Surprise, Arizona

Surprise Stadium at the Surprise Recreation Campus is the spring training home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals.

Surprise began as a one-square-mile chunk of land on which real estate developer and state legislator Homer C. Ludden planned to build inexpensive homes for local agricultural workers. Little did he know back then that developer Del Webb would start to build the age-restricted resort-like communities of Sun City, Sun City West and Sun City Grand in the same area. The 1990's and early 2000's saw tens of thousands of retirees move to the area and caused Surprise to move into the number two position among the fastest growing cities in Arizona (right after number one: Gilbert). From that 1-square-mile humble beginning, Surprise has grown to encompass some 69.5 square miles.

The Surprise City Council unanimously approved an agreement with Westcor in 2007 to facilitate the construction of Prasada, the largest regional shopping mall in Arizona. While business at Prasada is expected to raise some $60 million per year in sales taxes, the shopping complex is also projected to create more than 20,000 local jobs.