A Goodyear shopping center is adding new stores and restaurants, along with an apartment complex, this year, which the developer said will create an urban, walkable area in a suburban city.

Canyon Trails Towne Center, at Cotton Lane and Yuma Road in Goodyear, originally was planned as a 90-acre retail power center, said David Malin, president of Scottsdale Development Partners, the group overseeing the redevelopment of the center.

However, when the first phases opened in 2008, the Great Recession had taken hold and demand for new retail spaces was low. The shopping center changed hands a few times, and Malin, who had worked for the center’s developer, Phoenix-based Vestar, when it was built, was hired as a consultant for the redevelopment of the center in 2018.

The center is now owned by Santa Cruz Seaside Company and managed by Vestar. Malin's company, Scottsdale Development Partners, is leading the development of new buildings on the site.

So far, the redevelopment has added new big-box anchor space to the center and new retail buildings along what Malin calls the “main street” of the center, and some standalone retail pads.

Two new anchor stores, Michaels and Five Below, recently opened at Canyon Trails, and Ulta and Burlington are under construction, planned to open at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, respectively.

Starbucks, Freddy’s Steakburgers and Frozen Custard, Chipotle and Denny’s also recently opened, and Ono Hawaiian BBQ, O’Reilly Auto Parts, America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Baskin Robbins and Hello Sugar are opening this year or early next year.

Many of those businesses will be part of a new building that is under construction, with room for seven businesses, four of which have already been leased, Malin said. The company is in negotiation for two other spaces, with one space remaining. That space, Malin said, will be a full-service restaurant of some kind, with a large outdoor patio.

Apartments to begin opening this summer

Embrey Partners bought about 13 acres of the site to develop a 284-unit apartment complex to the northwest of the shopping center. The first residents of the apartment will begin moving in August and construction is expected to complete in December.

“There’s nothing in Goodyear that’s set up like this,” Malin said of the development including large-scale retail and residential on the same site. “We now have the synergy, the retail become an amenity to the residents.”

More retail buildings in the pipeline

When the development was first approved, the site was allowed to have eight multi-tenant retail buildings around the “main street” through the project, Malin said. Four of those buildings are already built, with the fifth one under construction.

Malin said the development team plans to apply for permits to develop the sixth retail building in the next 30 to 60 days after seeing how much demand there has been for space at the new buildings.

There is also room to add two more big-box anchor stores, Malin said, as well as three or four new standalone pads.

Reach the reporter at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @CorinaVanek

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Goodyear shopping center adding apartments, new retail buildings