Commission recommends approval of Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North PAD amendment; Fry’s anchor and data-center height changes noted

The City of Avondale Planning Commission on June 18, 2025, voted 5-0 to recommend city council approval of PL25-0054, a major amendment to the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North planned area development (PAD).

Planning staff said the amendment applies to a roughly 239-acre former dairy farm at the southwest corner of Lower Buckeye Road and Avondale Boulevard. The PAD amendment contains two substantive changes: adjustments to development standards for the parcel planned for a data center and modifications to PAD stipulations that tie required on- and off-site improvements to the development of specific parcels, including phasing of infrastructure work.

Staff detailed specific dimensional changes: an increase in maximum building height from 50 to 52 feet; an increase in parapet wall height from 5 to 9 feet above the maximum building height in limited areas; a change to mechanical equipment screening height from 75 to 77 feet with required screening set back at least 10 feet from the building edge to reduce perceived scale; and a request to increase elevator equipment/elevator penthouse height to 86 feet for limited rooftop equipment areas. Staff said those taller elements would be sited and screened to minimize visibility from public streets.

The amendment also clarifies which parcels install which improvements. Parcel A (the commercial corner) includes an approved site plan for a Fry’s grocery store as the anchor and will be required to build adjacent frontage improvements and install a traffic signal at Miami and Avondale Boulevard. Parcel B (the data-center parcel) will be required to complete the remainder of the Lower Buckeye Road and Avondale Boulevard right-of-way improvements, a multi-use trail along the regional power corridor, and — per a traffic impact study — an additional signal at Lower Buckeye Road and 100th/Nineteenth Avenue.

Applicant land-use counsel Carolyn Oberholtzer said the data-center design required limited increases in rooftop equipment screening and elevator-penthouse heights for technical reasons related to cooling and equipment access. “There was no way around it. It has to do with how the cooling systems are installed on top of the roof,” Oberholtzer said, describing why small portions of the building require additional height.

Jack Hayes, a project representative, provided a construction timing estimate for the data center: “Each build is about 14 months, and we anticipate starting construction in 2028,” Hayes said. He also said data-center deployments will be phased and each building will come online separately.

Staff noted public outreach: a neighborhood meeting May 6 had six attendees outside the applicant and staff and one council member; staff received 20 written responses via email and Avondale Connect with feedback focused on data-center scale and commercial development. Staff recommended approval subject to 12 conditions in the planning division memorandum dated June 18, 2025.

Vice Chair McBurney moved to recommend approval of PL25-0054 subject to the 12 conditions; Commissioner Benson seconded. The motion passed 5-0. The Planning Commission’s action is a recommendation to city council; final approval will be decided by the council in a later proceeding.

Key context: The property was annexed in 2006–2008 and rezoned to PAD in 2024. The PAD amendment seeks to align development standards with large-scale employment campus needs while preserving design measures to reduce visibility of rooftop equipment from nearby residential areas. Parcel A’s commercial development (Fry’s) is preparing construction drawings with the applicant aiming for store opening before the end of next year; the larger data center buildout is expected to be phased over multiple years with construction tentatively starting in 2028.

Why it matters: The amendment affects a large employment campus and includes data-center infrastructure changes that could affect visual scale, traffic signals, and the phasing of on- and off-site public improvements for adjacent neighborhoods.