Year: 2019
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Client: Kitchell Development
Type: Grocery-Anchored Neighborhood Retail Center
Size: 67,588 SF Retail on 9.5 Acres
Status: Completed and operational
Role: James Easton, AIA, NCARB, Project Architect – Conceptual Design and Development
Firm: Butler Design Group, Architect of Record

Mountain Vista Marketplace

Mountain Vista Marketplace is a grocery-anchored neighborhood retail center in Mesa, Arizona, developed by Kitchell Development Company at the southwest corner of Southern Avenue and Signal Butte Road. Anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market, the 67,588-square-foot center was conceived as the first phase of a larger commercial development serving both the surrounding neighborhoods and the growing eastern Mesa market.

The architectural work was closely tied to the entitlement and design-review process. The project faced substantial scrutiny from the neighboring residential community and homeowners association, making the relationship between the commercial center and its surroundings an important part of the design problem. Building placement, service areas, circulation, landscaping, screening, and views from adjoining properties all became part of the architectural response.

Particular attention was given to the rear of the center, where extensive landscape buffering and tree planting were used to soften the commercial edge and create separation from the neighboring residential community. Rather than treating these requirements as secondary site issues, they were incorporated into the overall planning and entitlement strategy.

The elevation studies were developed as communication tools as much as architectural drawings. They established a clear hierarchy for the Sprouts anchor, organized the smaller tenant storefronts around a consistent architectural vocabulary, and gave the developer, city reviewers, and surrounding community a reliable picture of what the completed center would become. The drawings allowed materials, scale, signage, storefront rhythm, landscape, and pedestrian activity to be understood well before construction.

That process mattered. The completed project closely follows the approved architectural intent, demonstrating the value of drawings that communicate clearly enough to survive the transition from entitlement through construction documents and into the field.

Mountain Vista Marketplace reflects an important part of commercial architectural practice: designing the building is only one part of getting a project built. Successful retail development also requires navigating zoning, design review, neighborhood concerns, tenant requirements, construction economics, and documentation while maintaining a coherent architectural idea through each stage of the process.

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