SCOTTSDALE --Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar plans to open by this spring at the Pavilions, which has signed or renewed leases for 475,000 square feet of retail space in the last 13 months, said Marty DeRito, chief executive of DeRito Partners Development Co. "We've really turned our ship around," said DeRito, who felt like he had acquired the Titanic when he bought the 128-acre Pavilions in January 2008 for $88 million.

 

Within 90 days, Circuit City and Mervyns filed for bankruptcy and the occupancy rate fell to 47 percent for the shopping center at Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road.

But the tide started to turn in 2010 when the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community opened its Talking Stick Resort and casino a mile to the east and followed that this year with the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The spring-training complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies attracted huge Cactus League crowds and a total of 359,308 fans in March.