Drive down Bullard Avenue on a Saturday morning and the block between McDowell and Van Buren looks different than it did six months ago. There is a new patio behind glass at First Watch, cranes still working the corner where Fogo de Chão will stand, and a steady trickle of cars threading into the two-acre park behind City Hall. If you have lived in Goodyear for even a couple of years, you have watched GSQ come in one tenant at a time. 2026 is the year it stops feeling like a construction site next to City Hall and starts feeling like a downtown.
That is the argument of this post. Not that GSQ is coming soon, but that the concentration of openings landing between January 2026 and early 2027 is what actually flips the district from "a handful of restaurants" into a place with enough gravity to pull you out of the house on a weeknight. Below is what is already open, what is about to open, and what is worth watching for the second half of the year.
The 150-acre context
GSQ debuted in August 2022 on McDowell Road and 150th Drive as a 150-acre mixed-use development co-developed by RED Development and Globe Corp. It wraps the new city hall, public library, a two-acre park, and office space with retail and dining on the perimeter, with multi-family residential, more office, and a hotel planned inside the footprint. That is a lot of pad sites, and until this year most of them were dirt.
What is already trading here on a weekend: BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, Copper & Sage, Over Easy, The Stillery, and the newer Dave's Hot Chicken. Solid, but not a critical mass. The 2026 tenant list is what changes that.
What just landed
First Watch opened at 1670 N. Bullard Ave. on Monday, January 26, 2026. The 3,700 square foot space seats more than 160 with a covered patio and an interior bar, and it runs a one-shift, no-night-shift schedule with doors open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. The kitchen operates without heat lamps, microwaves, or deep fryers, and rotates a seasonal menu four times a year. The first Goodyear-specific seasonal menu drops in summer 2026, which is a small detail worth watching if you have already run through the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and want a reason to come back.
Magdaleña is the next opening on the calendar. The Phoenix-based TPQ Foods group behind Pa'La Wood-Fired Kitchen and Tortas Paquimé anticipates opening the concept in late May near McDowell Road and 150th Drive. Founder Omar Alvarez has described it as a Latin American–inspired menu built around wood-fired cooking with premium meats, fresh seafood, and vegetable-forward plates designed for sharing. This is the tenant to pay attention to. TPQ's other concepts are chef-driven and pull crowds from across the Valley. Dropping that pedigree into a suburban downtown is the kind of anchor that tells other independent operators the market can support them.
The rest of the 2026 wave
The city has confirmed a run of 2026 openings that stack up faster than any single year GSQ has had. Rather than list them one by one, here is the shape of it:
| Opening | Concept | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fogo de Chão | Brazilian churrasco steakhouse | 8,460 sq ft at the southwest corner of Goodyear Way and Bullard Avenue; only the second Valley location after North Scottsdale |
| California Fish Grill | Sustainably sourced seafood, fast-casual | Northwest corner of Bullard Ave. and McDowell Rd.; third Arizona location |
| CAVA | Mediterranean fast-casual | 2026 opening confirmed |
| Kura Revolving Sushi Bar | Conveyor-belt sushi | 2026 opening confirmed |
| Firebirds Wood Fired Grill | Steaks and seafood, upscale casual | 5,658 sq ft standalone with an outdoor patio; adds to existing Firebirds in Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria, and Surprise |
| Black Rock Coffee Bar | Coffee, drive-thru | 1,460 sq ft with drive-thru |
| Paris Baguette | French-inspired bakery café | Announced small-format tenant |
| Handel's Ice Cream | Scoop shop | Announced small-format tenant |
| Berry Divine Acai Bowls | Acai and smoothie bowls | Announced small-format tenant |
| Magdaleña | Latin American, wood-fired | Late May 2026, from TPQ Foods |
| Zara Nail Bar | Nail salon | Announced service tenant |
| Reformed Pilates | Boutique fitness studio | Announced service tenant |
| VEG (Veterinary Emergency Group) | 24-hour emergency animal hospital | Announced 2026 opening |
| AC Hotels | Marriott-brand hotel | Announced |
Two things stand out when you read that table sideways rather than top to bottom.
First, the mix is unusually balanced for a suburban lifestyle center. Sit-down steakhouse, fast-casual seafood, sushi, breakfast, coffee, ice cream, bakery, and a bar-driven American house are all inside a five-minute walk of each other. Most West Valley developments lead with one anchor and let the pad sites fill in later. GSQ is opening the anchor and the fill at the same time.
Second, the service tenants matter more than they look. A 24-hour emergency vet, a pilates studio, and a nail salon are not weekend-trip businesses. They are Tuesday-afternoon businesses, which means the developer is betting on residents, not just visitors. That is a real read on where GSQ thinks its density is heading.
The Fogo detail worth noting
Fogo de Chão's only current Valley location is in North Scottsdale. Putting the second one on Goodyear Way is not a rounding-error decision for a chain that runs high-ticket, reservation-driven traffic. It suggests the operator sees enough disposable income and enough regional pull in the West Valley to support a second Arizona location without cannibalizing the first. For a resident, the practical version of that read is simpler: you no longer have to drive to Scottsdale for a churrasco dinner.
The 2027 shadow
Not everything is landing this year. Nordstrom Rack is planned as a 25,000 square foot store opening in spring 2027. That is the retail anchor GSQ has been missing, and its arrival is what closes the loop from "eat and drink" to "eat, drink, and buy something." Worth marking on the calendar even if the doors are eighteen months out.
"GSQ is rapidly becoming one of the West Valley's premier destinations," Goodyear Mayor Joe Pizzillo said when the CAVA, Kura, California Fish Grill, and VEG announcements went public.
Take the political framing out and the underlying claim is defensible. The West Valley has been short on walkable dining nodes for a long time. Westgate does one version of it. Verrado Marketplace does another. GSQ is the first attempt at a true downtown block that combines civic buildings, park space, and dining under one plan.
The Buc-ee's factor a mile away
One more thing to flag because it is going to change traffic patterns whether you like it or not. Buc-ee's has broken ground on its first Arizona location, the Goodyear Travel Center, slated to open in June 2026. It is not part of GSQ, but it sits close enough that summer weekends are going to look different on the surrounding roads. If you are used to running errands on Bullard on a Saturday morning, plan around it.
How to actually use this list
If you live in Estrella, Palm Valley, Canyon Trails, or one of the newer builds along Perryville, the practical version of the 2026 GSQ calendar looks like this. First Watch is already the go-to for a weekend breakfast that does not require driving to Verrado. Magdaleña in late May is the reservation to make when out-of-town family visits and you want to show them something that is not a chain. Firebirds and Fogo de Chão fill the anniversary-dinner slot without a Scottsdale drive. CAVA, California Fish Grill, and Kura become the weeknight rotation. Handel's and Berry Divine are the after-school walkovers if you live close enough. VEG is the number you save in your phone before you need it.
None of this makes GSQ finished. The hotel, the multi-family, and the Nordstrom Rack are still ahead of us, and the master plan continues to evolve. What it does mean is that if you bought a home within a ten-minute drive of the corner of McDowell and Bullard in the last five years, the reason you bought here is finally standing up out of the ground.
If you are weighing a move somewhere else in Goodyear because your current place no longer fits, or you have friends asking what has changed on this side of the Valley, Tag Team AZ is happy to walk through what the neighborhood looks like now and where the next few blocks are heading. Contact us when you want a straight read on it.
