Arizona-based SimonCRE has quickly grown its development platform. Today, the company has multiple large-scale centers under development.
Since its foundation in 2010, SimonCRE has grown from a small startup to a major player in national retail development. It has become a company known not just for creating buildings, but also for renewing spaces, shaping communities and embracing challenges in a changing sector. With SimonCRE celebrating its 15th anniversary in August, the company’s journey offers a lesson in persistence, tenacity and vision.
From Humble Beginnings to Hitting Its Stride
The story begins with Joshua Simon, who established SimonCRE in Scottsdale, Arizona, 15 years ago. At the start, the company was small in numbers, with just a few people concentrated on finding land and developing projects.
Simon held a particular desire to build a business that wanted to help redefine retail real estate and leave a lasting impact on the communities the company served. Prior to launching SimonCRE, Simon spent more than six years as an independent contractor and senior leasing associate for a national developer. There, he played roles in the acquisition, design, development and leasing of more than 1.6 million square feet of retail space located throughout the country. Although launching a company amidst the lingering effects of the 2008 financial crisis — arguably during one of the worst periods for the retail real estate industry — was not ideal, SimonCRE succeeded by identifying opportunities in a volatile market while narrowing its focus early on in its inception.
“We pride ourselves on being extremely fast. One of our core values is, ‘Be First. Be Fast. Persist,’ and in business today, I think that’s even more important with just how fast information moves,” says Simon.
SimonCRE originally specialized in single-tenant build-to-suit developments, working with national retailers like Dollar Tree, Goodwill and O’Reilly Auto Parts. As the company matured, it expanded its services and scale, tackling more complex multi-tenant retail centers and mixed-use developments.
As the company grew, Simon honed its focus to build a firm that could operate across primary, secondary and tertiary markets — and not just locally, but nationally. By the five-year mark, SimonCRE had grown from a three-person operation to about 15 employees, with projects stretching from Oregon to Florida.
While Simon emphasizes that real estate is a relationship driven business, curiosity about retailers’ expansion plans and creativity in development were the driving factors that led to the discovery of additional retail property types for SimonCRE, including regional power centers and community shopping centers.
“[Shopping centers] require a unique skillset. They’re harder to master, harder to learn and the competitive advantage is a little different,” says Simon.
Building Bigger
Over its first decade, SimonCRE’s growth was impressive, with the company completing 200 projects across 22 states, exceeding more than $400 million in investment. Ambitious plans for more development prompted an expansion for the company. In December 2019, the company broke ground on Village at Prasada in Surprise, Arizona, one of its most notable projects.
The 700,000-square-foot Village at Prasada development is SimonCRE’s largest project to date, and was one of the first power centers built on the West Coast in 20 years. Village at Prasada is currently the number one most-visited power center in Arizona, and was ranked #17 nationwide as of May 2025, according to an independent report from Placer.ai. SimonCRE had its work cut out for it with the project. The market changed drastically while the center was under construction, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With people stuck in their homes, e-commerce was on the rise as the center came out of the ground. The outcome didn’t originally look too favorable.
To ensure success, SimonCRE decided to develop the project in several phases. That way, it was able to successfully lease each phase before beginning construction and moving on to the next. The project’s location addressed an unfilled demand for retail in Phoenix’s West Valley, as population growth steadily grew during and after the pandemic. Subsequently, the center’s success continued after the pandemic, as consumer behaviors shifted and residents looked for reasons to leave their houses and be entertained.
“Once tenants started opening, the momentum really pushed us forward [with the project],” explained Simon.
The $500 million development is part of the larger master-planned community of Prasada, which includes 3,355 acres of residential, employment, hospitality and retail space.
SimonCRE has recently launched development plans for Prasada East, a specialty grocery-anchored shopping center, which will compliment both Prasada North, a 350,000-square-foot expansion of retail and entertainment offerings, as well as Village at Prasada.
SimonCRE is also active in the Phoenix area with another mixed-use ground-up development in Buckeye called Roosevelt Commons, which is currently under construction. Positioned near the growing Verrado community, Roosevelt Commons will comprise eight buildings across 93,000 square feet of retail and restaurants with tenants like First Watch, Goodwill, McDonald’s, Heartland Dental and Mattress Firm.
The company also has some smaller projects underway in the Phoenix area. The first phase of construction of Asante Trails in northwest Surprise, Arizona, has commenced, which will comprise multiple retail pads across 50,000 square feet. In addition to more retail pads, the second phase will include a Sprouts Farmers Market and an EoS Fitness. The multi-phase, 90-acre mixed-use development is expected to expand over several hundred thousand square feet of commercial space, anchoring the Asante master-planned community.
The company is also nearing completion of various projects in Peoria, Queen Creek, San Luis and Tempe, Arizona.
The company’s pivot toward larger, more intricate developments showcases the firm’s ability to be dynamic and quick. The projects, says Simon, are not only tailored to modern retail needs, but are also designed to serve as community hubs. Being part of the community, and hands on with development, makes a difference from design to leasing, says Simon.
“We always want to keep that entrepreneurial spirit,” he says.
At present, SimonCRE totals 47 employees and has completed more than 300 projects in 24 states, totaling more than $1.2 billion.
Retail Reinvented
SimonCRE has remained agile and forward-thinking in the retail real estate landscape. The company has acquired 64 acres of land for a new $150 million project in Mesa, Arizona, dubbed Medina Station. Situated approximately 20 miles outside Phoenix, Medina Station is already 70 percent preleased and will include a 148,000-square-foot Target store and an 80,000-square-foot Dick’s Sporting Goods. Upon completion in summer 2026, the property will also feature 700 multifamily units across 23 acres that will be dedicated for residential use.
Blending traditional retail with lifestyle components has consistently become more prevalent in recent years, as consumers increasingly yearn for somewhere to linger and dwell. SimonCRE is seeking to take advantage of that trend with some innovative turnaround projects. The company is working on the redevelopment of Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho, that will transform the previously enclosed mall into an open-air regional shopping center that creates a welcoming, vibrant community space for retail, dining and gathering. The massive redevelopment of more than 41 acres will feature a new Target store as the anchor of the 335,000 square-foot mainline shops, along with enhancements like a fresh layout and design, renovated retail spaces and multiple new outparcels across the property.
SimonCRE has also purchased a 225,000-square-foot shopping center in Albuquerque with plans for redevelopment. Additionally, it has plans to build a 350,000-square-foot ground-up power center near the University of New Mexico beginning early next year, in partnership with the State of New Mexico and the university.
In addition to retail, SimonCRE has developed a number of projects in other sectors of commercial real estate. Those include Simon Medical Plaza, a 32,000-square-foot medical office building in Laveen, Arizona, and The Steelyard, a 26,000-square-foot multi-tenant development in Chandler, Arizona. While these various projects illustrate consistent threads in SimonCRE’s development strategy, such as identifying under-served areas, tackling redevelopment and adaptive reuse projects, diversifying property types and emphasizing community alignment, SimonCRE has continued to evolve to adjust to the changing environments of retail.
— Abby Cox
This article was originally published in the November 2025 issue of Shopping Center Business magazine.