The building at Oracle and Tangerine that once held a Best Buy now holds eleven indoor pickleball courts. The Red Lobster around the corner is now a pizza and ice cream parlor with a small arcade. A few steps from Walmart, a patch of graded dirt is now a playground with swings and slides.
Each change is small. Taken together, they show that Oro Valley Marketplace is being rebuilt around places to stay and play. The stores people used to make a quick trip for are giving way to things you might spend a whole afternoon on. This summer the property owner gave that change a name. In the Town's August 2026 report to council, the owner updated its master sign program to reflect a name change to "Oro Valley Town Center."
Here is what has opened, what is still being built and what is on the calendar between now and December.
The old boxes, refilled
For several years the center had a reputation problem. In a May 2026 KGUN report, the station noted that many Oro Valley residents had described the Marketplace as a shopping center that had lost momentum, with once-busy storefronts and large stretches of empty parking.
The tenants that have filled those spaces since fall 2025 follow a pattern. Almost every one of them is something you do rather than something you pick up.
Space | Before | Now | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
Former Best Buy | Electronics retail, closed March 2022 | The Picklr, indoor pickleball | September 20, 2025 |
Former Red Lobster, 11695 N. Oracle Rd. | Seafood restaurant, closed 2024 | Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream | March 2026 |
11835 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 117 | Tee Box OV, indoor golf simulators | Ribbon cutting June 2, 2026 | |
12125 N. Oracle Rd., #129 | Code Ninjas | Ribbon cutting July 25, 2026 | |
Between Walmart and Tuk Tuk Thai | Open ground | North Park playground | Ribbon cutting June 23, 2026 |
The Picklr was the first sign. KGUN reported ahead of its September 2025 opening that the club would bring 11 indoor courts to the old Best Buy space. Next to that, a summer afternoon on a pickleball court in Southern Arizona feels very different from one spent in a big parking lot. The Town's September economic development update lists The Picklr as "under new ownership," with a date of October 20, 2026. That suggests the club is changing hands, not closing.
Happy Joe's followed in March. Tucson Foodie described it as a family dining concept with pizza, ice cream, game space and party rooms, and it brought its well-known Iowa taco pizza with it. The manager told KGUN that the grand opening "was ridiculously busy," with a line out the door. Many early customers already knew the brand from the Midwest, especially seasonal visitors who spend winters in Arizona.
Tee Box and Code Ninjas carry the same idea into the summer months. Tee Box's own site lists 24-hour access to its golf simulators. Code Ninjas, where the Marketplace's listing says kids learn to code, held its grand opening in late July.
North Park, the first public space
The tenants show the direction. North Park is the first piece of the plan that belongs to everyone.
It sits between Walmart and Tuk Tuk Thai, and the Town's July report to council confirms that it "celebrated its ribbon-cutting on June 23." The Marketplace's own North Park announcement lists slides, swings, seating areas and nearby parking, and invites families to "bring your grandkids, kids."
The park took longer than first planned. In spring, the Town's project page expected it to be finished by the end of April. Playground equipment was still going up when KGUN visited in mid-May. The ribbon cutting followed about two months later.
The Happy Joe's manager explained to KGUN why the park matters to the businesses around it: "Arizona is that place where people want to be outside, so it would be really nice to have kind of a walkable market that you can just hang out in all day. I mean, the playground is going to be amazing." Linking a restaurant, a playground and a pickleball club within walking distance is how this redevelopment is supposed to work. North Park is the first place where that idea has been built.
Why "Town Center" fits
The new name is more than a rebrand. It matches what the Town and the owner agreed to years ago.
Town West Companies acquired the Marketplace in 2019, according to the Town's 2022 announcement, and the Town's October 2025 update names Town West as the company managing the center. The master plan the Town announced in November 2022 allows up to three hotels, two apartment communities totaling 422 units, a restaurant cluster with a courtyard or plaza, two drive-through uses, and an entertainment area. That area is intended to include a splash pad, a playground, a gazebo and a park.
Read that list with North Park in mind and the playground is already checked off. The hotels, restaurant plaza, splash pad and gazebo are allowed under the plan, but none of the 2026 sources sets a schedule for them. They belong in the "someday" column. A center made of restaurants, hotels, a plaza and homes works more like a town center than a strip of shops, and the August sign program update makes that official. The Town's report says the change is code-compliant and does not alter the current design theme or look. Expect new signs over time, not a new architectural style.
What is still under construction
The largest piece of the plan is still being built, so the area around Tangerine Road will keep seeing construction crews for a while.
Encantada at Oro Valley Marketplace. This 320-unit apartment community is going up south of Tangerine Road. The Town's October 2025 announcement names HSL Properties and Borderlands Construction as the Phase 1 partners. In August, the Town reported that the first buildings and the clubhouse were "getting closer to completion." The July report estimated that apartment construction would finish in September 2027.
Early-morning concrete pours. If you have heard trucks in the middle of the night, this is the likely reason. The Town's project page says concrete pours for the apartments would happen on Fridays starting January 23, 2026, with work beginning at 1:00 a.m. The schedule was expected to continue periodically for about ten months. The page also gives a contact for the HSL project superintendent for questions.
The Water Harvest Way tunnel and walkways. The plan includes a pedestrian tunnel under Water Harvest Way that connects the two halves of the apartment site, plus pedestrian safety improvements along Water Harvest Way. The Town's October 2025 announcement also describes intersection improvements along Water Harvest Way toward Oracle Road. In its August report, the Town said the tunnel was "nearing completion" and that the Water Harvest Way pedestrian work was expected to begin in August or September. No later update confirms that either one is finished. If you use Water Harvest Way this fall, expect work zones.
These walkways connect the apartments, the park and the restaurants, so they will decide whether the "walkable market" the Happy Joe's manager described actually works on foot. Until they are done, most visits will still start in a parking space.
On the calendar through December
The center's 2026 events page shows a full fall season. These are the dates listed as of late September 2026:
- October 23: Oro Valley Police Department National Night Out, and a Bouncing Czechs band concert
- October 25–26: Oro Valley Fall Foodie and Arts & Wine Festival
- November 21: Oro Valley Shred Event
- December 5–6: Oro Valley Holiday Festival of the Arts & Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration
- December 13: A Chabad event, and the Marketplace serving as a Tucson Marathon parking host
October 23 is a busy night all over town. The Town's free Friday Night Concerts at Steam Pump Ranch also run that evening, and again on November 6, from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. with food trucks on site. The Town's own Fall Foodie page was still showing earlier years' dates when we checked. The Marketplace calendar is the one carrying the 2026 festival weekend, so check it before you head over.
The Fall Foodie weekend and the holiday tree lighting will be the first big seasonal events held with North Park open next door. This year there will be a playground, a family restaurant, golf simulators and pickleball courts within a short walk of the festival.
I follow changes like these closely because they shape everyday life in Oro Valley and contribute to the character and appeal of the surrounding neighborhoods. Whether you're considering a move to Oro Valley or simply exploring what makes this community so desirable, I'm always pleased to share my local knowledge and offer thoughtful guidance.
