Safeway, retail and restaurants part of $45 million Buckeye project

Article originally posted on AZ Central on July 1, 2026

A Safeway-anchored shopping center will begin construction early next year in Buckeye, bringing the first grocery store to the Festival Ranch community in the northwest Valley.

The development, called Festival Ranch Marketplace, will be built by Pederson Group, the developer of several other grocery-anchored shopping centers around the Valley. The site is located at the northeast corner of Canyon Springs Boulevard and Sun Valley Parkway, about 12 miles away from the nearest grocery store.

Pederson Group had attempted to develop the site as a grocery-anchored center in 2006, Jeff Manelis, president of Pederson Group, said. At the time, there was very little housing developed in the area, and retailers were not interested in going somewhere without an existing customer base.

“We knew the growth was going to come, we just didn’t know when,” Manelis said. Now, there are thousands of homes in communities nearby, including Sun City Festival, an age-restricted community, and Festival Foothills.

Pulte Group, the master developer of the 10,000-acre Festival Ranch project sold Pederson Group the site for $2.5 million in May, according to real estate database Vizzda. Pederson Group now plans to build a 114,000-square-foot shopping center on the site, along with about 12 retail spaces and three or four standalone pads, which could be quick-service restaurants or other uses like a bank or healthcare office, Manelis said.

Manelis said the company is in discussions with another mini anchor store but did not specify the company. He said the area needs almost any type of retail, like food service, hardware stores, healthcare and financial services.

“It is an underserved trade area,” Manelis said of the neighborhood. “These people have to drive 20 or 25 minutes to go to the grocery store.”

Construction on the $45 million project is expected to begin in early 2027, with stores opening near the end of the year.

“For years, one of the most common questions we’ve heard from Festival Ranch residents has been ‘When are we getting a grocery store?’ Today, we’re excited to finally share that answer,” Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn said in a statement. “The arrival of Safeway is a major milestone for this community, bringing convenient access to groceries while also attracting the services and amenities that help create a complete community and improve the quality of life for the residents who call this area home.”