VAIL, Ariz. — Vail has a major shopping center under construction in anticipation of the thousands of new homes that will be built.
On the corner of East Colossal Cave Road and Mary Ann Cleveland Way is a new plaza being built called the Mercado del Lago shopping center. Pima County Development Services say this is a direct result of new homes being built.
"Safeway is the anchor store, but there is a lot of other development planned. We won't know exactly what retail will be moving into that area until they come to us for probably permits to build out the space," said Carla Blackwell, the director of development services.
But what we do know is the area will have a Chase Bank and space for several restaurants.
Vail has a number of master plan communities underway in the Camino Loma Alta corridor. One of the larger subdivisions, to the north of the shopping center, could soon build up to 3,000 new homes.
"As there are more homes added to the area, that will increase the demand for commercial stores in the area," said Blackwell.
Blackwell said its a long process to get from planning to building. In Vail's case, its taken about 30 to 40 years.
"A lot of the development has been planned for actually decades out there. So what we're seeing is the fruition of plans and re-zonings that were done in the 80s and 90s," said Blackwell.
The Mercado del Lago shopping center is set to have about 20 businesses and will complete building in phases.
