This longtime south Phoenix nursery is being replaced. Here's what's coming (2024)

One of the last remaining large pieces of land along Baseline Road in south Phoenix, long home to a wholesale tree nursery, is to be developed into houses, apartments and commercial buildings, including retail stores and restaurants.

The 104-acre stretch of land located at 19th Avenue and Baseline Road has three separate owners working together to develop one cohesive project, said Rick Jellies, senior vice president and director of entitlement for City to City Commercial. Jellies and his business partner, Kent Baker, senior vice president at City to City Commercial, are working with the landowners as consultants to oversee the zoning process and will serve as brokers for the site.

Commercial portion will include 3.5-acre park

According to plans submitted to Phoenix, the development is proposed to have about 35 acres of commercial development along Baseline Road, which is planned for “something a little different for the area,” Jellies said, with a focus on sit-down restaurants or neighborhood services.

The commercial portion is planned to surround a 3.5-acre park space, which will be open to the public but maintained by the project’s owners, Jellies said.

The proposal calls for 17 acres of apartments, which will be about 360 units, about 15 acres of townhomes, about 213 units, which could be for rent or for sale, and about 39 acres of single-family homes.

Jellies said he and Kent worked closely with the neighborhood to make sure the proposed project was something the neighbors found acceptable. Input from neighbors and compromises from the landowners have made the project something both sides can benefit from, he said.

Height limited after community discussion

The owner of the majority of the land is Baseline Trees, a wholesale tree grower that supplies trees and plants to developments throughout the Valley, Jellies said. The company’s owner wants to retire, but will remain a south Phoenix resident, and wanted to make sure the development was suitable for the area.

“This will be a big change for the community to go from alfalfa and a beautiful tree farm to development,” Jellies said, acknowledging that the neighborhood will have to adjust to new surroundings. “Being a good neighbor was more important than maximizing yield. He wants to see those people when he goes out and have them look at him with respect.”

The effort has paid off so far, he said.

In response to neighbor concerns, the multifamily piece will be capped at two stories, one story lower than originally proposed, and the portion of the site devoted to the apartments was selected based on neighborhood input. The apartments will be closer to the middle of the site, to create shorter massing on Baseline for the commercial uses, and separated from the single-family neighborhood to the south, which was decided based on community input.

Jellies credited the landowners, the neighbors and Phoenix City Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington for being willing to facilitate productive conversations.

Neighbor says process has been encouraging

“This has been a wonderful experience, which contrasts significantly with some of the other experiences I’ve seen,” JoAnne Jensen, a neighbor who lives directly south of the proposed development said of the process, which relied heavily on community input. “People were pretty realistic, we knew that as beautiful as this land has been, it would be developed at some point.”

Jensen said the owners’ commitment to capping the apartment development to two stories is “an amazing gift to the community,” which will affect the amount of money the development will generate.

People may still be resistant to change, Jensen said. But the neighbors closest to the development have felt encouraged by the process and in favor of the project.

“If the community had not been made to feel so welcome, it would have been a difficult process,” she said.

The South Mountain Village Planning Committee voted to recommend approval of the project in May. The committee serves as an advisory body to the City Council. Both the Phoenix Planning Commission and the Phoenix City Council will hear the proposal before the council votes on it, but Jellies said he is optimistic because of the positive response the project has received so far.

Jellies said there already is an anchor tenant planned for the commercial portion, but could not yet specify the business’ name, and the group has been in negotiation with a handful of commercial developers for different pieces of the project. The group will begin talking with housing developers soon.

If the development receives approval from the City Council, construction will likely start on the site in the second half of 2025, he said.

Reach the reporter atcvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter:@CorinaVanek.