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Posted Sep 19, 2006, 11:28 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 9,184
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Phoenix news roundup:
First, the good news:
* Tempe is balls to the wall right now, with half a dozen tower cranes up, including 30-story Centerpoint, Hayden Ferry Lakeside, a couple of ASU projects, and more cranes on the north side of the Town Lake.
* 34-story 44 Monroe is finally under construction, as is the 31-story Sheraton. Both have tower cranes up in downtown Phoenix, joining the existing tower crane for Summit at Copper Square (23 stories).
* Westcor's plan to add a pair of 15-story towers to the east end of Biltmore Fashion Park in central Phoenix (courtesy of forumer Soleri):
* A new 21-story condo tower, proposed for 3rd Avenue and Indian School (380 units, 220 feet tall):
* Century Plaza's conversion is underway, and a 15-story condotel may soon follow.
* More updates from Soleri: "Elsewhere, the condo tower (Monroe Tower) at the SEC corner of Monroe & 5th Avenue is actually slated to be 27 floors with 18 residential, 1 ground floor lobby/retail, 7 parking and 1 amenity. The developer is out of New York. 151 units altogether. It's still in its pre-approval stage.
* Studio Ma, the developers behind PRD 845, also own the lot across 8th Avenue. They've submitted plans for a 48 unit project called Viridian. They're also building a townhouse project called George on 12th Avenue just north of Missouri.
* Urban Form, the developers doing the 215 E McKinley project have submitted plans for the NWC of 2nd St and McKinley. It calls for 44 efficiency units in four floors above ground floor retail.
* Crescent Communities, owner/developers of Portland Place, have sold the lot fronting 3rd Avenue & Portland to Desert Viking. Tentative plans call for 27 units in a four story building. Portland Place now has 14 units available for sale, up from 12 a few months ago. Still, optimism remains the word in the sales office, with Phase II set for release "very soon" (translation: we don't know). Prices will be significantly higher, too. Hikes in construction material cost get the blame.
* Sales offices are now open for Artisan Haus on Central just south of McDowell (the site is due for demolition next month). Prices will not be cheap, starting over $500K. A sales office is also open for McKinley Lofts, part of Gregory Peloquin's quixotic real-estate empire. Since his Metropolitan Lofts is now active again, and he just won a court victory over the Town of Carefree for his resort project, he's rapidly gaining in credibility. I talked to a real-estate pro a week ago who told me Metro Lofts (the varying but presently "36" story condo tower at Highland & Central) will definitely be built "someday". Peloquin will still have to file for necessary variances, of course."
* The FAA approved the 450-foot, 39-story W Hotel and Residences in downtown Phoenix. It has not broken ground as of yet, as there is still one fly left in the ointment - the lawsuit over Sun Merc, which may be resolved soon.
* P.F.Chang's may be coming to downtown Phoenix:
P.F. Chang's sizes up downtown for bistro
Sept. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
Your fortune cookie says: P.F. Chang's is in downtown Phoenix's future. The Asian-restaurant company has already signed a lease to open its Pei Wei concept at the southwestern corner of Seventh Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix, but the company wants to get closer to the city's center.
"We are seriously interested in the downtown market," said Rick Federico, chief executive officer of Scottsdale-based P.F. Chang's China Bistro. advertisement
Federico wouldn't say which downtown developments P.F. Chang's is taking a look at or when it might open a restaurant there. But he's encouraged by all of the developments that are bringing people (and potential P.F. Chang's customers) to downtown Phoenix, including Arizona State University's new campus, the new Phoenix Convention Center and the light-rail system.
Meanwhile, Pei Wei at Seventh Avenue and McDowell Road is expected to open in the spring.
* Melrose Point (8 to 12 story condo project at 7th Avenue and Glenrosa) was recently approved by the Phoenix City Council:
ftp://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/pub/PLANNING/Z-60-06-4.pdf
* From forumer combusean: "The SoHo Lofts/Z Lofts site on 2nd Avenue has been redesigned and renamed to the Solomon Tower. It was presented to the West Roosevelt neighborhood association (RAA) in July. Something like 18 stories if I recall correctly--I wasn't able to catch the meeting."
* "Metro Lofts has been renamed to Brophy Towers and the saga of its ever-varying proposed height continues. First 22 stories, then 26, then 22, then 42, then 36...the sign says it's now "proposed" for 50 stories."
* The mystery Copper Pointe project continues to tantalize:
http://www.copperpointeaz.com
* Phoenix's county hospital (Maricopa Medical Center) is eyeing a move downtown into a new $500 million high-rise:
Hospital eyes downtown move - Maricopa Medical Center wants to be near schools, research
Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 11, 2006
Executives of the state's only public hospital are spearheading efforts to replace the nearly 40-year-old Maricopa Medical Center with a new one closer to the medical hub in downtown Phoenix.
"We train more physicians than anyone in the Valley," said Gibson McKay, a spokesman for the center. "We want to be aligned where that teaching will be happening in the future."
Hospital officials want it to be as close as possible to the University of Arizona Medical School, the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation and the Translational Genomics Research Institute, all being developed in downtown Phoenix. The hospital won't be moving more than three miles from where it is now, at 24th and Roosevelt streets. That was one of the provisions voters approved in 2003 when they created a special health care district to oversee Maricopa Integrated Health System. But even on the edge of downtown, where it probably would be, hospital officials hope to tie into the growing medical/research cluster.
Paulina Morris, chairwoman of the board that oversees the health system, said they are exploring various locations for the new hospital, expected to cost about $500 million. Morris said a new hospital is needed because the existing center has safety issues, including costly asbestos abatement, and provides patients little privacy. In the maternity ward, for example, mothers are housed four to a room and have to go down a hall to use the restroom or take showers.
"It's not good customer care," Morris said. "This has been on everyone's mind for some time."
More than 300,000 people seek medical treatment each year at the center, which is the Valley's largest teaching hospital. More than 400 doctors are trained there annually. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said that a partnership with the Maricopa health system would only strengthen the downtown synergy.
"This just adds to the science, education and medical research that has been developing in the heart of the city," he said. "Look at what's happened in the last three years. There's no other place in the country that's created a science research center, a medical school and a college of nursing."
That's what makes downtown Phoenix attractive to the science and medical-research industry. Phoenix has been courted by several health care organizations in the past. In 2004, Vanguard Health Systems Inc. approached the city about building a hospital to support the medical school. A formal proposal was never made. Banner Health and Catholic Healthcare West have had similar discussions with the city.
_______________________________________________________
The not so good news:
* More skirmishing over RED's proposal to build four skyscrapers in downtown Phoenix, but replacing Patriot's Square Park in the process:
Fight brewing over plans for $900 million project - Proposal for Patriots Square Park development draws ire
Ginger D. Richardson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 10, 2006 12:00 AM
It is part of Phoenix's original town site and sits at "zero point," the intersection where all city addresses start at zero and radiate outward. Yet nothing about Patriots Square Park has endured. Even its design, once hailed as visionary, is considered soulless. But now, after years of grumbling, the much-maligned public space is on the verge of a makeover. Problem is, the proposed design has ignited a firestorm of controversy with people who either want the park saved as is or who want it redeveloped, but not in the way that is on the table.
The hubbub started after a group of developers proposed incorporating the 30-year-old park into a $900 million mixed-use project called CityScape. The proposal, which has the backing of the city, could potentially bring four high-rise towers, 1,200 condominiums, a hotel and shopping and office space to the heart of downtown. But the plan, which takes the 2.2-acre public-park and essentially spreads it out over three square-city blocks, isn't sitting well with a vocal and growing group of opponents.
"One thing that real cities have is public parks, and they are all downtown," longtime Phoenix resident Alex Votichenko said. "They (the developers) can add up every little space around their fountain, or next to their Gap, or whatever they are going to have, but it won't be the same."
The residents' fight to save or at least do something meaningful with Patriots Square Park seems to have gotten the attention of city officials and the project's developers, who are retooling their CityScape plans.
"Our goal is to reconfigure the open space on the Patriots Square block to more usable, dynamic space," said John Bacon, a spokesman for Scottsdale-based RED Development, the primary developer on the downtown project.
An architectural bust: Phoenix opened the park to much fanfare in 1976. At the time, it was a way to revitalize a dying downtown that had seen most of its major department stores and businesses move to other parts of the city or the Valley. Patriots Square was completely remodeled in 1988. An underground parking garage was added and the current design, complete with the white canopy, was born. Some cheered it. Others hated it. But still, the park was considered modern, state of the art. The city even held laser light shows there.
"Back then, that was cutting edge," said Toni DiJorio, a city spokeswoman. "But all of that soon became antiquated and it was shut down."
For years, Patriots Square was the gathering point for outdoor concerts, parades, anti-war demonstrations, rallies and cultural events. But with time, its cachet faded. Now it is mostly used as a resting point by the homeless and as a shortcut to some of downtown's busier streets. Even Mayor Phil Gordon believes the park has failed in its mission. He says that residents don't relate to it and that it doesn't represent a "city on the rise."
"Patriots Park should be worthy of the great city that we are," he said.
The redevelopment plan: CityScape, with its four towers that could soar as high as 400 feet, is critical to Phoenix's downtown development goals. Not only would it provide much-needed residential housing and shopping, it would be the largest infusion of private dollars into the city's burgeoning core - if successful. At full buildout, it has the potential to completely reshape the southern end of downtown. That's because the land being considered for the project is largely vacant or, in the case of the park, underutilized.
CityScape would be bordered by Washington Street on the north, Jefferson Street on the south, Second Street on the east and First Avenue on the west. The project's original plans called for the Patriots Park block to be remodeled into a large-scale retail development, with condos sitting atop ground-floor shopping. An arc-shaped pedestrian bridge would allow residents to walk easily to the next block of the development, which would contain two high-rise towers and more retail space. In total, CityScape would contain more than 100,000 square feet of public space, slightly more than exists at Patriot Square Park, officials said. The problem is, those public areas are incorporated throughout the development. Those who are rallying around Patriots Square say the plan dilutes downtown Phoenix's only real open space.
"We are not opposed to the rehabilitation of Patriots Square as a park," said Chris Ibarra, who has led the effort to make the redesign of the space a public process. "But we are opposed to any private development that encroaches on the park."
Ibarra was particularly concerned to discover that the city planned to turn over the Patriots block to the developers and let them manage it privately.
"For the city to allow them to acquire and redevelop our park land suggests a troubling lack of faith in our collective vision for downtown," he said.
Deputy City Manager David Krietor said officials have no intention of letting that happen.
"I think everyone seems to be coalescing around the idea that we do need a publicly managed park facility," he said. "We can't have a project that simply has open space available to the people who use it.
"We need a public park."
The next steps: CityScape executives are still redesigning their proposal for the Patriots Square block. Details of the new plan, including what it would look like and how it would incorporate open space, have not yet been released. But city officials say any new proposal will be fully aired to the public, most likely through a three- to six-month formal process that will begin with the Phoenix's Parks and Recreation Board at month's end.
Delia Ortega-Nowakowski is a member of the board and has been appointed the liaison with CityScape. She said that she is determined to get as much input on the proposal from as many people as possible.
"I am really curious to see what the public is going to say about this," she said. "This is really a question that can only be answered by the public, and by that, I mean the whole city of Phoenix."
City Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten, who also has been involved in the discussions, said she believes there is a way to balance the city's redevelopment goals with the need for public green space.
"In my mind, we are not losing Patriots Park, because it would just be redesigned," Bilsten said. "This is a great opportunity, and I desperately want to see us get something different there.
"I am just not happy with it the way that it is."
* Central Park East may be on hold for now.
* Alta Phoenix has pulled the plug on their 6-8 story apartment project downtown.
--don
Last edited by Don B.; Sep 19, 2006 at 11:38 AM.
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It is definitely art deco.
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