Burlington Stores broke ground on a nearly 2-million-square-foot distribution center in Buckeye, Arizona, on April 8, 2026. The facility sits inside Westpark 360 Industrial Park at the southwest corner of the I-10 and SR-85 junction. The mayor says it will bring thousands of jobs. The target opening date is 2028.
If you live in Buckeye, Goodyear, Avondale, or Surprise, here is what changes for you
The biggest promise is local work. Buckeye has grown fast, but most residents still commute east toward Phoenix or Tempe for jobs. Mayor Eric Orsborn said this facility will bring “thousands of positions” to the city. If that holds, it means shorter commutes and more money staying in the West Valley.
The flip side is real. A nearly 2-million-square-foot distribution center moves a lot of trucks. SR-85 and Broadway Road will carry more heavy freight once the facility opens. No public road-improvement timeline has been announced to match the 2028 opening. Renters and fixed-income residents should also watch the housing market. As employment density rises in Buckeye, rents and home values tend to follow.
The jobs won’t be posted for a while. Burlington’s facility opens in 2028. No formal application process has been announced yet.
What Burlington is building — and why it’s one of the largest industrial projects in Arizona
The Buckeye distribution center will span nearly 2 million square feet when complete. Burlington calls it one of the company’s largest and most advanced facilities to date. Chief Supply Chain Officer Greg Shultz said it is “designed with advanced systems and improved processes to drive increased speed, flexibility and efficiency.”
Burlington is a Fortune 500 off-price retailer headquartered in New Jersey. It reported Fiscal 2025 net sales of $11.5 billion and trades on the NYSE as BURL. The company plans to open 110 net new stores nationwide by the end of 2026. The Buckeye facility is the western anchor of Burlington’s national logistics network.
The April 8, 2026 groundbreaking setup at Westpark 360 in Buckeye, with ceremonial shovels, a Burlington Stores banner showing project partners and a facility rendering, and Caterpillar equipment on site. (City of Buckeye)
Burlington estimates $290 million in capital expenditures for 2026. That covers both the Arizona facility and the completion of a distribution center in Georgia. Project partners at the April 8 groundbreaking included Garrett Development, VanTrust Real Estate, Butler Design Group, POH+W, Langan, Logan Simpson, and Layton Construction.
Inside Westpark 360: the 1,707-acre park Burlington just unlocked
Officials and project partners break ground at the Burlington Stores Buckeye distribution center on April 8, 2026. Caterpillar equipment flanks both sides of the ceremony. (City of Buckeye)
Westpark 360 Industrial Park covers approximately 1,707 acres southwest of the I-10 and SR-85 junction. Burlington’s land closing was the trigger event the park needed. Fully funded infrastructure construction began in Q2 2026 as a direct result. That buildout now opens the entire park to data center and heavy industrial users who need shovel-ready sites.
Two designations give Westpark 360 a structural edge. The site sits inside Foreign-Trade Zone No. 277. In Arizona, FTZ status can cut real and personal property taxes by 72%. That comes on top of federal customs duty savings and faster import and export processing. The site is also inside a federal Opportunity Zone. Investors who roll eligible capital gains into a Qualified Opportunity Fund here can defer and reduce those taxes.
Then there is the power story. Arizona Public Service purchased 120 acres in 2025 for substation TS35, right next to Westpark 360. Planning documents submitted to the City of Buckeye describe 500KV, 230KV, 69KV, and 12KV substations. The facility would be served by 18 overhead transmission lines. It is estimated to cost more than $1 billion and could deliver 16 gigawatts to the site. Westpark 360’s master plan envisions 19 data centers on land surrounding the APS site and 15 industrial buildings to the west. For more on how power infrastructure shapes Valley development, see our coverage of the Arizona data center backlash across the Phoenix Valley.
The SR-85 corridor: why Buckeye is becoming the next Loop 303
SR-85 runs south from I-10 to the US-Mexico border at Lukeville, Arizona. That direct border connection matters for an off-price retailer. Burlington’s business model depends on buying excess and imported inventory quickly and moving it fast. A facility on SR-85 sits along a direct import corridor from Mexico.
Burlington is not alone on this corridor. Scannell Properties paid $32.5 million on June 11, 2026 for 129 acres nearby to build Summit Logistics Center. Phase I is planned at 1.1 million square feet, designed for a single large-scale tenant. ViaWest Business Park is targeting 83 acres for logistics and distribution users. Crimson Canyon Industrial Park is planned at about 1 million square feet on 74 acres at SR-85 and Rooks Road. Grand View Arizona is a 2,500-acre fully entitled mega-site marketed by JLL. It includes 2.75 miles of Union Pacific rail frontage and could support up to 30.8 million square feet for manufacturers and data centers. The Northwest Valley Chamber of Commerce and multiple trade sources now compare SR-85 directly to Loop 303.
Buckeye’s growth explains the demand. The city had 6,537 residents in 2000. By 2020 that number reached 91,502. By 2023 the population was approximately 108,900 to 114,000. The city earned recognition as America’s fastest-growing city over five years. Mayor Orsborn projects 300,000 residents by 2040. City leaders are actively repositioning Buckeye from a bedroom community to an employment hub. Burlington’s facility is the largest single move in that direction so far.
For more on what industrial growth looks like across the West Valley, see our guide to new stores opening along I-10 and Verrado Way in Buckeye and our look at the Halo Vista groundbreaking along the TSMC corridor in Peoria.
Opening in 2028: what comes next
The groundbreaking happened April 8, 2026. The target opening is 2028. Between now and then, Layton Construction will build the shell. Westpark 360’s infrastructure will continue to come online. Burlington will need to staff and equip a facility of nearly 2 million square feet before its first shipment moves.
Burlington has not announced a job posting timeline or a formal application process. The safest move for residents interested in working there is to monitor Burlington’s careers page as 2028 approaches. The city has not released a road-improvement schedule tied to the facility’s opening. The SR-85 and Broadway Road traffic question remains open.
What is already certain: Burlington’s land closing triggered fully funded infrastructure construction across all 1,707 acres of Westpark 360. The surrounding industrial and data center development the park’s master plan envisions is no longer speculative. The SR-85 corridor is being built now.
