Phoenix Development News (3)

[gymratmanaz]

The apartment / hotel. YUP.... It is on the north side of McDowell off of 1st street.....next to the car wash and across the street from Phoenix Theatre/Art Museum.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

Apparently, Alliance Residential is the newest buyer (not sure if it's final yet, though) of the property along Roosevelt from 3rd-5th Streets - the site that includes Canvas and the Bodega 420 house.

I think this could either be really good or really bad news.

Sounds familiar... A local builder spent a couple of years fighting NIMBY'S on one site. Even though they won the battle they decided not to proceed - with the land purchase. They had just finished with building THE nicest apartment in an area called Uptown.

Alliance swooped in and bought the site and I heard they also purchased the original plans.

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

I'm also hopeful that the outrage over Wood's original proposal will convince them to keep the two remaining buildings and build around them, which really shouldn't be that difficult. IMO, Canvas is more important than the Bodega 420 house if a choice must be made;

They have done this before.

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

However, Broadstone Waterfront's design was much more reflective of the immediate area than any of their other projects. The architecture fits well with the rest of the waterfront buildings...

They stepped up some on the block across from Coors Field including the above linked apartment.

The apartment right across the street from Coors Field has walk-up ground floor units. It's decent but some found it underwhelming. To be fair that block is rather dead except on Game Day.

[azsunsurfer]

Sorry but you can't fit a salon, bistro and coffee shop in 1,300 sqft....I hope this is a typo on the Journal's part.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by azsunsurfer

Sorry but you can't fit a salon, bistro and coffee shop in 1,300 sqft....I hope this is a typo on the Journal's part.

its probably 13,000 which is what like 5-6 suites?

[TakeFive]

Good point.

Didn't give it a lot of thought but guessed it was just one space for one of those as possibilities.

[ASU Diablo]

Well, MetroWest continues to kill it w/ the infill projects around the Roosevelt area. 18 more townhomes on 4th Ave & McKinley!

Roosevelt Row developer building second phase of downtown Phoenix townhouses
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n....html?page=all

On a somewhat related note, Riester Ad Agency just south of Townhomes on 3rd Ave is up for sale as well....wonder if this could be another MetroWest project?

Riester ad agency selling Roosevelt Row headquarters
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...evelt-row.html

[biggus diggus]

no, tim outgrew the space, he actually owns two buildings at the corner, and there was not enough parking for his employees. The new office is at 32nd and Camelback.

I'm not saying the space wont be developed, but that was not the reason he listed the buildings for sale. One is already sold, and the other is listed now. My office backs up to tim's building that already sold, and I have not yet seen a new tenant move in there.

Also, interesting to read about the 18 unit building at 4th and McKinley, I've been watching them grade a big pile of dirt for several days wondering where it came from. My theory is it's from the big hole at Union, and the fact that metrowest is developing it probably confirms that. Will be great to have that lot filled.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by airomero83

Well, MetroWest continues to kill it w/ the infill projects around the Roosevelt area. 18 more townhomes on 4th Ave & McKinley!

Roosevelt Row developer building second phase of downtown Phoenix townhouses
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n....html?page=all

Sounds good to me. MetroWest -->

I know beggars can't be choosers, but I hope they don't look exactly like the new units at 5th Avenue and McKinley. I generally like their form and size and everything, but aesthetically I do not like the look. I hope they're more modern looking, or more old school looking. As the 5th Ave ones are now, the strangely-shaped 1st floor porches with brick accents and offset windows (instead of doors at the top of the stairs) look very weird to me.

[CANUC]

So I noticed the fencing for Illuminate and the developments just south of it recently went up.

[TakeFive]

Courtesy of www.modernphoenix.net

"Exclusive: Long-empty Circles Records building in Phoenix could soon be in escrow for sale"
May 13, 2015 by Mike Sunnucks, Phoenix Business Journal

The long-empty Circles Records & Tapes building in downtown Phoenix could soon be in escrow.

Larry Ortega... said the 19,400-square-foot building could soon be under contract to be sold to a local development group. He declined to give further details about the group or its plans for the prominent building.

Ortega said the owners, especially Angela Singer, insist on a new owner not tearing down the building.

Yes, I made a point to be among the last shoppers at this store.

[biggus diggus]

This has Upward Projects written all over it.

[PHXFlyer11]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Courtesy of www.modernphoenix.net

"Exclusive: Long-empty Circles Records building in Phoenix could soon be in escrow for sale"
May 13, 2015 by Mike Sunnucks, Phoenix Business Journal

Yes, I made a point to be among the last shoppers at this store.

This is one property I wouldn't mind if it were to be torn down. I think we are missing residential in that immediate area and a mid-rise condo building would be great.

Having said that, the building to me has always screamed brewery! I think it's the way the glass circle opens up into the corner that I could imagine brewing equipment. San Tan or Four Peaks anyone?

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11

This is one property I wouldn't mind if it were to be torn down. I think we are missing residential in that immediate area and a mid-rise condo building would be great.

Blasphemy! Maybe someone will renovate the old circles building into a store of some kind. And on the parking lot portion of the property they can build a low to mid rise residential building with an integrated parking garage.

[Jjs5056]

AZSUNSURFER/OBADNO - I had the same thought when I saw that Lennar is planning 3 businesses within just ~1,500 square feet. Unfortunately, I don't think that is a typo; more likely, the developer is just engaging in some PR by dropping buzz words like 'bistro' and 'coffee shop.' This property isn't even being marketed yet - there's no way talks have evolved to the point that they can be sure of the tenant mix. The site plan also makes it fairly obvious that there is minimal commercial space. There are only 2 spaces along Central where it looks as though there is room for retail.

This project is a complete disaster for so many reasons. Phoenix should be past the point of being desperate enough to accept such poor design. A parking lot along Central is unacceptable, 4 stories is a joke, and the renderings look like it will be a generic cheap-looking apartment on an important central intersection. This site is the connection between downtown and midtown, and should have been used to further expand the arts district north of Roosevelt by complementing its neighbors: Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix Theatre, Ballet Arizona, etc.

PHX31 - Are you referring to the yellow McKinley Lofts on 5th Ave/McKinley? I actually quite like the overall form of that development - the walkup porches add a nice urban touch. But, I don't think you need to worry about the MetroWest building looking anything like that. Union and Townhomes on 3rd have a very traditional style with the use of masonry, and if you Google "McKinley Row," you can find renderings of the project from back in the boom days that looks much more contemporary. I am sure the design has evolved since then, but it could be an indication of what to expect.

[Jjs5056]

PHXFlyer11 - I understand your point about the area near McKinley/Central being underdeveloped right now, but the Circles building should in no way be sacrificed given the abundance of empty lots and low-quality structures. It's extremely unique, in relatively great shape, and under the proper management it could be a real centerpiece of a neighborhood that could potentially develop around there in the future. It's too bad that so many of the other larger retail buildings in that area were demolished, because that part of Central has the proper scale and form to be more of a "main street" road.

I think the Circles building is a perfect location for a grocery store, but a large dance club or brewery, or a variety of small-to-medium sized restaurants would also be great. I don't know the current status of the strip of bars to the south, but I definitely think this area should be a nightlife/entertainment hub, since the bones exist for these uses and the surrounding area is filled with vacant lots and small offices - so no issues with noise, etc. I actually don't think I'd want to see residential in the immediate area necessarily, given the growth of the surrounding areas. I do wish the crappy 1-story buildings along Central, from McKinley to Roosevelt, had been built as 2-3 story buildings with apartments above commercial space like was common during those times.I have no problem with almost all of that block being demo'd save for DeSoto and Circles, and could maybe see some residential working there.

It would be awesome for Central to fill in with restaurants, clubs, bars, etc. bookended by the new Foundry Hotel on Portland, and a restored Westward Ho on Fillmore. Of course, the fact that the Ho just extended its HUD housing by an additional 20 years, and leased the ground level for an ASU health clinic, kind of makes that impossible.

[Jjs5056]

Jonathan from Songbird took my advice and has taken the initiative to start building and branding a community for the businesses south of Roosevelt. He sent me the link to the Facebook page he has created; you guys should check it out and show support because I think it's awesome for downtown to have business owners like this who are passionate about its success.

LINK: https://www.facebook.com/SouthRooseveltRow

The monthly meetings we talked about are also being scheduled, and will be open to local business owners as well as anyone in the community who wants to be involved with supporting the growth south of Roosevelt.

There's so many challenges that could have prevented this area from ever being revitalized. The fact that so many new, great establishments have filled in each block is really impressive, but those challenges still exist which is why awareness, support, etc. is so important. The Roosevelt-Garfield block will always be a deadzone that isolates these businesses from directly connecting to Roosevelt, the vacant lots will remain for quite some time and impact the perception of the neighborhood, and it will one day be suffocated by the anti-community buildings of the Biomedical Campus. Hopefully, through collaboration, creative solutions can be developed, and perhaps a united group of stakeholders could influence things like the way the Biomedical Campus eventually connects to its neighbors.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

PHX31 - Are you referring to the yellow McKinley Lofts on 5th Ave/McKinley? I actually quite like the overall form of that development - the walkup porches add a nice urban touch. But, I don't think you need to worry about the MetroWest building looking anything like that. Union and Townhomes on 3rd have a very traditional style with the use of masonry, and if you Google "McKinley Row," you can find renderings of the project from back in the boom days that looks much more contemporary. I am sure the design has evolved since then, but it could be an indication of what to expect.

I forgot about that old rendering... Yeah, that's decent looking, hopefully it will be updated and made even better.

Like I said, the form of those yellow McKinley Lofts on 5th is pretty good, but the actual aesthetics and execution isn't too great... the walk up porches you mention go to random offset windows, rather than doors. So it just looks weird to me.

[TakeFive]

I hadn't seen THIS before; now I have.

Haven't seen the site plan so I'm uncertain about the reference to parking on Central. The render shows an entrance which if off central may not be ideal but is hardly a disaster. The overall quality looks to be pretty good.

Caveat: If the landscaping is real then it makes a huge difference; if not then .

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Haven't seen the site plan so I'm uncertain about the reference to parking on Central. The render shows an entrance which if off central may not be ideal but is hardly a disaster. The overall quality looks to be pretty good.

Caveat: If the landscaping is real then it makes a huge difference; if not then .

I believe there will be a small parking lot off Central. I will probably serve prospective tenants and maybe customers of any businesses in the building. The main parking for residents will be a garage on the west side of the development off First Avenue.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

I hadn't seen THIS before; now I have.

Haven't seen the site plan so I'm uncertain about the reference to parking on Central. The render shows an entrance which if off central may not be ideal but is hardly a disaster. The overall quality looks to be pretty good.

Caveat: If the landscaping is real then it makes a huge difference; if not then .

It isn't too bad to have...some place around midtown people just think its a waste of prime real-estate... which it is.

the only good thing about it is 1 less dirt lot and a big bump in local population.