After 15 years of waiting, Westcor, a subsidiary of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich Company, is finally about to start work on the Palisene, a proposed mixed-use project on the border of Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz. On April 30, the Arizona State Land Department sold a 99-year lease for the 112-acre site to Jaren Associates # 4, a consortium of four local developers made up of Westcor, WDP, Jaren Associates and the Landmark Land Company, for $32 million.
Although no plans have been finalized, Palisene will include some combination of residential, office, hospitality and retail components, says Scott Nelson, senior vice president of development with Westcor. Nelson estimates that the first phases of the project will be completed within the next three to five years, but he notes that the entire development might take several decades. “This is very much a long-term vision, we are looking at what's going to be there and how it can evolve over the next 20 years,” he says.
Palisene will be located in close proximity to another Macerich project, One Scottsdale, a 120-acre mixed-use development in the Scottsdale Road corridor that Macerich is undertaking in partnership with luxury community builder DMB Associates, Inc. The two projects will be similar and will target the high-income, high-growth demographics in the surrounding area, according to Nelson.