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The Rancho Center, 3302-3416 E. Speedway, once boasted tenants such as McLellan’s and Korby department stores.

Today, Rancho Center is home to Whole Foods Market, Zia Records and Midtown Mercantile Merchants, which relocated into the former Bookmans space earlier this year.

A concept for a restaurant next to the Whole Foods is expected to be announced soon.

Local developer Larsen Baker bought the 80,000-square-foot property in 2022 for $10 million with plans to revitalize it.

Planned upgrades to the façade and improvements on the west end will bring new retail to the center, which opened in 1949 and was designed by renowned architect Cecil H. “Cookie� Moore.

Moore designed more than 350 local projects after he arrived in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in 1936.

Moore formed a business relationship with developer Simon Kivel to design the service station and warehouse for Apache Tire Company on the northwest corner of Stone Avenue and Fifth Street. The building included a graphic-neon-clad tower visible from a distance, records from the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Historic Preservation Foundation show.

Moore built numerous motel courts along ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s one-time main highway () and designed several art deco service stations, including the Esses Super Service Station at 648 N. Stone Ave., which the preservation foundation describes as iconic.

His ongoing partnership with the Kivel Family continued with the design and construction of the Rancho Center at a cost of $330,000.

The first phase included a grocery store that opened in July 1949 and included numerous buildings for the early strip mall, such as the 1952 “Sud-n Service — The Wash Well� dry cleaning, the 1956 El Rancho Center McLellan’s Store with two “ultra-modern� floors, the 1958 El Rancho Center Korby Department Store expansion, and the 1959 Bel Aire Casuals, according to historic records.

A few spots are still available for lease at the property, located just east of the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

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