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For more than a decade, the northwest corner of Baseline and Kyrene Roads in Tempe was an empty eyesore in the middle of this otherwise bustling commercial and residential corridor. Originally zoned for a mobile home park, and also classified as “Archeologically Sensitive” by the Tempe Historic Preservation Commission due to its location within the boundaries of Los Hornos, an ancient Hohokam site, many developers had inquired about the 1.5-acres, but no one was willing to tackle such a problematic site. Until Scott Whittington and his Scottsdale-based Avalon Development team acquired the property in August 2018, and set out to convince the City, the Historic Preservation Commission, and most important, the neighboring community that they could transform this defacto dumping ground into a point of pride.
Avalon was founded more than two decades ago as a regional commercial real estate development firm that specializes in high-quality retail, office and manufacturing projects for high-profile clients such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, AutoZone, Bridgestone, Raising Cane’s, Big O Tires, Little Caesars and the aforementioned Starbucks. As a proudly locally-owned firm, Whittington knew that a neighborhood-focused development cannot succeed without buy-in from the surrounding community.
