Residents eagerly awaiting the arrival of a planned Fryโs store near the rapidly growing Gladden Farms area in Marana will have to wait for another grocer.
Kroger, Fryโs parent company, recently announced plans to scrap the planned store and will sell the 11-acre site on Tangerine and Lon Adams roads.
โAlthough this is not the outcome we have all been hoping for, the association and your board of directors believe that this news can result in a positive turn of events for the community,โ a note sent to area residents says. โRather than have a corporation continue to own the parcel but have no definitive plans or schedule for construction, the site can now be purchased by an entity that will move the project forward.โ
Last year, Kroger announced plans to cut back on new stores by 35 percent and focus on remodels and digital sales.
Competitors kept out
In the last 16 months there have been 421 new home permits issued in and around Gladden Farms, data from Bright Future Real Estate Research LLC shows.
There are six new home communities and three neighborhoods opening this year and in 2019, said housing analyst Ginger Kneup, owner of Bright Future.
Fryโs bought the Marana site in 2006 and started site improvements in 2007 that halted when the recession hit, said Dean Wingert, vice president of Crown West Land Group, which is working on developing the parcel.
โEver since Fryโs purchased their Gladden Farms site, the fact that they planted their flag at that location and could decide to build a store at any time has deterred other grocers from jumping into that trade area,โ he said. โJust the fact that a dominant grocer like Fryโs owns a really nice site and could move forward at any time has helped keep competition at bay. So itโs generally been โFryโs or nothingโ in the area.โ
New Fryโs projects are now mainly to replace older stores, such as the new store in Midvale Park that replaced one at Irvington Road and Interstate 19 and a planned store at Houghton Road and 22nd Street that will replace the Harrison Road store about a mile away.
โItโs frustrating with homebuilding now moving along at a good pace that Fryโs isnโt motivated to go forward at that location, but rather than continue to stand still theyโre now going to sell the property,โ Wingert said. โInstead of having a company continue to hold still, it would be better to have the site owned by a new entity that would move forward. Weโre looking forward to that.โ
While the growing rooftops in the Gladden Farms area call for a major grocer, changing shopper habits are influencing retailersโ decisions to invest.
โThereโs been a lot of national stories about changing shopping trends and the ability to shop online and have groceries delivered to your house within 24 hours or even on the same day,โ Wingert said. โIn general, retail development will follow the rooftops and the vast majority of retail development will follow the anchor stores.
โWhen the anchor store, or a couple of anchor stores, are ready to move forward, it provides the impetus for the overall shopping center to be developed, and all of the smaller shops, service providers and fast-food outlets follow along.โ
