• New Surprise downtown project
• El Mirage lands multimillion-dollar investment
• Faith Arena selected for Home Show
• Az's Largest Business Advocacy Groups
• 2700 more new homes slated
• I-10 Project nears completion
• Chicken N Pickle / Salad & Go

• Scottsdale-based SimonCRE has jumped on board with Phoenix-based Carefree Partners to develop a portion of the Surprise City Center in the West Valley.

• The companies have formed a joint venture to develop an initial 70,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space with plans to develop more in the future including office buildings with ground-floor retail, apartments, parking, a family entertainment center, and more on about 30 to 40 acres in the city's growing downtown area.

• The first phase of the joint venture's project has secured several leases with some restaurant concepts that are also new to the area including:

• A project that is expected to be valued at $1.5 billion at completion, generating around 5,000 jobs and bringing 10 million square feet of warehousing and distribution space to El Mirage, broke ground recently.

• LogistiCenter at Copperwing, as the industrial park was named, is located at West Olive Avenue and North Dysart Road on a 961-acre site. The site has easy access to the Northern Parkway Expressway and Loops 303 and 101.

• The developer Dermody Properties' initial investment will be roughly $100 million. They will have Phase I of the project, which includes the construction of two buildings totaling 566,602 square feet, by next spring. The project's full 10 million square feet completion is estimated to be a 10-year build-out that can be accelerated or slowed down depending on the economy.

• The upcoming Home & Health Show will be hosted by Ottawa Univeristy in the Faith Area in Surprise on July 29.

• The event is one of nine shows planned in the NW Valley. The arena was selected because of its location in the center of the city and it offers over 30,000 sq. ft of exhibit space.

• The show targets homeowners and health enthusiasts! Admission is free and attendees can find the latest home improvement and outdoor living products to health and wellness solutions.

• The shows are community-building events and are designed to connect residents with businesses. The show will feature live music, and vendor giveaways, and provide residents the opportunity to connect with almost 100 vendors.

• The Business Journal recently listed the most prominent business advocacy groups in the Valley, and the Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce was ranked # 26. Also on the list were the Better Business Bureau (#1), NFIB (#2), and the Arizona Small Business Association (#3.) 

• Raoul Sada, president, and CEO of the Surprise Regional Chamber said, "Our success as a lobbying group is because we are able to harness the power of the unified voice of the business community by working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, and the West Valley Chamber of Commerce Alliance. We can rally resources and mobilize around common issues giving our Chamber a louder voice at all levels of government."  

• Coeur D'alene, Idaho-based KORE Power Inc. is expected to receive an $850 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy for its new battery factory in the Buckeye.

• The battery cell developer announced Friday that it had received a conditional commitment for the loan through the department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program, which provides loans for eligible vehicle and qualifying components manufacturing.

• Construction of the facility will bring 700 jobs and is being led by Yates Construction.

• KOREPlex is expected to start production by the end of 2024 or early 2025 and could eventually expand to 2 million square feet and 18 gigawatt-hours annually as demand for product increases.

• Three national homebuilders are working their way through planning and zoning to add 2,700 more homes in Surprise. Last summer, they chipped in to pay $111.7 million for an 836-acre parcel of vacant land at the Asante master-planned community near 163rd Avenue and Asante Boulevard, according to Tempe-based Vizzda LLC real estate database.

• Now they have begun proposing the first crop of final plats to Surprise, according to Vizzda.

• The land is just northeast of Lennar's existing Asante master-planned community that will hold more than 14,000 homes upon completion.

• Gunderson said model home construction should begin in mid-2024, with sales operations starting later that year. Right now, the ground is being broken to begin grading the land in preparation for construction.

• Interstate 10 is now three lanes in each direction over eight miles between Verrado Way and State Route 85 in Buckeye, the Arizona Department of Transportation has announced.

• West Valley drivers have more room to maneuver as an $82 million Interstate 10 widening project nears the finish line.

• Valley-based healthy drive-thru restaurant chain Salad and Go has set opening dates for two new Phoenix-area locations this summer, the company announced today.

• This month, Salad and Go will open its third location in Surprise at 15437 W Cactus Road. The company is set to open a location in Laveen at 3505 W. Baseline Road on July 9. So far, in 2023, Salad and Go has opened more than 20 locations, and the company has plans to open 30 more by the end of the year.

• A new restaurant, Chicken N Pickle, is coming to Glendale and will be located near State Farm Stadium in the Westgate Entertainment District. The Westgate district is considered a major regional tourism asset for the West Valley.

• The location is scheduled to open on July 18. It will feature an indoor and outdoor entertainment complex, including a casual, chef-driven restaurant and sports bar with pickleball courts and various yard games.