Park Central Kicks Off Leasing Activity by Renewing Four Key Tenants

Park Central, the soon-to-be-revitalized mall in Central Phoenix, is kicking off leasing activity by renewing leases of four key tenants — Fired Pie, Thai Basil, Gainshare Inc. and Starbucks.

These renewals — which total more than 25,000 square feet in the midtown Phoenix project — indicate a strong interest in the project as external leasing efforts increase. More announcements on the development’s revitalization are set to be announced soon.

“We are thrilled to have such critical companies renew their Park Central leases as we prepare for the revitalization,” said Plaza Companies president and CEO Sharon Harper. “The support and excitement that surrounds these upcoming changes serve as a clear indicator that we are headed in the right direction.”

Peoria-based Plaza Companies, in conjunction with Tucson’s Holualoa Companies, recently announced they were teaming up to redevelop Park Central, which once held court as the city’s first official large-scale shopping mall. The 337,000 square foot property will be transformed into a dynamic mixed-use office and retail project that celebrates the property’s rich history and mid-century-modern design while creating innovative, high-tech office environments.

Fired Pie, a counter service pizza restaurant, has renewed its lease of a 2,500-square foot space in Park Central and Thai Basil, an Arizona-based Thai restaurant, renewed its lease of a 922-square foot space. The restaurants will serve as part of the diverse culinary offerings at Park Central, which will have as many as eight restaurants on site once revitalization and leasing are complete.

Starbucks Corporation, the global coffee chain, has also renewed its lease of a 1,882-square foot space.

Gainshare, Inc., a company that provides instructor-led classroom, online and on-demand video training to IT staff, has renewed its lease on a 20,000-square foot office space in the project.

“Since we began this revitalization effort, it was important to us to work proactively with our existing tenant base to make sure we kept as many of them as part of the project as possible,” said Stanton Shafer, Chief Operating Officer of Holualoa Companies, which is partnering with Plaza Companies on the redevelopment effort. “We are pleased to see that these tenants share the vision we have for the project’s future.”