Rezoning set for Phoenix master-planned community, new hospital

Phoenix Business Journal, by Audrey Jensen

The remaining vacant land around Loop 202 in Phoenix is taking shape following another major approval from the city.

Phoenix City Council has given the green light for a nearly 300-acre master-planned development, called Gila Foothills, that could bring a new 50-acre resort, electric vehicle campus, a hospital and housing to the Laveen Village of Phoenix.

A proposal for Gila Foothills has been planned for multiple years and if built will span across a stretch of agricultural land along the Loop 202 just north of South Mountain.

City Council approved rezoning and a general plant amendment for the site at its May 15 meeting after months of negotiations between Laveen residents and the developers regarding the density of housing on the site.

Wendy Riddell, a founding partner and land and zoning attorney for Berry Riddell LLC, said Gila Foothills was initially met with “significant opposition” as far back as 2022.

“We have been hard at work,” she said during the May 15 meeting. “Several village hearings, enough to ultimately earn a unanimous recommendation of approval from the Laveen Village planning committee — those are not words I get to utter very often and certainly not ones I get to utter on a 300-acre PUD.”

Riddell said they earned unanimous village support by agreeing to at least 45 new or modified stipulations that were negotiated between Laveen Village leadership and the community. These included traffic solutions, reductions in heights, setbacks and buffer, sustainability and architectural standards and more.

The project team includes Enterprise Capital LLC, Gila and Salt River Development LLC, Butler Housing Co., Davis, Kimley-Horn and Berry Riddell LLC.

The overall development will include 1,200 housing units, but in order to exceed that amount, the developer is required to bring a Level 1 trauma hospital, restaurants and retail, senior housing and townhomes. These amenities and services would allow for an additional 1,000 units to be developed on site, which was previously zoned to allow for nearly 3,200 residential units overall.

The electric vehicle auto campus is expected to generate $52 million in annual tax revenue for the city, according to Riddell.

Riddell said Gila Foothills will also feature Laveen’s first trailhead into South Mountain Park, a fire station and mixed-use retail.

The completion of the Loop 202 extension in Laveen in west Phoenix has attracted a host of developers to buy up the remaining vacant sites around the freeway.

In addition to housing, health care and retail, the city of Phoenix has been working with developers to turn hundreds of acres along the Loop 202 into a major technology corridor for manufacturers, data centers and other industrial users.