Maracay Homes to join Scottsdale Quarter

Maracay Homes likely will bait a different kind of shopper to the Scottsdale Quarter when it moves its headquarters to the retail-oriented center later this month.

The Arizona-based homebuilder will relocate its corporate office and combine with a design studio in roughly 20,000 square feet on the third floor above anchors Pottery Barn and Gap, the company said last week.

Andy Warren, president of Maracay, said about three dozen employees will relocate from offices near Hayden Road and Raintree Drive.

"The 10,000 square feet dedicated to corporate office space will house our 34 full-time corporate team members, including the marketing, land-acquisition, land-development and executive departments," Warren said. "The design studio, on the other hand, was created with the customer in mind and allows new homeowners to come in, configure their home to their own specifications and get a feel for our exceptional build quality before their home is even constructed."

Designs by Phoenix-based McCarthy Nordburg Ltd. are aiming for a modern yet earthy ambience throughout the office and studio. Exterior signage will give Maracay visibility from busy nearby intersections such as Scottsdale Road and Greenway-Hayden Loop.

Maracay figures the Quarter's trendy shops and upscale amenities will give it a competitive advantage, said Laurie Tarver, vice president of sales and marketing for Maracay.

"We believe our corporate culture is essential to retaining existing talent while attracting the very best in the industry," Tarver said in a statement.

Later this year, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will relocate its Arizona headquarters from Phoenix to the Quarter. It will occupy a roughly 55,000-square-foot space above Nike and other retailers.

Developer Glimcher Realty Trust expects the Quarter's 205,000 square feet of Class A office space to be 90 percent occupied by year's end. The second- and third-story office tenants sit above 370,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space.

Glimcher's projections jibe with recent upticks in office occupancy around the Scottsdale Airpark area, according to Colliers International in Phoenix. Of roughly 6.19 million square feet of Class A office space in the airpark, vacancies in the first quarter improved to 29.4 percent from more than 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

However, the area still is behind the Valley's 22.1 percent for the first quarter.

by Kristena Hansen The Arizona Republic Jun. 27, 2011 12:00 AM





Maracay Homes to join Scottsdale Quarter