Shell and Pad Building Contractor in Arizona
Ground-up retail pads, shell buildings, and spec suites across the East Valley, built to a lease-up schedule.
A shell building is a different problem than a tenant improvement. The money is committed before there is a tenant, the schedule answers to a construction loan and a lease-up plan rather than one occupant's opening date, and every week the building sits unfinished is carrying cost against a pro forma that was written a year earlier. Site work, dry utilities, and offsite improvements usually control the critical path long before anyone frames a wall, and a general contractor who treats those as someone else's problem will cost you a leasing season.
Emerald Inc. has built freestanding commercial buildings across the Phoenix metro from 1,200 to 27,000 square feet, taking projects from foundation through certificate of occupancy. We are a Mesa general contractor, ROC 171933, working in the East Valley since 1997. We also build the tenant improvements that follow, which means we understand how the decisions made in a shell either simplify or complicate every buildout that comes after it.
What we build for developers
Retail pads and shell buildings
Freestanding pad buildings and multi-tenant shells, including site work coordination, utility service, building envelope, and the demising and stub-outs that make a space leasable.
Spec suites
Landlord-funded speculative suites that let a prospect walk finished space instead of imagining it. Typically the fastest lever available on a stubborn vacancy.
Build-to-suit and first-generation TI
Buildouts for signed tenants in office, retail, industrial, medical, and restaurant space, including the first-generation work behind a new shell.
What we bring to shell and pad construction
Schedule is the number one thing a developer is buying, so we protect it where it actually breaks. We self-perform demolition, framing, doors, and accessories rather than waiting in another contractor's queue for the trades that most often stall a job, and we run a consistent group of subcontractors who have worked together on our sites for years.
We also pay our subcontractors on time, typically within 15 to 30 days. That is not standard in this industry, and it is not a courtesy. Trades prioritize the jobs that pay fastest, which shows up on your project as crews that arrive when they are scheduled and pricing that reflects a contractor they want to keep working for.
Six of ten unsolicited Google reviews mention prompt subcontractor payment without being asked. On a shell running against a construction loan, that is a schedule advantage, not a nicety.
You get one point of contact from permit through punch list. Quinten Merrill, who signs the contracts, is the same person walking the budget with you at each phase and answering the phone when an inspector raises something unexpected. On ground-up work we coordinate civil and structural engineering, utility providers, soils and foundation work, envelope sequencing, and MEP rough-in, and we handle the authority having jurisdiction so the certificate of occupancy is our problem to solve rather than yours to chase.
Ground-up projects we have completed
- UTV Stereo — Mesa, AZ. 9,742 SF building expansion, 9,456 SF S-2 storage plus a 286 SF entry canopy.
- Chiller City — Mesa, AZ. 27,000 SF industrial warehouse with attached offices.
- Apple Valley Dental & Braces — Mesa, AZ. 10,000 SF freestanding dental office, foundation through certificate of occupancy.
- Urgent Care Extra — freestanding urgent care facilities at multiple Phoenix metro locations.
- Bella Rosa Apartments — Mesa, AZ. Multi-family residential.
- Gadzooks Enchiladas & Soup — Tempe, AZ. Ground-up restaurant.
- Pirates Fish & Chips — Mesa, AZ. 1,200 SF freestanding restaurant.
Serving developers across the Phoenix metro
We work throughout the East Valley and greater Phoenix metro, including Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe, Scottsdale, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley, Apache Junction, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee, Gold Canyon, and Goodyear, with selective work in Flagstaff and Tucson. Our typical project runs from $100,000 to $2 million.
If you are placing a pad on an outparcel, positioning vacant space for lease-up, or planning a small multi-tenant center and want a contractor who will still be answering the phone during punch list, we can walk you through budget and schedule from the first conversation. Preliminary budgets before a tenant is signed are something we do at no cost.
Have a pad or shell in the works?
Tell us about your project. We’ll review the details and give you a clear, itemized
estimate — no obligation.