If it would've had a tower on the grass portion, it would have been a pretty good design IMO. I guess we'll never know what the intent along Van Buren was to be.

Hopefully that old rendering (which has been around for nearly a decade) is out and a new design is in the works. The bigger story is if it's mostly an office building. This may be the first in nearly 8 years in downtown. That's huge.

This article from last year indicated that Golub was looking to sell the land. I don't see any indication that they ever sold. So unclear to me if it's Golub or someone else that's behind new proposal.

Yeah, lattitude/longitude put this at Kierland Optima, but phases 3 and 4 are only supposed to be max 120'. Not sure what would be 200' there. Could be a typo intended to be 100'?

They have it at 200' for the total height difference between ground level and AMSL too, so I'm not sure. That would a MAJOR step up in height for the Kierland area. Oh, how I can hear Scottsdale residents now. :haha:

I wanted to update everyone on an email I received back from Lisa Davis at Davis Architecture regarding the Ro2 development. I emailed them requesting clarification on the rendering for Ro2 since a previous rendering looked somewhat similar to the Creative House rendering on their webpage.

I was told that the Creative House project: https://thedavisexperience.com/project/creative-house is adjacent to the City owned property at Ro2. It is not a part of the recent RFP but is envisioned to be a catalytic and complementary piece of the Roosevelt Row Arts and Cultural District. Development plans have not be finalized at this time though they are optimistic that it may be developed concurrently with the RFP property.

Regarding Phoenix Central Station: https://thedavisexperience.com/proje...entral-station - Their client for Phoenix Central Station is Forum Capital. It is their understanding that they remain very interested in this critical redevelopment opportunity and would likely pursue the RFP when it is reissued.

Regarding the W Hotel: https://thedavisexperience.com/project/w-phoenix - They love the W Hotel project next to Talking Stick Arena and believe it would be an outstanding addition to the downtown Phoenix skyline. Though it is dormant at this time, they are unaware of any other plans for the property and believe that it may once again be a possibility, as the economy and energy around downtown grows more robust.

Holy crap! Creative House is bad ass! I never saw that before. Between The Link, Palmcourt Tower, this, and the Stewart we are adding some gorgeous and unique buildings to our skyline!

OMG, the W. Yes, please! :slob:

Is this the same project that was proposed over a decade ago and then abandoned when issues arose surrounding the Sun Mercantile building? The video is definitely newer than that since iPads didn't exist back in 2007.

Correct. It was initially going to break ground in 2006. It's interesting to go back and see which projects proposed back then actually came to fruition (44 Monroe, Sheraton, Summit, Convention Center expansion, Phoenix Metro Light Rail, 215 E Mckinley, ASU downtown and dorms, Alta Phoenix), which ones were altered (Portland Place, Cityscape, Central Park East), and which ones never came to fruition (W Hotel, Warehouse Lofts, Cosmopolitan Lofts, Phoenix Resort Towers, Metro Lofts, Toll Brothers Towers, Brophy Towers, Cielo Towers, Omega Tower, One Phoenix, Momentum Tower, Copper Point, 3rd Street & Earl, Century Plaza, The Jet, among many others).

It will be interesting to see the Pier in Tempe built considering it was proposed way back then as well.

The Pier is completely different. You are thinking of Pier 202. That was a massive project, where’s the Pier is just two towers.

Ah yes, scratch that. :tup:

I wonder then if this project is resurrected, will it be possible to overcome the historic preservation issues surrounding the Sun Mercantile building? In the dozen years since then, historic preservation has become a stronger force in Phoenix.

If I’m the developer I’d be concerned about how long the Suns, and arena will be there. Probably not worth the legal battles with that big unknown. I expect if there is ever an arena deal made, it will include some hotel, retail, etc from Sarver and his investors.

That's not how that went down--they won the historic preservation case. It was Colangelo or Keuth or one of those suits that had basically lied to the city council and said the roof wasn't historic because they had recently replaced it.

They made no mention of the interior trussing or any of that which the preservationists were fighting for. I, and everyone else there, was incensed by the duplicity.

The market collapsed soon after the approval, so the project went nowhere.

I think we've seen this project from Davis in the intervening years, but it's a different project that was proposed anyways--the one they were showing to council had the tower portion on the plaza space and some 12-story generic "flex/mixed use" to sit inside Sun Merc in a facadomy. They said they needed that flex space to pencil the project out.

http://azpreservation.org/archives/413

I actually liked Bruder's design better than the generic-looking tower that was proposed back then.

http://willbruderarchitects.com/project/w-hotel/

Ahh yes, the Bruder design was one we liked as well--it had cantilevered over Sun Merc and didn't impact its historicity really.

I vaguely recall the Sun Merc lawsuit was dismissed, my memories are a bit fuzzy.

New, proposed developments set to alter Phoenix’s downtown skyline
 

From PBJ:
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...phoenix-s.html


Downtown Phoenix’s skyline could look very different if a number of proposed high-rise developments and other projects come fruition.

While developers have proposed plenty of big projects in Phoenix before that never happened, there are a number of new downtown developments under construction or in the development pipeline.

Others are being planned and proposed.

“Over the next 18 months, the Phoenix skyline is going to change significantly with potentially as many as 12 mid- and high-rise buildings going up,” said Christine Mackay, director, Phoenix Community and Economic Development.

Mackay said downtown Phoenix is drawing interest from developers all over the U.S.

“I don’t believe there has ever been a time in Phoenix’s history that there will be so many cranes over downtown at one time.”

Most of the potential new additions to the Phoenix skyline are residential, hotels or mixed-use heavy with residential.

“Any high rise for now will be residential,” said Andrew Cheney, a prominent commercial real estate broker and principal with Lee & Associates in Phoenix.

There are new apartments in the works on Central Avenue and Willetta Street by Tilton Construction and another at Second Street and Willetta from Transwestern. The latter is on land being acquired from Cable One Inc. (NYSE: CABO), according to Orion Investment Real Estate.

Apartment redevelopment of the Circles Records & Tapes building at Central Avenue and McKinley Street is in full construction mode. There also are new apartments recently debuted or being built in the Roosevelt Row area on the north side of downtown.

The Link PHX, which is slated to open in August 2019, is a 30-story mixed-used apartment project that will have 257 units. It is being developed by Chicago-based CA Ventures and Diamond Realty Investments.

The long watched Block 23 parcel at Washington and First Streets between CityScape and Collier Center is under construction. It includes the sought-after downtown grocery store, a Fry’s Food & Drug Stores location. RED Development also is putting in apartments along with high-tech and creative offices at the project.

Cheney said commercial real estate developers, investors and brokers are seeing how Block 23’s office components do, and that could dictate interest in new office development. Downtown hasn’t seen new offices added since the last real estate boom and boost more than a decade ago.

“You wont see a new office tower for a while until some of the vacancy is eliminated,” Cheney said. “But, you will continue to see new restaurants and music venues pop up, a new hotel at Arizona Center and new action on ASU’s downtown campus.

Cheney is referring to a new 15-story AC Hotel by Marriott (Nasdaq: MAR) is slated for development at the Arizona Center at Third and Van Buren streets.

The Arizona Center is going through a major renovation, and a 31-story new apartment is slated there from Parallel Capital Partners,

There also are plans for a 19-story apartment tower at Second and McKinley streets that would have urban micro-units with rents starting at $1,350 per month.

The $36 million project is being developed by Amstar/McKinley LLC and is adjacent to Angel Trumpet’s Ale House. But $8 million in property tax breaks from the city of Phoenix are being challenged by the Goldwater Institute in court.

True North Holdings is developing a previously city-owned parcel into a mixed-use project called RO2. Plans include a 19-story multifamily tower.

Much of the new development has been on the north side of downtown, including along Roosevelt Row. The artsy area has drawn interest and new apartment developments.

Hines Interests is also expected to build a multifamily tower at the Collier Center in the heart of downtown. A Hines spokesman declined comment on that project, but it was discussed during a Phoenix City Council meeting in December regarding the city buying 20 private parking spaces downtown for $500,000.

“The developer has proposed to develop the undeveloped pad at Colliers Center with a high-rise, multi-family residential rental project. The pad is located at the southeast corner of the Colliers Center, near the corner of Third Street and Jefferson Street,” according to city documents.

Crescent Bay Holdings continues its plans to redevelop the Barrister Building at Central Avenue and Jefferson Street. The redevelopment includes a new high-rise building slated to go next to the historic Barrister Building.

Phoenix has long sought to bring more resident to its downtown core. Some of that has been helped by Metro light rail as well as the growth of Arizona State University’s downtown campus.

ASU President Michael Crow announced in December the Thunderbird School of Global Management would move to downtown Phoenix, ditching its longtime Glendale campus.

Mackay is optimistic about job growth downtown.

“We believe 2018 is going to keep up the velocity of businesses coming to downtown Phoenix for the vibe,” said Mackay. “We’ve got Quicken Loans with over 1,000 employees, Uber and UnitedHealthcare both have more than 500 workers downtown, and there are other major employers with an eye on central Phoenix.”

Quicken Loans is moving more than 1,000 employees from Scottsdale to the One North Central building at Central and Washington. Those gains help offset JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) shifting jobs from downtown’s Chase Tower to a new campus it is building in Tempe.

Mackay said the jobs and new development are pushing Phoenix towards having “a true urban downtown." Cushman & Wakefield reports there were 2,800 new multifamily units under construction in downtown and central Phoenix with another 2,700 planned.

Cheney, who is one of the leasing brokers for the Renaissance Square development downtown, said the central business district needs to see lower vacancy rates and higher rents before it sees new office developments. Downtown office rents need to show some lasting strength to get more new product in Phoenix’s CBD..

The downtown office vacancy rate is 16.9 percent, according to commercial real estate firm JLL (NYSE: JLL). That compares to a 19.6 percent rate regionally and tighter vacancy rates in downtown Tempe and Old Town Scottsdale.

Office rents in downtown Phoenix average $31.16. That is among the more expensive submarkets in the region along with the 24th Street and Camelback Road area ($31.22) and some even higher rents in popular buildings and areas of Tempe near Mill Avenue and ASU and downtown Scottsdale near Scottsdale Fashion Square.

I agree - Bruder’s proposals are all very cool.

Especially the Two11 project - what ever happened to this? Was it not a serious proposal? That would have been a great addition to the skyline...

http://willbruderarchitects.com/project/two11/

Wow, even though I knew about each project spoken of, hearing them all talked about in one article makes it a very impressive story. That's a lot of activity. Definitely construction porn, for sure! :cheers: