The company is looking for a grocery store to anchor the retail center, says Aric Adams of CB Richard Ellis, who represented Brookstone in the purchase. Brookstone could be under construction on the neighborhood center within the next 12 to 18 months, depending on how quickly a grocery store anchor is found, Adams notes.

The corner parcel is near Parkwood Ranch, a 1,500-home, master-planned community that is nearing buildout. It is also about one-half mile from the Superstition Freeway, the main thoroughfare through Mesa and the rest of the East Valley.

Mesa is the largest suburb of Phoenix, but most of the new development in the greater metropolitan area is occurring elsewhere, where available land is close-in, toward the core of the Valley. Over the past few years the majority of new housing developments have in located in Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale and more lately in the West Valley. "Mesa's hot and cold on retail," says Adams. "If you find a good parcel near a new development, that is going to be attractive to any developer. You don't get too many of those in Mesa."