After eyeing the market for the past year, 85° C Bakery & Café has selected Chandler Ranch for its first location in Arizona in a strong show of support for NewQuest Properties’ major redevelopment in Maricopa County’s dynamic Price Corridor.
85° C Bakery & Café has 1,000 locations worldwide, including NewQuest projects in Dallas and Houston. The operator signed a long-term lease for 3,555 sf in Chandler Ranch after witnessing first-hand the strong attendance at 99 Ranch Market’s recent grand opening.
“85° C Bakery & Café knows the type of redevelopment we’re doing. The 99 Ranch opening was a shining example of the high demand in the Chandler market,” says Naoyuki Kondo, an associate with NewQuest Properties’ Asia-Pacific Retail team. The sweet shop will open in spring 2022.
Another NewQuest tenant in Texas, Somisomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki, also has jumped on board at Chandler Ranch. It will open in early 2022, backfilling 1,470 sf previously occupied by Tao Healing.
NewQuest’s Asia-Pacific Retail team is focused on assembling a destination mix of Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean and American restaurants and eclectic shopping experiences. Doors will open by year’s end at Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, Uncle Lee’s Kitchen, Meet Fresh and Ramen Hood.
“These are new-to-market brands, in many cases, that are well-known to people who’ve relocated or are visiting from California and Texas,” Kondo says.
Heather Nguyen, development partner of the specialized group, is partnering with Kondo on Chandler Ranch’s leasing. They have been targeting new-to-market internationally recognized brands for the 117,565-sf redevelopment.
“Chandler Ranch, like our centers in Dallas and Houston, lets consumers explore and experience the best of the best of international cuisines,” Nguyen says. “In the near future, we’re hoping we’ll have leases in hand with several new-to-Arizona retailers as well.”
Chandler boasts the largest Asian population in Arizona, making it a natural fit demographically for Houston-based NewQuest’s innovative development/redevelopment concept. Among the city’s accolades is a sixth-place ranking in the Top 10 most livable cities in the U.S.
Chandler Ranch is situated at the boulevard’s junction with North Dobson Road. Nearly 75,000 vehicles per day pass the center. The five-mile trade area boasts more than 303,000 residents with an average household income of $111,361 per year.
NewQuest’s redevelopment efforts have resulted in new facades, lighting, landscaping and a shaded outdoor gathering area. “The courtyard is the first thing you see when you enter the project from Chandler Boulevard,” Kondo says. “We’ve created an attractive outdoor dining area and gathering space for the community from previously under-utilized space.”
85° C Bakery & Café opened its first store in the U.S. in 2008 in Irvine, Calif. Today, it has 67 shops in five states. Randall Dawson of CCP Real Estate Advisors represented 85° C Bakery & Café in the Chandler lease.
NewQuest Properties, founded in 2001, is a privately owned, full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in development, land brokerage, leasing, tenant representation, investment sales and property management services. Headquartered in Houston, NewQuest owns a portfolio encompassing more than 100 retail and mixed-use projects exceeding $2.3 billion in value and provides leasing services for more than 12 million square feet of commercial space in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and throughout the U.S.
