The first Sprouts Farmers Market inside Eastmark opened on Friday, September 18, at the northeast corner of Ray and Ellsworth roads. The store at 5131 S. Ellsworth Rd. anchors EastMarket at Eastmark, a 6.6-acre center built by Phoenix-based Common Bond Development Group.
The grocery store is only the first piece. EastMarket was planned around one large anchor that would bring in steady daily traffic, with a ring of smaller businesses meant to live off that traffic. As of the most recent published updates, the anchor is the only part with a confirmed opening date. The corner's restaurants, services and shops are still on a list.
What Opened on September 18
Sprouts' announcement set a 6:45 a.m. ribbon-cutting for opening day, with doors opening at 7 a.m. The store is a new 23,299-square-foot building, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, and it is one of several Sprouts stores the chain has opened around the Valley this summer.
Southeast Mesa already had Sprouts stores. East Valley Explorer counts this one as the fifth current Sprouts with a Mesa address, after the stores on Signal Butte, Recker, Baseline and Brown roads, plus another farther south on Ellsworth Loop Road in Queen Creek. It is the first one inside Eastmark. The same report says a full specialty grocery store at Ray and Ellsworth "turns a regional errand into a neighborhood trip for many households."
A Grocery Store Built to Carry the Rest of the Corner
The site plan shows what kind of center this is meant to be. Mesa's plan called for 278 parking spaces where the code required 202, and the developer has promoted a pedestrian-friendly layout that links the grocery store to the shops and restaurants around it. A center with 76 spaces beyond the requirement is built for frequent, short trips.
Common Bond founder and president Brian Frakes described the center the same way in the Phoenix Business Journal's coverage. "Our goal from day one was to deliver a complete, high-performing commercial hub tailored to the Eastmark community," he said, adding that Sprouts and the other tenants are expected to bring daily traffic to the center.
The city saw the corner in similar terms. At an August 2025 study session, Mesa staff called the site a prime commercial location serving Eastmark and the surrounding region, and the City Council then approved the development agreement as Resolution No. 12403. According to East Valley Explorer, the agreement included no tax incentive. City staff said its purpose was to set land-use restrictions and quality standards for the property. The grocery store came first because the rest of the plan depends on it.
The Tenant List, and What Is Confirmed
Common Bond reports that EastMarket has leased more than 25,000 square feet of retail space beyond Sprouts to a mix of restaurants, health and wellness providers, and personal care businesses. Here is what each one would add to the corner, along with what has been published about its timing.
| Business | What it adds to the corner | Published status |
|---|---|---|
| Sprouts Farmers Market | Grocery anchor | Opened September 18 |
| First Watch | Breakfast and brunch | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| QDOBA | Fast-casual Mexican | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| SoFresh | Fast-casual dining | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| Petersen's Old-Fashioned Ice Cream | Dessert | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| GoodVets | Veterinary care | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| Zara Nail Bar | Nail care | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| Lapels Cleaners | Dry cleaning | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| Pacific Dental Services | Dental care | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
| PNC Bank | Banking | Announced tenant, no opening date published |
In its September 10 report, the developer said these businesses were "preparing to open." It did not give dates or suite numbers for any of them. East Valley Explorer's September 15 update gave the same caution. Sprouts' September 18 date is not a grand opening for the whole center, and tenant lineups and schedules can change before doors open. None of those updates rule out openings since mid-September. They just don't confirm any.
Taken together, the list covers most of a regular week of errands. Breakfast, a quick dinner, the vet, the dry cleaner and the bank could all sit within walking distance of the grocery store. That is what Frakes meant by a "complete" hub, and it is also why his firm describes Sprouts' opening as the "full realization" of the plan. Sprouts gives those other storefronts a reason to open into existing foot traffic.
A Corner Opening Onto a Road Under Construction
EastMarket's front door is Ellsworth Road, and Ellsworth is being widened. The City of Mesa's Ellsworth Road project is taking the road from Loop 202 to Germann Road up to six travel lanes. The work adds dedicated bike lanes and upgrades signals, signage, storm drains and median landscaping. Sundt Construction is the contractor, and the city's posted schedule runs from December 2025 through February 2027.
The city is doing the work in three phases to limit disruption:
- Northbound widening. Work starts at Germann Road and moves north in segments of about one mile, taking the northbound side from two lanes to three while southbound lanes stay open when possible.
- Southbound widening. Crews then move to the southbound side, working south from SR-24 to Germann Road while northbound traffic stays open with minimal restrictions.
- Median and landscaping. The last phase finishes the center median, landscaping and irrigation.
In an April update, Sundt confirmed work on the Ray-to-Germann stretch of Ellsworth and said it expected to finish in 2027. No published source we found confirms which phase is active at the Ray intersection right now. The city's project page has a sign-up form for updates, which is the best way to track lane changes in front of the center. The new storefronts are opening onto a road that is still being rebuilt, and the finished six-lane version is scheduled to arrive after the grocery store.
Saturday Mornings Now Have Two Stops
About a month after the store opened, Eastmark's other food stop moves to its cool-weather schedule. The Eastmark Farmers Market at Eastmark Great Park, 5100 S. Eastmark Pkwy., runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon from October through April. From May through September it runs earlier, from 7 to 11 a.m. Visit Mesa's listing shows the fall and winter season starting Saturday, October 17, and the market's description says dogs are welcome.
The market describes itself as food-focused and built around local farmers and food artisans. Starting October 17, the park on Eastmark Parkway and the corner at Ray and Ellsworth make a two-stop Saturday morning without leaving Eastmark.
Further Out on the Calendar
EastMarket is the nearest of several commercial projects planned around Eastmark. The rest are further off, and each is at a different stage:
- Destination at Gateway, at SR-24 and Signal Butte Road, has announced Walmart, 7 Brew, Take 5 Oil Change, Taco Bell, Zara Nail Bar and PAC Dental. In July, the Phoenix Business Journal reported that Walmart was expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
- Evergreen Development's mixed-use parcel, north of Signal Butte and Warner, plans 261 apartments, a retail building of about 8,500 square feet and a standalone Chipotle with a pickup Chipotlane. According to InBusiness Phoenix, groundbreaking is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
- Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing together make up a planned development of roughly $3 billion, with hospitality, dining, retail, office, housing and a public park. The Mesa City Council approved its development agreement on September 15, which moves the projects into their next development stages.
- SR-24 design from Loop 202 to Ironwood Drive was finished in spring 2026, and the Arizona Department of Transportation expects construction to start in early 2027.
Of everything on this list, only the corner at Ray and Ellsworth has an open store today.
As the first-floor storefronts at EastMarket fill in and Ellsworth moves toward its six-lane finish, the HAUS Real Estate Team will keep following which doors actually open on Eastmark's new corner. If you'd like to talk through what the new corner and the projects coming after it mean for your part of Eastmark, Let's Work Together.
