The project is less than a quarter mile away from the interchange of Interstate 17 and the loop. The two-story office project will deliver by September. The Newport Beach, CA-based Koll had bought the 14-acre project site for just over $7 per sf or about $4.6 million.

"This is God's country," says Bob Lundstedt, an office and industrial broker with Insignia/ESG, who's brokered more than 30 land sales along the I-17 corridor in the past four years, including Koll's deal. "The Deer Valley area is just evolving and getting better and better. People are moving north and moving up into this area."

Some 43 commercial sites in the immediate vicinity have been purchased in the past four years, Lundstedt tells GlobeSt.com. There are 13 speculative development projects under way, nine of which are office for a combined total of 1.8 million sf.

The rush in spec projects has pushed the vacancy rate up to nearly 20% in comparison to a negligible 0.7% just a few years ago. But Lundstedt doesn't feel that overbuilding has occurred. The space coming out of the ground is in a number of product types, including office, back office and single-story flex.

Last year, 11 significant projects had delivered along the corridor, from above the loop down as nearly as far at Metrocenter, a regional mall about eight miles south. But this year, all of the projects are gathered near loop, nine positioned within a two-mile stretch, Lundstedt says. "It will make it interesting," he says. "There are so many positive things surrounding this area."

Companies, and therefore developers, are attracted to the convenient access that the new freeway brings to the area. The loop runs through the West Valley and connects to Interstate 10 near 99th Avenue. Later this year, the loop will open east toward Scottsdale.Scottsdale's lack of available space, mostly around the airpark, also is driving users and developers to the area. The growing emergence of the West Valley as a residential destination is making it more and more attractive to corporations.