Gladden Farms residents who've been waiting patiently for the chance to buy groceries or do any kind of shopping in their Marana neighborhood will have to wait some more.
Gladden Farms Marketplace, a 22-acre commercial center planned for the northeast corner of Tangerine Farms and Lon Adams roads, has been put on hold and likely won't open until at least October 2009, developer Dave Newquist said.
The center, which is expected to include a Fry's Marketplace, a Wells Fargo bank branch and a McDonald's, was originally scheduled to open this October.
But a combination of the housing slowdown and lingering uncertainty over the Federal Emergency Management Agency's attempt to shift the land that Gladden Farms occupies into a high-risk flood zone prompted Fry's to "revisit the housing growth in the area," Newquist said.
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Marana officials have been working with FEMA since last summer to keep a 10-square-mile areaof Marana from being designated as being in a flood zone, though no official decision on the area's designation is expected until later this year.
"It took them (Fry's) a couple of months to decide they needed to re-evaluate the site," said Newquist, whose Newquist Development co-owns the project along with Fry's and Wells Fargo. "They decided they needed to put it on hold at least one calendar year."
Kendra Doyel, director of public relations for Fry's, said she doesn't know if a specific timeline has been set for when construction will resume, but she added that Fry's does intend to go into Gladden Farms eventually.
"We're still very excited for that store," Doyel said. "It's not a black-and-white thing where we're waiting for a certain factor. We're just waiting for the market to turn around."
Newquist said Fry's bases its decision to open a new store on the number of homes and potential shoppers in an area.
Gladden Farms is zoned for 1,850 homes, 1,628 of which have been platted and approved by Marana. But according to Marana's most recent subdivision lot count, dated April 8, only 1,015 homes have been built, and ground has yet to be broken on the adjacent Gladden Farms II development, which would bring in an additional 2,141 homes.
News of the project delay has filtered through Gladden Farms, which is spread over 714 acres along the north side of the Santa Cruz River, since being noted in a homeowners association newsletter earlier this year.
The delay didn't come as much of a surprise to residents, who say they'll just have to continue driving to grocery stores in Continental Ranch or Dove Mountain, all of which are at least five miles away.
"I was looking forward to walking over there and not having to travel as far," said Craig McCormick, whose home is around the corner from where the Fry's would go.
Cathy Brown, who has lived in Gladden Farms for almost three years and spends about $800 a month on groceries, said she feels there are more than enough people living in the area now to warrant the Fry's and other shopping options.
"I bet everyone in here would go there," Brown said, adding that people living in the Red Rock Village development just north of Marana would likely frequent the stores as well.
Newquist said he expects Fry's to take another look at the project this fall, at which time a decision would likely be made on whether to resume construction on the site.
Newquist said the project could continue without Fry's being involved, but that isn't a viable option because Fry's is considered the main draw.
"We're all there because of the Fry's," Newquist said. "They're the reason all our shop tenants and pad tenants want to be there. Without them, we don't have a project."
