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Westgate
Center cruising toward finish line By
Scott Wong The
Arizona Republic
Most
of the heavy lifting is done on the first phase of
Westgate
City
Center
, the massive retail, entertainment and office project
anchored by Glendale Arena.
So, over the next few months, developer Ellman Cos. will begin
handing over retail and office spaces to the Yard House,
Coffee Plantation and other tenants so they can begin interior
improvements.
With most of the structural work completed on the
500,000-square-foot Phase I, work crews have begun laying the
foundation for a $5 million, Bellagio-like fountain, paving
walkways, installing an escalator and planting dozens of palm
trees.
"Things have
shored up more," said Ellman spokesman Jeffrey Hecht.
"We're putting on the finishing touches rather than doing
wrap-up type of work."
Ellman is sticking to a late October opening for the first
phase of the center, just east of Loop 101 at
Glendale
and 95th avenues. Along with the opening of the nearby
Cabela's outdoors mega-store later this month, Westgate's
arrival ensures that fans visiting Cardinals Stadium in
January for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Bowl Championship
Series title game have places nearby to eat, shop and go for a
stroll.
Progress is being made around other parts of Westgate as well.
Just west of Glendale Arena, developer John Q. Hammons Hotels
Inc. has erected steel beams for the first four floors of the
12-story Renaissance Hotel, set to open in mid-2007. And just
next door to the 320-room boutique hotel, work crews have dug
a 30-foot-deep hole - the size of a football field - on the
site of a planned 80,000-square-foot convention center.
Meanwhile, AMC Theaters has nearly completed construction on
its 20-screen multiplex that anchors the north end of
Westgate. The multiplex has been coordinated to open with the
rest of Phase I of the 223-acre center.
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