Red Hawk
JUST WIN!
Glendale's sports facilities are serving as the catalyst for a new breed of development: a retail and entertainment village rising from virtually untouched suburban land.
Westgate City Center, anchored by Jobing.com Arena and University of Phoenix Stadium, will bring 6.5 million square feet of shops, restaurants, offices, movie theaters and residential units to a Glendale plot once dominated by cotton fields.
The first 500,000 square feet of the $1 billion project will be unveiled Friday, though just a handful of businesses will be open.
By building on agricultural fields, developers and cities do not have to bother with obstacles that often accompany older, often contaminated urban sites, said John Shreve, a principal with Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK Sport, which worked on the design of both the Glendale hockey arena and nearby football stadium.
"You're not getting into the problem of acquiring property from lots of different property owners," Shreve said. "And with a lot of sites in urban areas, you're having to contend with existing environmental issues."
Pairing sports venues and retail centers in outlying areas has been done before. Twelve miles west of downtown Kansas City, Kan., developers built the 400-acre Village West project around a minor league ballpark and the Kansas Speedway, home of NASCAR races.
Just this week, the Oakland A's said they would build a new ballpark on a vacant 143-acre site in the Oakland suburb of Fremont, about 20 miles south of their home at McAfee Coliseum.
But Westgate looks to exceed those projects in both size and scope.
The half-square-mile development is combining retail, residential, commercial office and other uses in an effort to create a pedestrian village that will remain vibrant around the clock.
When completed over the next seven to 10 years, Westgate will boast five hotels, including a 90,000-square-foot conference center, 25 restaurants, 2,000 residential units, and 4 million square feet of shops and office space.
On Friday, visitors will be able to catch a movie at Westgate's 20-screen AMC cineplex, crane their necks at the 30-plus billboard ads above and be hypnotized by the $5 million Bellagio-style water fountain.
"Westgate has raised the entertainment bar to a new level," said Steve Ellman, chairman and chief executive of the Ellman Cos., the center's developer. "Westgate will truly be a crown jewel in the Valley real estate market."
Westgate City Center, anchored by Jobing.com Arena and University of Phoenix Stadium, will bring 6.5 million square feet of shops, restaurants, offices, movie theaters and residential units to a Glendale plot once dominated by cotton fields.
The first 500,000 square feet of the $1 billion project will be unveiled Friday, though just a handful of businesses will be open.
By building on agricultural fields, developers and cities do not have to bother with obstacles that often accompany older, often contaminated urban sites, said John Shreve, a principal with Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK Sport, which worked on the design of both the Glendale hockey arena and nearby football stadium.
"You're not getting into the problem of acquiring property from lots of different property owners," Shreve said. "And with a lot of sites in urban areas, you're having to contend with existing environmental issues."
Pairing sports venues and retail centers in outlying areas has been done before. Twelve miles west of downtown Kansas City, Kan., developers built the 400-acre Village West project around a minor league ballpark and the Kansas Speedway, home of NASCAR races.
Just this week, the Oakland A's said they would build a new ballpark on a vacant 143-acre site in the Oakland suburb of Fremont, about 20 miles south of their home at McAfee Coliseum.
But Westgate looks to exceed those projects in both size and scope.
The half-square-mile development is combining retail, residential, commercial office and other uses in an effort to create a pedestrian village that will remain vibrant around the clock.
When completed over the next seven to 10 years, Westgate will boast five hotels, including a 90,000-square-foot conference center, 25 restaurants, 2,000 residential units, and 4 million square feet of shops and office space.
On Friday, visitors will be able to catch a movie at Westgate's 20-screen AMC cineplex, crane their necks at the 30-plus billboard ads above and be hypnotized by the $5 million Bellagio-style water fountain.
"Westgate has raised the entertainment bar to a new level," said Steve Ellman, chairman and chief executive of the Ellman Cos., the center's developer. "Westgate will truly be a crown jewel in the Valley real estate market."
