Talks with a regional health-care facility
Vistancia Land Holdings, LLC, and city leaders are in preliminary talks with a regional health-care facility, a sports/entertainment complex and a private college or university about moving into the community's commercial area, said Mark Hammons, vice president and general manager of the development group.
"We're talking about the evolution of Vistancia's commercial core," said Hammons, who noted that about 93 percent of Peoria residents commute out of the city. "What we need here in the West Valley is jobs.
If the deals work out, the new employers could be signed by winter or spring of 2015, with construction starting by 2016, Hammons said. He did not disclose the companies or number of potential employees, but even a small regional medical center, such as Arrowhead Community Hospital, employs close to 1,000 people.
Hammons outlined his plans for commercial growth at a breakfast in Vistancia's exclusive Blackstone neighborhood Sept. 10. Land broker Nate Nathan, president of Scottsdale-based Nathan & Associates, Inc., spoke to about 50 real-estate agents and brokers.
The west side of metro Phoenix has some of the last open plots of raw dirt in the region — and even that is going fast, Nathan said.
"There is sheer panic amongst the builders for lot inventory in 2017," Nathan said.