The Long-Empty Corner at Alma School and Warner Has a New Name. Here's What's Open and What's Coming

"I can't tell you how many years people have been saying, do you know what's going across the street," Skip Chase told ABC15 in late August. He has had a front-row seat. Skip and Nancy Chase opened Chase's Diner in October 1997, after moving to Arizona from Buffalo in 1986. The diner sits at 2040 N. Alma School Road, and its windows look across at a shopping center that spent years mostly empty.

That center now goes by Desert Palms, and the answer to the diner regulars' question has come together this fall. The northeast corner of Alma School and Warner is returning as an all-retail errand stop: big-box anchors, small local tenants and, next, a row of quick-service drive-thrus. That was a choice. The city had encouraged a mixed-use direction for the site, and an earlier plan would have put hundreds of apartments there. The owner kept the corner commercial, and in mid-October the Chandler City Council approved the plan that settles what goes on its last open land.

How a Grocery Corner Emptied Out

Before the rebrand, the property was Sunset Village Fair Shopping Center, and its grocery anchor was a Fry's Food Store. The Chandler Arizonan dates that Fry's closing to 2016. The store had two competitors close by: another Fry's about a mile north at Elliot and Alma School, and the Walmart in the same center.

When the grocery anchor left, the smaller tenants followed, until Walmart was nearly the only business still operating. Bob Rusing, a development partner at Scottsdale-based owner Arizona Partners, told the Arizonan the property "was pretty beat up" and that the company dealt with a lot of vandalism after it bought the center. The Arizonan reports the purchase price as $12.5 million in 2024.

The Apartment Plan That Never Happened

Before Arizona Partners, the site was headed somewhere else. A May 2022 application proposed a mostly residential mixed-use redevelopment with 371 apartments alongside commercial space, and it never went forward.

That history came up again at the Planning and Zoning Commission's September 16 study session. When a commissioner asked why mixed use was no longer on the table, acting planning administrator David de la Torre explained that city staff had previously encouraged mixed use there. The property is zoned commercial, though, and the current owner wanted to keep it that way. The zoning already allows a certain number of retail pads by right.

So the change on this corner is a return to its original role as a place to run errands. The Arizonan put it simply: the dead strip mall is coming back "with all retail and no housing component added."

Three Stores in One Grocery Box

The biggest problem was the empty Fry's building. Arizona Partners split it into three spaces and leased them to PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less and Burlington. Rusing told the Arizonan the split was the plan from the start: "We were going to split it no matter what because we just felt that was the highest and best use for it, instead of putting in a jumpy house or gym like you see a lot, nothing against those types of uses."

The city sees those anchors the same way. Micah Miranda, Chandler's economic development director, called Ross, Burlington and PetSmart "destination drivers" in the ABC15 report. "People from across the community will come and travel there, they will support that adjacent businesses," he said. According to ABC15, the center was 75% leased by late August, with 12 spaces still open.

Here is where each tenant stands heading into November:

Breakfast and Matcha While the Rest Fills In

The newest place to eat in the center is Red Brick Eatery, at 2095 N. Alma School Road, Suite 2. Its hours are Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. PHOENIX magazine included it in its September 2026 openings roundup, listing egg dishes, waffles, chicken-fried steak, chilaquiles and avocado toast on the scratch-made menu.

Gozen Kamicha opened before most of the redevelopment. The Taiwan-based matcha cafe opened its first U.S. location at this corner in June 2025, Mouth by Southwest reported. As of that summer, the brand had 16 locations in Taiwan and one in China. Phoenix New Times wrote that the menu includes matcha soft serve, parfaits, matcha drinks and other teas.

Across Alma School, Chase's Diner is still the intersection's longest-running breakfast stop. Skip Chase expects the new activity to help. "You can't put anything like that in, with the investment they made across the street, and not benefit from it," he told ABC15.

The Last Open Land Goes to Drive-Thrus

The gravel pads along the edges of the property are the next phase, and as of this month their uses are largely set. Here is the city process so far, from the Planning and Zoning minutes and the council record:

1. September 1, 2026. Arizona Partners held a neighborhood meeting on the plan. City staff reported no known opposition, and one email arrived in support.
2. September 16, 2026. The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed case PLH25-0018, which adds retail pad buildings to the existing center.
3. October 15, 2026. The City Council approved the preliminary development plan as part of its consent agenda.
4. November 12, 2026. A separate case for Burlington's signs is on the council agenda after the applicant asked to continue it.

According to the minutes, the plan covers three parcels with three quick-service restaurants and larger inline shops. It also adds new landscaping, a pedestrian path and a redesigned entry on Warner Road with more landscaping. Senior planner Alisa Petterson confirmed that the city normally allows one drive-thru per shopping center on each arterial road. That limit is why the plan needed commission review: it asks for an additional drive-thru. Economic Development supported the request, and staff worked with the applicant to screen the drive-thrus behind a consistent design.

Drivers on Alma School will want to watch the traffic details. Staff raised concerns about cars entering from Alma School with several drive-thru lanes nearby. The approved conditions require a traffic study when a tenant applies for permits. If that study shows cars could back up onto Alma School Road, traffic would have to be redirected, possibly by closing a space so cars circulate another way.

Applicant Madison Leake told the commission that Chick-fil-A and Chipotle are the proposed quick-service tenants and that the third has not been chosen. De la Torre said these pads are the last remaining open properties at the center. Anything after them would count as redevelopment.

The record sets an order for the work but no calendar dates. Phase one covers demolition, rough grading, utilities and city-required median work. Phase two covers the on-site and off-site improvements, which must be finished before any pad building receives a certificate of occupancy.

What the Next Year Looks Like

Rusing has given a rough timeline. "I think in 2027 we're going to see a lot of new little shops pop up in these areas," he told the Arizonan, and he said projects like this usually take three to four years. He mentioned talks with a boxing gym and with EggBred, a California sandwich shop that specializes in eggs.

Walmart may change too. It asked to buy the spaces at the end of the center, and Arizona Partners agreed to sell. Rusing did not know what Walmart plans to do with them.

Rusing has a long history at this intersection. He told the Arizonan he brought Home Depot to this part of Chandler about 30 years ago, and he called Alma School and Warner "a premier section." After years of empty storefronts, the corner now has three national tenants filling the old Fry's box, a September breakfast opening, a city-approved plan for its last three pads and a sign case on the November 12 council agenda.

If you live near Alma School and Warner and want to talk through what the Desert Palms plan could mean for your plans, Kim Weber is glad to share what she's seeing across Chandler. Let's Connect.