Tempe Development Thread

[JimInCal]

Wow...and that's the tiny tower. Thanks for all of the photo updates Andrew. Those of us who can't keep track of the progress in person really appreciate the time and effort to take and post the pics.

[combusean]

Negotiations to redevelop ASU frat houses continue

Eugene Scott and Amanda Soares
The Arizona Republic
May. 1, 2007 04:16 PM

Arizona State University wants to tear down the dilapidated fraternity houses on Alpha Drive across from Sun Devil Stadium to make room for a mixed-use development, but some fraternity members want to know more before they support the plan.

"It would remain home of the fraternities, but not just the home of the fraternities," said Richard Stanley, ASU senior vice president and university planner. "That's the plan that the fraternities have come up with that the university finds very attractive."

Theta Chi fraternity president Devin Paltenghi said he is skeptical about the re-development project.

"I know that's great land out there and it's worth a lot," he said. "But if anything, I think they should be trying to strengthen Greek life."

He said taking the current houses away from fraternities could impact the interest in fraternities on campus.

"Are people gonna want to be part of fraternities and live in the new houses when the project is all done?" Paltenghi asked.

The university and eight different fraternities own the land. Stanley said the groups are currently in discussions about ways to consolidate the land to build a larger mixed-use development on the property.

"It's a patchwork of ownership," Stanley said. "It's been a complicated process to pull it all together, but we're making progress."

However, ASU officials have been working on this plan for years.

ASU President Michael Crow presented plans for the South Campus Academic Village to the Arizona Board of Regents in January 2004. The development was to include residential, retail, academic and parking.

In March 2004, ASU's executive vice president of administration and finance Mernoy Harrison told The Arizona Republic that he expected to complete negotiations with the fraternities on the project by the end of that semester.

ASU's current plans appear to be much the same.

"Part of the development would be student housing, some used for fraternity brothers, but in a traditional university residential hall with other students," Stanley said.

The project could also possibly include retail, hospitality, a university academic building or a recreation center. There are no specific plans in place yet in terms of what the mixed-use development may look like or when the university would move forward with the project.

Kappa Sigma fraternity president Ryan Calhoun said it is hard to predict how the change would affect on-campus fraternities since details of the project haven't yet been determined.

"It could help Greek life and make everyone a lot closer," Calhoun said. "But that depends on how many members of the frats will be housed in each new building."

Calhoun said day-to-day interaction between members is vital to fraternities and he hopes that the new complex will promote such interaction.

[sundevilgrad]

I don't know how to feel about Alpha Drive. I wasn't part of the greek system in college, but I do understand its place. However, ASU's greek system sucks and the houses are lame. It'd be cool to see ASU embrace the greek community a little more. Then maybe the frats would build some cool houses on that land. As it stands right now, a mixed use development doesn't sound bad, but I'd like to see what kind of plans they have before supporting it.

[HooverDam]

The college I went to had no Greek life and its one of the reasons I chose to go there. If ASU ever really wants to rid itself of its party image, it ought to get rid of Greek life, Greek life may have been founded as something ok, but its degraded into Neanderthal behavior club.

[sundevilgrad]

The University of North Nogales (U of A for those that don't know) doesn't have a party image, but they have one of the biggest greek systems in the nation...

[jvbahn]

Thanks for the Nogales rip, sundevil...now I see where you and I differ so much....it's that UofA/ASU rivalry!

[sundevilgrad]

No love for Tucscum out of me, except they do have some kick-ass mountains.

[Azndragon837]

Centerpoint Phase I is now on the 21st floor. Almost topped-out - one more floor to go. That baby is TALL and beautiful. To get a sense on how tall the other three will be, take the current tower, add 8 floors to it, and you have the height. Or, look at the tallest crane, and imagine the tip of the crane as the top of the 30-story tower.

-Andrew

[JAHOPL]

In about three years, Tempe's building height downtown will be like Century City in Los Angeles, second to LA's downtown, and way above Phoenix's Biltmore area.

[loftlovr]

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...tc0503-ON.html

Plans for Mill Ave. revealed
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
May. 3, 2007 01:00 PM

The leader of the Downtown Tempe Community has unveiled a 10-year plan to make Tempe's core a cleaner, safer, funkier, livelier place to be.

It will serve as a roadmap for how the group of business and landowners intend to keep Mill Avenue a viable place to shop and do business as an increasing number of planned shopping centers open throughout the Southeast Valley.

"Our competitive advantage is our independent and independent-thinking retailers," said Pam Goronkin, who took the helm of the organization in November. "We need to capitalize on that we're not a totally planned mall . . . We're not a faux urban lifestyle like Kierland Commons, or trying to have an urban lifestyle like Phoenix. We already have one."

The 29-page plan is the first public indication of what direction Goronkin will steer the influential business organization. It's a product of months of brainstorming and planning. A quorum of the 29-member board approved the document unanimously.

The first outward signals of change will likely be a cleaner Mill Avenue. Goronkin and her staff plan to work with the city to increase trash pickup, tree trimming, sidewalk and street sandblasting and building power washing. She also wants to have the light fixtures repainted and there to be more signs that show visitors where to park and how to get around.

Other prominent components of the DTC's new plan are a new ambassador program, similar to the orange-shirted ambassadors in Phoenix's Copper Square, and a push for re-opening street connections that were previously closed.

"We've made some development mistakes in the past," Goronkin said. "With the street grid closed off, there's no place for the cars to go and no place for the pedestrians to go."

More street would also mean more street corners - which are typically more attractive to businesses.

Other goals to meet by 2017 include increasing business development and opening more retail stores, according to the document.

[combusean]

^ Cool ... maybe Maple Avenue and 6th St can reconnect now

[vertex]

Not likely, I think the city ceded the easement to centerpoint back in '87. But I would like for centerpoint to open Maple Ave. up to pedestrians, to provide a shortcut to the theater. This is how it was originally designed and pitched to the city.

[andrewkfromaz]

I'd be interested to see what they have in mind for "reopening streets" as well. It seems like there's currently plenty of room for cars and pedestrians to get around currently. I'd like to see corner radii become sharper, forcing cars to slow down (more) when turning a corner and making it easier for people to cross the side streets. More retail space seems like it would be helpful, as it is there really isn't enough to make it a shopping destination, unless you really really like boutiques.

[desertdj]

Hey if you guys haven't checked it out yet, head on over and see the recent things at Hayden Ferry. I know some people mentioned the fountain there, its pretty awesome. We had the friendly security guard nearby tell us what the different phases represent. And looking at that huge parking garage I bet there can be some awesome photos from the top. Unfortunately they turned off the fountain for a Saturday night I guess, and I would have taken a few pics from the top of the garage but the elevator didn't work and I wasn't about to go up what looked like 10 flights of stairs. Anyway enjoy the couple pics I took, it was my first stab at using some HDR if you know what that is.

[sundevilgrad]

desertdj beat me to it, but here's some more Tempe photo updates...





The sail from directly below...


Centerpoint in the background..




Centerpoint topped off!


Behind the Mill Ave store fronts...

[Don B.]

^ Good pics.

--don

[DracoCaifan]

Thanks for the pics!!! That tower looks great!!! Can't wait for the other one

[sundevilgrad]

I can't wait for the other 3!

Does anyone know how the Centerpoint sales are doing? I wonder how long we'll have to wait for all four towers...

[PHXRising]

There was an article in the East Valley Tribune a few weeks back that gave an update on how Centerpoint was coming along. It basically said that the 1st 30-story tower should be topped off at years end & mentioned this regarding the other the two towers..."The company plans to build two more 30-story towers on the site, perhaps starting them in 18 months". The full article is in post #689 if you want to read it.

[sundevilgrad]

Thanks!

Damn memory, it's already starting to go...