TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — All summer, drivers and families in Rita Ranch have slowly seen another big brand build a store at the Houghton Town Center.
Tucson's newest Home Depot location officially opened Monday. KGUN 9 got an exclusive first look inside the new store on Old Vail Road.
Local real estate experts said national companies are paying attention to the same growth trends: Businesses will succeed catering to the families moving to this part of town.
For Cory Cummings, the Home Depot Rita Ranch store manager, there's no time like now to start building relationships with contractors, and other companies on property and surrounding the shopping center.
"Their business is booming out here with all the growth, so it's going to be a huge win for us and them," Cummings said. As a Tucson native, Cummings also said Home Depot, with the new 140,000 sq. foot store, is tapping into home-grown labor talent.
"We're surrounded by four high schools here (on Old Vail Road)," he said. "We hired 140 associates," and he said many workers have plans to grow within the company. "People want to move up, people want to excel in their careers."
Bill Kelley, chief financial officer for Diamond Ventures Real Estate, said the deal to bring in Home Depot to Houghton Town Center makes sense when you look around the lot. Business, Kelley said, see potential that's being driven by contractors building more homes and families with children planting roots in Southern Arizona.
"The Vail School District (VUSD) is arguably one of the best in the state, and it's a huge draw to families out there in that region... People, when they buy new homes, they buy a lot of stuff at Home Depot," Kelley said. "We've really created the power center for southern Arizona."
Later in this conversation with Kelley and Shannon Murphy, Diamond Ventures' designated broker, we discussed the power of attraction big brand stores hold. Kelley said the firm recently sold 15 acres of land to a storage company based in Canada. "One of the reasons they located there," he said, "was specifically to be across the street from Home Depot."
Murphy said the store's opening is a milestone moment for the area, since Home Depot hadn't build a new store in Tucson since 2005.
Moving forward, Murphy and Kelley said their company will keep working to find new tenants offering different products and services.
"That in itself is, in our opinion... really validates the southeast trade area. That is really telling about the promise and the future of southeast Tucson," Murphy said.
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José Zozaya is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. Before arriving in southern Arizona, José worked in Omaha, Nebraska where he covered issues ranging from local, state and federal elections, to toxic chemical spills, and community programs impacting immigrant families. Share your story ideas and important issues with José by emailing jose.zozaya@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
