Ton of new development news today...but the most noteworthy...
Scottsdale developer wants to build state's tallest tower in Phoenix
$350M project would include residential, hotel and other uses
By – Senior Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal
Geoffrey Jacobs wants to build the tallest building in Arizona — to the tune of $350 million.
Jacobs, a partner with Aspirant Development LLC and principal of the Empire Group of Cos. in Scottsdale, is in preliminary talks with the city of Phoenix to build a $350 million project that will include a tower that could be 525 feet — taller than Chase tower, which sits at 483 feet.
"We're going in for site plan approval later this year," said Jacobs, who just opened the $80 million apartment project The Stewart this spring and is about to break ground on Aspire Fillmore a few blocks away.
The $350 million project would cover 2 acres on Second Avenue between Van Buren and Fillmore streets in downtown Phoenix.
Plans call for building a 400-unit luxury apartment tower, a 230-key hotel, 200,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space and collaborative housing similar to the concept of X Phoenix, a $150 million, 19-story apartment tower being built by Chicago-based Property Markets Group Inc. on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Van Buren.
Collaborative housing, also known as co-living space, is becoming more popular in urban ares of the country, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. It provides a housing opportunity for people who want to live in in an urban environment but who can't afford a large apartment.
"It's an offshoot of student housing, geared toward people who want to live in a collaborative environment," Jacobs said.
They would have more roommates and common areas within a living space, he said.
The project is near Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus and also will be near ASU's 400-bed, $130 million student housing facility being planned along First Avenue south of Fillmore Street.
It's too early to determine the exact number of stories the project will be, Jacobs said.
"We are working on a number of items that will ultimately determine total number of stories, but the main tower, which would be the hotel and the luxury residential, would be somewhere between 43 and 48 stories," Jacobs said.
He said it's also too early to determine rental rates for the luxury apartments and the more affordable co-living units.
"It's too early in the game," he said. "We probably won't break ground until the third quarter of 2020. A lot has to happen between now and then."
This project is still so early that it hasn't been named and doesn't have completed architectural renderings, Jacobs said. But he hopes to have them within the next two or three weeks from Chicago architect SCB.
"SCB does a lot of dense, mixed-use, stacked projects like this one," he said. In Tempe, SCB designed Tooker House, a $120 million dorm for engineering students at Arizona State University.
Jacobs said he hasn't finalized a lending partner on this project, and is also looking into opportunity zone funding.
"We're talking to lenders and equity partners now," he said. "Financing at this point is still to be arranged."
His 254-unit Aspire Fillmore tower that is soon to break ground recently received $67.3 million in construction financing arranged by Los Angeles-based George Smith Partners.
Scott Meredith, senior vice president of George Smith Partners, said he's interested in the Phoenix market.
"The market in Phoenix overall is very strong," Meredith said. "There's plenty of capital to be deployed to new developments. It's humming along."
Jacobs said the Aspire Fillmore apartment community should be breaking ground any day now.
"We're waiting on permits," he said. "It will be breaking ground literally any day."
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...N6aGoifQ%3D%3D
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