There hasn't been anything visually noticeable done to Centerpoint since the cranes were taken down, which happened about the same time that Mortgages Ltd went bust.


Also, I drove by Onyx today and I too noticed that a serious pile of dirt has been moved on that site.

Hyatt Regency set for 2011 opening at Tempe Town Lake
Phoenix Business Journal - by Lynn Ducey

A new hotel deal for the south side of Tempe Town Lake was announced Wednesday by Mayor Hugh Hallman in his state of the city address.

A Hyatt Regency will be located in the Hayden Ferry Lakeside project at the intersection of Rio Salado and Mill Avenue. The hotel will feature 240 guest rooms, 24 residential condominiums, a 4,000-square-foot spa and 13,000 square feet of meeting space. The project is expected to break ground in summer 2009, with a 2011 opening date.

While the hotel and its location is visually and geographically part of the Suncor-owned Hayden Ferry, the property is owned by Valhalla Development Group.

The announcement comes after a deal to create a Le Meridien hotel on the site fell through earlier this summer.

A rendering of the Hyatt hotel coming to Tempe...

http://www.azcentral.com/i/sized/F/F...BE7CA3A3FF.jpg

The mayor is really bragging about how Tempe is getting a Hyatt hotel in this economy, and saying "What other Valley city can say that?"

Phoenix better come through with the Kimpton at Cityscape.

Well I think that is an improvement from the previous rendering. I would hope that Cityscape still gets a hotel but at this point I doubt it.

Not too diverge too much into CityScape talk but don't you think the hotel portion is more of a sure thing than the condos? I mean, theres still hardly any hotel rooms in downtown, especially compared to other cities w/ similar sized convention centers, so there seems to be a demand to me. Whereas since downtown still isn't a highly coveted address for high dollar purchases, the condos seem more likely to get the axe to me.

Not to be a pessimist, but a hotel developer may hold off on the decision to build until they see how higher travel costs are going to affect the convention business.

Is'nt the hotel portion only taking that bottom half of the building? If that is the case then the condo portion which is the main building wont get built then?

Yes the hotel is just the lower/horizontal portion. You're right, they wouldn't just build the hotel and not the condos, I guess my point was just that condos seem like more of a risk than hotel in this market, and since they're going forward w/ the condos, it doesn't make sense to me that they'd scrap the hotel.

Make sense? I think my wording there was a mess.

the Hyatt looks alright. it's different from the rest of Hayden Ferry which is a good thing because there is already too much of the same there

Yeah make sense well lets hope they do start next year with construction.

This website has an interesting pic of HAYDEN FERRY LAKESIDE TOWER III. Its kind of small but looks a lot different then the current buildings.

http://tempe.gov/comdev/WeeklyUpdate/26SEPT08.pdf

I believe they want to incorporate the new years ball drop into the design. Which may be kinda cool. Anyways, I heard a report yesturday that with all the real-estate/title companies having issues commercial vacancies may reach 18% next year. Ouch. My guess is some of these projects will be put on hold. Luckily, I think anything near the lightrail will have a better chance.

^^^

This website actually has a pretty good video of what it may look like. Seems pretty cool.

http://www.haydenferrylakeside.com/i...en_ferry_2.mov

It's gonna be nice to see the Hayden Ferry Lakeside filled in with the Hyatt Regency and Phase 3 of the office structures, but I am disappointed that Davis Architects, being a local firm, designed us another series of all glass and steel exteriors. How 'bout some desert architecture to make Tempe look like a unique town instead of Anytown, USA?

What did you have in mind? Stucco? Sante Fe-style towers?

There has been plenty of research done by famous architects as to how to build efficient and distinctive structures in the desert (Paulo Soleri, FLW, for example). The Hayden Ferry towers are distinctive, but they look like they belong in another part of the country. Will Bruder did a fantastic job with the Phoenix Central Library, a mid-rise that is designed to be efficient in the summer heat and look like it belongs in the desert.

A stucco tower? Come on - give me some credit, haha.

Here's the rendering for Hayden Ferry Lakeside, Tower III:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ryTowerIII.jpg

--don

What is the time frame on that building?

According to an article in Friday's Business Journal, SunCor has already received permits to build the tower and from the sounds of the article, they will start building very soon. The article states:

"SunCor is moving ahead with a 10-story, 250,000 sq ft addition to its Hayden Ferry mixed-use development on the south shorre of Tempe Town Lake. Steve Betts, president and CEO of Suncor; said the difference between that project and others is location."
"SunCor, which built two previous office tower and sold them to large institutional investors for a substantial profit, now has the cash flow to move ahead with the third tower. Company executives hope to take advantage of projected decreases in construction costs."

I've never posted pics before, but I think i figured it out (thanks Sean!)
Saturday was a great day for biking around town and I remembered to grab my camera. I didn't make it east of Mill to take pics of the new ASU stuff, mostly this is around 5th St between Priest and Mill.

It's been a while since we have seen any new shots of Tempe.


5th and Mill nearing completion (i think)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...5thandmill.jpg


This just finished on Hardy, just north of 5th
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...thandHardy.jpg

My favorite park and view of downtown. Jaycee Park on Hardy
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...Jayceepark.jpg


Tempe Gateway 3rd and Mill
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...mpegateway.jpg

This is my new favorite place downtown
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...thirstydog.jpg

This is a big lot just east of Priest on 5th. A few buildings going up, I haven't seen any work being done on it for a while
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...dpriestlot.jpg

Centerpoint
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t5thandash.jpg

This isn't new, but i've always liked this house. looks like it's out of the bayou and vampires live there to me
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...mpirehouse.jpg

This is that project by the Brownstones. I forget the name
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rsomething.jpg

Looking east on 6th St
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...droosevelt.jpg

This project is directly across the street from the Brownstones. I managed to get a moving car and a plane in the picture. :)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rownstones.jpg

WOW that's 5th and Mill?!?! NICE! I'm overdue to get back to Tempe...