After three years, millions of dollars and a whole bunch of new tenants, John Corritore is declaring victory with his redevelopment of the Shops Gainey Village in Scottsdale.
When Corritore, founder and president of Corritore Co., took over the development in 2015, he said it had a 30 percent vacancy rate. Even on Saturdays during peak season, the parking lot was rarely more than half full.
“It was a sleepy center that had a hard time keeping its tenants,” Corritore said.
After $15 million in enhancements, the development is close to 100 percent leased with tenants with its new anchor, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) opening its latest location next week. Corritore said he is in negotiations with companies for the few remaining vacant spaces in the center.
Landing Sprouts was a huge boon for Corritore and helped him create a center he believes changes how the market might look at grocery-anchored shopping projects.
“Show me another grocery-anchored center with this tenant mix at this size,” Corritore said. “We’ve raised the bar at the Shops Gainey Village to a level that this market has never seen.”
Finding the right mix of tenants is a huge deal for Corritore, who said he replaced 21 of the 38 tenants at the Shops during the redevelopment. That means the Corritore Co. leased 80,000 of the total 140,000 square feet available at the center.
Before Corritore started work on the center, it did not have a grocery anchor. Sprouts is moving into a space once occupied by Scottsdale Jean Co.
Today, the Shops Gainey Village has 12 restaurants, 12 clothing stores or boutiques, a jeweler and a handful of health and beauty shops as well as the Sprouts. Corritore said it is more than just filling the spaces, but getting tenants that complement each other. He said he is working on signing a new farm-to-table restaurant he feels will share customers with Sprouts.
