Victorville city officials, including Mayor Liz Becerra, Councilman Robert Harriman, Councilwoman Tiffany Gaudin, Councilwoman Leslie irving and Councilwoman Corrine Mora and City Manager Keith Metzler are beside themselves with pride over the entitlement they have granted to NewMark Merrill Companies, Inc., World Premier Investments and R.Y. Properties, Inc. to develop Desert Sky Plaza II.
Desert Sky Plaza II is intended to be the most impressive component within The Desert Plazas, an ongoing and evolving 100-acre commercial development, which already has Winco and Home Depot as anchors and will include over 800,000 square feet of retail when fully completed. The Desert Sky portion of the project is to be a 30-acre 297,363-square-foot shopping center at the southeast corner of Roy Rogers Drive and Amargosa Road.
Groundbreaking on the project is imminent. The opening is scheduled, tentatively, for fall 2027, in time for the 2027 Christmas shopping season.
Calabasis-based NewMark Merrill Companies owns and operates 76 shopping centers or Malls around the country in four states, including the Agoura Meadows in Agoura Hills, the Alicia Town Center in Laguna Hills, the Anaheim Town Square in Anaheim, Arlington Square in Riverside, Beach Talbert Village in Huntington Beach, Bel Villagio in Temecula, Bristol Warner Marketplace in Santa Ana, Carriage Square in Oxnard, Crenshaw Imperial Village in Crenshaw, Triangle Center in Longview, Washington, Pulaski Promenade in Chicago, Marketplace at Six Corners in Chicago, Northfield Commons in Denver, Visalia Center in Visalia, Tri-City Crossroads in Oceanside, Villa La Jolla Plaza in La Jolla and the 20th & K Shoping Center in Lancaster.
The Desert Sky Plaza II is designed by Architects Orange and and Kimley Horn. It is to be anchored by Target, Burlington, and several other soft goods retailers. The project is projected to generate over 6.5 million annual visits upon opening, a perhaps optimistic assumption, given the 139,000 population of Victorville. Desert Sky Plaza is now more than 70 percent pre-committed, though Greg Giacopuzzi and Darren Bovard of NewMark Merrill, who are supervising leasing at the center, yet have availability for tenants to include junior anchor, drive-thru, carwash, pad, and retail shop spaces ranging from 1,500 square feet to 25,000 square feet.
The city worked with the members of the NewMark Merrill team, including Sandy Sigal, chairman and chief operating officer; Susan Rorison, chief operating officer; Sandra Kist, chief financial officer; Luca Giovanardi, chief development officer; Jim Patton, senior vice president of leasing & acquisitions; Brad Pearl, executive vice president; Greg Giacopuzzi, vice president for leasing and development; and Elaine Weiss, senior project manager for construction & development.
“This is the culmination of our partnership with the City of Victorville,” said Sigal. We are committed to the High Desert and are excited to bring much needed retail, restaurants, and services to this region as it continues to grow through development, investment, and property management.”