ASU/UofA Downtown Phoenix construction thread

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by gymratmanaz

I forget. As I walked about downtown this weekend, I was curious about the new ASU Law School. It takes up a little more than 1/2 - 3/4 of the block. Is there a plan for the rest of the block? I forget if there was. ???????

It takes up the whole block im fairly certain.

[RichTempe]

Originally Posted by Obadno

It takes up the whole block im fairly certain.

From the construction cam, you can see that the finished product will take up maybe 2/3's of the block. I believe Jjs has discussed this multiple times previously in this forum.

http://oxblue.com/open/DPRPhoenix/ArizonaCenter

[PHXFlyer11]

Originally Posted by RichTempe

From the construction cam, you can see that the finished product will take up maybe 2/3's of the block. I believe Jjs has discussed this multiple times previously in this forum.

http://oxblue.com/open/DPRPhoenix/ArizonaCenter

I thought the extra space was for future expansion... I was able to find the following quote from an article:

"The extra space will allow the ASU law school to expand and fits in with the school's mission of becoming an urban, comprehensive law school. The juris doctor program will remain about the same at about 550 students, Sylvester said. But the school plans to expand graduate and continuing-education programs, bringing total enrollment to about 750."

From the Arizona Center for Law and Society web site:

The building will take up 75% of the block bordered by Taylor Street on the North, 1st Street on the West, Polk Street on the South, and 2nd Street on the East. The address for the new building will be 111 Taylor Street, Phoenix, Arizona.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11

I thought the extra space was for future expansion... I was able to find the following quote from an article:



From the Arizona Center for Law and Society web site:

Oh I just figured any open space would be like a plaza or entryway or something

Guess its a parking lot till Sandra Day decides to build a tower.

[gymratmanaz]

I was thinking the same, Parking or plaza , but it looks like enough space for a tower or something.

[TakeFive]

Either which way I sure like this addition to downtown.

[sky51]

Pictures of the new O'Connor Law building at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus taken on July 13 2015. The cladding looks fabulous.

[PHXFlyer11]

Not sure I love the facade yet, but that last picture is impressive. Looks like a pretty tall six stories.

[MegaBass]

Construction cam

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by MegaBass

Construction cam

BTW, I had to do an update to flash as Firefox was blocking it w/o the new update. Funny article about Facebook wanting to kill flash. I have experienced a few glitches so maybe this weekend I'll run a malware check prollly with Malwarebytes or whatever is considered best at FileHippo.

[Jjs5056]

Originally Posted by RichTempe

From the construction cam, you can see that the finished product will take up maybe 2/3's of the block. I believe Jjs has discussed this multiple times previously in this forum.

http://oxblue.com/open/DPRPhoenix/ArizonaCenter

Thanks, yes - the corner of 2nd Street and Polk is being left undeveloped for future ASU expansion. The most likely is residential housing, as much as they are putting all of their bets on housing being taken care of through private development. I believe ASU has 10 years to submit a proposal, before it reverts back to City ownership.

I wouldn't mind seeing them lose ownership, and a high rise residential tower built focused on graduate students and/or families. I believe it would squeeze in just north of the Sheraton within the skyline. Some height - SOMEWHERE - on this campus would be refreshing, and I am glad the entire lot wasn't spent on a 6-story building.

It's too bad ASU continues to screw up its urban designing; the circulation of this project is super awkward with the most obvious path being to go into the center of the building and out the sides, as opposed to remaining on 1st Street which will have the new law firm as its only major frontage. It's also crappy that any house street is used as back-of-house when you have a whole block to work with; there's no reason an alley type of system couldn't be utilized. Then again, with the Sheraton fronting 2nd Street with nothing but blank walls, it doesn't matter much.

On the positive side, the Taylor Street frontage is pretty decent with the bookstore, as well as restaurant space mid-block. That space is being marketed, so it will be a 'real' restaurant as opposed to student dining. It'd be nice to see Taylor Mall become a true mall as was intended with true retail lining the way.

[Jjs5056]

Here is the site plan. You can see the remaining corner is quite a decent size for the future development; you can also see the awkward circulation around 1st Street.

[MegaBass]

ABOR business and finance committee supports ASU Downtown campus expansion

With a unanimous "yes" vote, the Arizona Board of Regents Business and Finance Committee supported ASU's request to expand the University's Downtown Phoenix campus on Wednesday.

The decision will move the University's request to acquire more land in downtown Phoenix to the full board.

ASU Executive Vice President of Business and Finance Morgan Olsen spoke on behalf of the University at the meeting, advocating for the purchase.

"As (the Downtown Phoenix campus) has grown, we've found the need for additional space, not only for parking, but also for potential building space, particularly for teaching and learning space," he said. "And since it is downtown Phoenix, that doesn't necessarily grow on trees."

The proposed acquisition would total about 34,848 square feet. The land, on First Avenue in downtown, is located to the west of Civic Space Park on the same block as the Sun Devil Fitness Center on the University's Downtown Phoenix campus.

The cost of the land will be roughly $4.66 million, or about $134 per square foot.

Regents will discuss the campus expansion during a meeting on Tempe campus Thursday and Friday.

*Disclaimer: Regents did not specify what will be done with the land if purchased.

[Jjs5056]

Why is ASU purchasing land when 1) it owns several vacant lots, 2) it owns several properties that had been scheduled for redevelopment, and 3) it promised to integrate its facilities into the existing downtown fabric. 34,000 square feet means they just purchased the entire block of 1st Ave from the Sun Devil Fitness Center north through the dilapidated buildings close to Fillmore. It looks like the BofA drive-through was spared, which is great since that site is so small that a developer will never bother replacing it with something more fitting for that intersection.

An urban campus should not require that much contiguous land, especially with the amount of vacant land it already owns. What is the incentive for designing tall, dense buildings when you have the rest of downtown to build on? 1st Ave should have been filled with private residential and hotel towers that had unobstructed views of what was supposed to be a public park and full access to the city's transit center. But, lining the park's western edge with University buildings completes its transition from semi-public space to the downtown ASU equivalent of the college "green" or "quad." From the use of the historic structures on site for University functions (AE England's top floor and the Post Office - which requires a SunCard) to the surrounding lowrise academic buildings (University Center, Cronkite, Fitness Center, YMCA), downtown residents have no reason at all to feel as though this is their space as there is nothing in this area that they'd need or want to use.

Even sadder is that I wouldn't be surprised to see a parking garage built with a parking lot next to it slated for "future classrooms and facilities." The latter were described as "potential," with parking being the imminent need as always. With all of the surplus parking downtown, including a new garage on a campus ASU does have a stake in, why is the "there's no parking!" rhetoric allowed to continue instead of collaboration to promote shared parking and transit usage? The last thing downtown needs is another parking structure. At most, an entire city block will be filled with 5-story facilities housing one program, the complete opposite approach to what ASU said it would do and what is needed to make an impact on downtown. The Fitness Center should have never, ever been approved; that was built less than 5 years ago - was a fitness center so vital that they couldn't wait 5 years so that they could combine it with a parking structure and additional classrooms and facilities? The Law School is still under construction, for Christ's sake! Instead of focusing on creating what they mistakenly think is an architectural icon, maybe they could have focused on true benefits to the "society" its named for by building a more sustainable building with more intense uses? What about the several lots they own or have created through demolition along Central, Fillmore, etc.?

What about the parking garage attached to the University Center which is currently a massive dead-zone along Taylor and 1st Streets, provides minimal parking, and was planned for redevelopment in the initial site maps? Why not centralize parking in a podium here and use this project as a chance to activate the Taylor Mall - one of the many "visions" that have failed and been ignored by ASU? Why have partnerships with private developers not been discussed? With the low vacancy rates for Class A office, perhaps ASU's space requirements would have been enough for a new tower to get financing. Or, god forbid - they could have designed one of the six lots they just purchased for the Biomedical Campus to contain a mix of academic studies. If ASU can't design true mixed use buildings with retail, office, hotel, or residential space for the public, the least that they could do is mix together their academic programs. What they are doing is the very definition of sprawl and it's creating a huge hole in the center of downtown and taking away assets that should have been used to facilitate private projects like The Westward Ho and Civic Space.

[Jjs5056]

Why is ASU even considering purchasing land without having specific plans for the programs/facilities that require such a large amount of space? AFAIK, no additional programs have been chosen for relocation since the Law School, meaning there's no reason the original space plans need to be expanded. They've yet to build the housing uses on Polk/2nd St and Central/Fillmore, medical uses on 2nd St/Fillmore, or redevelop the University Center. With none of those projects in the pipeline, why was a city block needed?

These were funds that could've been used to build the first student housing units since the campus launched; to purchase buildings like the Republic garage for redevelopment to add restaurants, bars, and shops on Taylor that make the campus attractive for students; to look for innovative ways of bringing economic development and jobs to downtown - like partnering with Best Western on a new HQ, flagship hotel, and class space for a relocated Tourism and Hospitality program; or, to develop a plan for how the art program's presence in the Warehouse District should evolve.

[combusean]

I don't think ASU has any plan for downtown, and it's growing organically. ASU can't even follow the plans it comes up with for Tempe, so who knows.

That being said, I'm definitely going to miss those buildings on the west side of 1st Ave.

[Jjs5056]

Originally Posted by combusean

I don't think ASU has any plan for downtown, and it's growing organically. ASU can't even follow the plans it comes up with for Tempe, so who knows.

That being said, I'm definitely going to miss those buildings on the west side of 1st Ave.

And, now it's expanding into Mesa, which definitely help to prioritize some sort of realistic, actionable master plan.

I don't understand why the City doesn't at least put up a fight for show, so it at least looks like they are holding ASU to all of its initial promises. Instead, it's let them block historic buildings via SunCard and build a slew of lowrise, single-use structures.

In your last sentence, did you mean you *won't* miss those buildings? I agree. But, the likelihood of this land being developed in the next 10+ years is slim to none. And, I would have preferred the remaining real estate along the park to be tall and non-ASU so that there was some sense that Fillmore-Van Buren is still part of downtown.

[azliam]

Yuck...

Panetta said the university isn’t sure yet how its going to use the downtown parcel.

Some students would like to see the school put in more parking for its downtown campus.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...enix-land.html

[MegaBass]

Arizona Center for Law and Society today (Logan Clark)

[Leo the Dog]

^Nice pic!