By Richard Smith
Independent Newsmedia
William Lyon Homes has scheduled the ground breaking for its Rancho Mercado development in northern Surprise at 10 a.m. April 4.
Vicinity map courtesy the city of Surprise. The red outlines mark the Rancho Mercado project boundaries while the pink area is the section of the project whose preliminary plat was approved in January 2016. Just west and north of Happy Valley Road is the Tierra Verde development.
Rancho Mercado lies in an approximate six-square-mile area that is in the path of the Northwest Valley development growth pattern. Ingress and egress to the Rancho Mercado community will initially be oriented from the east along Happy Valley Road through the Rancho Cabrillo development.
Additional access to the community will be provided by Happy Valley Road from the west, and Bullard Road from the north, all of which may ultimately connect in the future to the Loop 303 Freeway east and south of the site.
According to William Lyon Homes, Rancho Mercado aims to be an affordability driven project to serve this rapidly expanding area.
The Rancho Mercado master plan is a 1,300 acre PAD with multiple owners. The property is currently vacant desert ranch land. It is designed to offer a broad range of housing types, including single family and multi-family residential, retail/commercial services, employment, parks, schools and an open space network throughout the community.
The land use plan includes an overall target density of 3.5 dwelling units per acre. 4,703 dwelling units are proposed with a projected population of more than 12,000 residents.
The projected population is anticipated to be served by two elementary schools and three regional neighborhood parks including recreational opportunities such as community soccer/softball/baseball fields and traditional neighborhood parks. Numerous additional pocket parks will be provided throughout the development within the individual residential subdivisions as they are developed.
