Rose said.

“Those markets have just surged,” she said.

Rose said some home buyers who filed foreclosures during the downturn now are buying homes again.

The challenge is whether the jobs and commercial developments can follow housing and whether more urban-

minded consumers will again buy into the suburbs.

Dianne Brossart, president and CEO of the Arizona Forward economic development group, also sees growth and expects more in Queen Creek.

Originally posted on Phoenix Business Journal on September 25, 2016


The New Markets

We asked those attending our commercial real estate roundtable where the next big markets will be in the Valley. Here’s what they had to say:

Hot downtown and urban areas:

  • Mesa’s Main Street
  • Phoenix’s Warehouse District
  • East Phoenix — 44th Street
  • South Scottsdale
  • South Phoenix

Hot suburbs:

  • Gilbert
  • Queen Creek
  • Goodyear
  • Avondale
  • Pinal County