Six new businesses will call Westgate Entertainment District home when they open at the booming Glendale center over the next several weeks including As You Wish, Fresh Healthy Café, OPA Life Greek Café, Crave Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches, Proliant and American Basketball Association.
These new additions to Westgate’s tenant mix brings the total number of new retail and office leases signed by owner iStar Financial to 18 since the company acquired Westgate Entertainment District.
As You Wish, a pottery painting place, will open a 2,109 square-foot store next to AMC Theatres in October. As You Wish was one of the first paint-your-own pottery studios in the nation and the first in Arizona. This will be the company’s seventh Valley location.
Three new dining destinations will complement the restaurant mix at Westgate including Fresh Healthy Café, which will open its first Arizona location offering smoothies and fresh-squeezed juices, along with other healthy fare. The restaurant company has restaurants in 10 states, Canada and five international countries. The 1,358 square-foot restaurant will open next to Buffalo Wild Wings this fall. Also opening this fall, OPA Life Greek Café, a Greek restaurant with a full-line coffee bar open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. OPA will open a 2,501 square-foot restaurant with a large patio overlooking Fountain Park in front of AMC, providing an exceptional indoor/outdoor environment. The newly launched brand, established by experienced restaurateurs, will bring the liveliness of Greek culture and combine it with the flavors of the Mediterranean within an affordable dining experience.
Opening in December next to Johnny Rockets, Crave Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches is a new gourmet Belgian waffle restaurant unlike anything in the Valley from the owner of Razzleberriez Frozen Yogurt, which opened its third Valley location at Westgate in 2013. Crave will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert and have a variety of savory and sweet waffle combinations including waffle sandwiches, salads, sweet waffle desserts and shakes.
Two notable companies have also recently signed leases for office space at Westgate.
Proliant, a national payroll services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, opened its first Arizona office in July that will be among eight offices across the country including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami and Raleigh, NC. The American Basketball Association, the largest professional sports league in the U.S. with more than 100 teams, chose Westgate Entertainment District as its headquarters. The ABA has opened a 2,509 square-foot office. Between the two new office tenants, Westgate will add approximately 15 new office jobs.
This summer, Westgate also welcomed Metro PCS to the kiosks surrounding Fountain Park.
Additionally, Just Sports, the Arizona-based sports apparel retailer with a flagship store at Westgate, is expanding to add an additional store on the WaterDance Events Plaza near Jobing.com Arena, catering to the football and hockey game-day crowds.
“We’re pleased with the continuation of our leasing momentum. OPA, Crave and Fresh Healthy Café bring added dimensions to our restaurant lineup, expanding upon what is already the best dining destination in the West Valley. The addition of a full coffee bar, Greek restaurant and a fast-casual smoothie and healthy café, adds to the attractiveness of Westgate for our office tenants, where employees can stay on-site and get virtually any kind of food for breakfast, lunch or dinner,” said Jeff Teetsel, development manager of Westgate. “We targeted As You Wish as a best-in-class, family friendly experiential store that fits perfectly next to AMC and Fountain Park, providing a great destination for families and kids throughout the year.”
“Westgate Entertainment District is the go-to destination in the West Valley for family fun and entertainment and it’s a natural fit for our seventh store,” said Scott Neff, owner of As You Wish. “We’re a locally owned and operated company celebrating 19 years of bringing out people’s ‘inner artist’. We look forward to becoming part of the Glendale community and reaching new customers and families to help them create special memories through pottery painting, glass fusing, clay and canvas painting.”
