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Home > Archive > Jul 19, 2007

Ribbon Cut on Festival Plaza Shopping Center
By Stephen Vincent
The Festival Plaza, a new shopping center on 3050 West, had its ribbon cutting ceremony July 10.
Located among several large stores, such as Albertson's, Costco, Home Depot, and the Sportsman's Warehouse, the plaza was designed to have an inviting feel for customers.
“It's like an oasis among the big box stores,” Kevin Kezos, of Festival Development, said.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, which drew a crowd of about 80, was comprised mostly of people involved in the project.
The plaza has nine stores, including some that have been leased to the Teen Angel Salon, The Dance Shop, Lucky Buffet, Inta Juice, Capriotti's and Backyard Oasis. Plans include adding an additional five shops near the street.
Kezos said he visited upper scale shopping centers in California, Arizona, and Utah to gather ideas on how to design the marketplace.
Then, working with MRW Design's Greg Mathis, plans were drawn up for the plaza.
“It took us six months to design it, and six months to construct,” Wayne Reaves, the project developer for Festival Development, said.
T.J. Ford, who oversaw the construction project for Watts Construction, had to overcome a few site problems to get the structure built, including moving power lines and building on rocky land that had an abundance of ground water.
“It turned out to be a beautiful project,” Ford said. “It's nice to see it where it is at today.”
Reaves said the project was designed with a definite style in mind.
“It was designed to be a tropical oasis with a splash of mountains,” he said.
The central feature of the plaza is a $60,000 waterfall flanked by palm trees on each side. The waterfall, located where the shopping center curves around, neighbors an arched walkway lined by a series of four-column pillars.
The sidewalks are comprised of multi-colored stones, reminiscent of an English High Street shopping center.
Large pillars, decorated in stone bricks and stucco, help create a shaded walkway in front of the glass store fronts.
“I like the sense of scale on this,” Kezos said. “The relationship of space on all things, from the pavers to the palm trees, it all fits.”
The plaza was the first commercial project Festival Development had undertaken; previously, the group had focused solely on residential projects.
Festival Development is owned by five men who work in the real estate industry: Kezos, Rick Lewis and John Ames of ReMax Realty; Byron Bastian of Bastian Homes and Paul Maag of First Colony.
Reaves said the five owners played an involved role in the construction process.
“Every decision has to go through them because they have a great opinion,” Reaves said. “They had the vision of what this could be.”
Lewis credited Kezos' vision for the successful outcome of the project.
“We just all came together, and Kevin had the vision to put the project together aesthetically,” Lewis said. “And we just moved forward from there.”
Lewis added that the group's first foray into commercial development likely won't be their last.
“We definitely would move forward with the same people we were affiliated with here,” Lewis said.

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