By Jackee Coe | The Republic | azcentral.com
Two freshly painted and renovated shopping plazas in downtown Peoria stand in stark contrast to two others nearby that struggle to find tenants.
A church and a few businesses cling together and hope for revival in the otherwise empty Peoria Town Center, near 83rd and Peoria avenues. No anchor tenant exists and a “store closing” banner hangs outside a Blockbuster Video store.
Across the way, boarded-up windows, cracked asphalt and weeds have largely overtaken Adobe Plaza, which once attracted shoppers to a Smitty’s grocery store and a restaurant near Grand and 84th avenues.
The strip malls have seen owners and tenants come and go over the years.
