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AZ Republic's article on the new hotel & condo proposal. It mentions some info about Paragon... looks like they read your post, Vertex.

Quote:

Vegas developer eyes Mill
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 10, 2007 12:00 AM
Downtown Tempe is in flux.

Construction has torn up streets. Building plans are coming in every month. High-rises are popping up where once there was nothing.

And the city is experiencing growing pains as it evolves into Arizona's first true urban live-work community.

Traffic is kept at an almost constant crawl around University Drive and Mill Avenue where water line construction is expected to last until the end of April. And at least one local restaurant blames its closing on surrounding private construction.

"The area has changed so dramatically with all the new condo developments, we lost the direct access to our building as well as parking," said Cynthia Darlington, director of marketing for Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks.

The eatery near the Harkins movie theater, off Mill Avenue, closed Nov. 27.

"Construction was constantly blocking the main entrance way," Darlington said. "As our lease came up for renewal, we decided it would be best if we would vacate and make way for other development that fits in better with the area."

Construction projects are continually coming in. City estimates project an estimated 5,000 home units, bringing about 10,000 residents to Tempe's downtown area within the next five years.

"Though it's really hard to tell how many people it will ultimately be until they start getting occupied and we can see if it's going to be single people, couples, people with a couple of kids, or ASU students with a roommate or two," said Kris Baxter, who works in Tempe's Economic Development Department.

There are 15 condo subdivisions on the books, and more coming based on plans going through the city's Development Review Commission. The projects range from 30-story high-rise towers to three-story brownstones nestled into neighborhoods.

Jonathan Dalton, a Valley real estate agent, said there might be too many in the works.

"There is a glut in townhouses," Dalton said. "But all these (Tempe) projects were put together when the market was still moving and the momentum is such that you can't cancel them. I see an oversupply in a lot of the upscale townhouses and condos near the Tempe-Scottsdale border."

Nevertheless, details about another high-rise became public this week: The muscle behind some of Las Vegas' most iconic casinos and hotels intends to bring a hotel and condo project to Mill Avenue.

Paragon, a company with decades of experience in development gaming and management, is responsible for the MGM Grand Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Sahara Hotel and Casino and the Paris Hotel and Casino. Local hotels include the Four Seasons Scottsdale and the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Conference Center Resort and Country Club in Phoenix.

Now, Paragon wants to build a three-tower, 26-story integrated hotel and condo project in Tempe at Mill Avenue and Seventh Street.

Plans call for 240 hotel rooms, 370 condos, conference space, an open-to-the public fitness center and ground-floor spots for retail stores or restaurants. The hotel would likely be a Marriott brand: Renaissance ClubSport.

It's a multiuse project with multiple goals, said John Cahill, a Paragon vice president.

"We want to have something that takes advantage of all the adjacencies: The university population, all the new residents; even if half the projects that are on the books get built and provide them with food, entertainment, this health club facility and a place to put up their friends and family," Cahill said.

The Paragon project's location was once the site of Long Wong's watering hole and concert venue favored by both Arizona State University students and locals.

That's telling, said Sara Cina, an Arizona native who used to book bands there and is now making a career selling her bright artwork in the form of clothing for babies and women.

"It's ironic because I always appreciated the mixture," Cina said. "The dive pizza place contrasting with a P.F. Chang's. The local brew pub, with corporate-whatever. It saddens me that something so completely brand-new and corporate is going on something that was so old Tempe."

I'm surprised to hear that the hotel "would likely be a Marriott brand." Marriott will have 3 hotels in the downtown Tempe area if that's true and if the Bandersnatch site proposal comes to fruition (the third one being the existing Courtyard on 5th and Ash).

Quote:

Originally Posted by dktshb (Post 2623386)

Are the big dirt lots behind the Chase parking structures infilled yet?

If you're referring to the lots on the west side of Ash, they are still empty. The city listened to competing proposals for that strip of land and selected one (Farmer Arts District - see post #435 on page 18 of this thread here... http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=435). The other empty space around the parking structures on the east side of Ash is becoming the Centerpoint condos - shown on the righthand side of the pano above.

Here's the latest development progress chart from Tempe's website. Onyx appears to have made some progress since last month. I think they cleaned the chart up a bit - the hollow portions of the bars seem to make a little more sense than January's.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/2...rojectsdj9.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by combusean (Post 2623307)

Let's not forget the 11 story Marriott in place of Bandersnatch (just east of city hall), which is red-signed for rezoning now. Also that 15-story tower proposed for Rural Rd and 8th St. Two shorter projects on Apache too.

Andrew ... any word on City Hall East? I keep walking by that pyramid thinking that parking lot is a bit empty.

City Hall East IS the 11-story Marriott. The hotel will cover the parking lot east of city hall, along with the city's duplicating services building, and the old Bandersnatch building. It will include retail and shops on the first floor facing 5th Street and Forest.

-Andrew

Quote:

Originally Posted by HooverDam (Post 2622032)

Subway isn't going to happen (and shouldn't here), everything is too built up, and it would be impossible to build. But we do have Light Rail coming along, with expansions already planned in the works- I'm not sure what you mean by "full system", unless you just mean more lines.

What city anywhere in the world has a subway and isn't more "built up" than the Phoenix area? Atlanta, maybe (but it still has a much bigger downtown).

Don't anyone take me for a Phoenix-basher... I am a native and I lived there for 22 years before moving to Orange County to go to grad school. And I happen to be in Europe until March. :D I have been silent enough in this forum during the past couple months that i feel it's time to re-introduce myself. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Upward (Post 2627217)

Well Phoenix also has very hard soil underneath it for the most part (one of the reasons that most homes here don't have basements), so I think a subway would be doubly tough. But I'd bet anything that Phoenix will never have a subway system, we are getting light rail, and will continue to expand that, but a subway would just be a huge waste of money.

Yeah, being built up is not the impediment to a subway system. NYC was much more built up when it got it's subway. The problem is cost. Look at how many billions of dollars it's costing just to lay some tracks in the middle of the road. Think of how much it would cost to be digging massize tunnels to run it through (especially with Phoenix's rocky soil). If Phoenix ever gets a subway, it will be many years in the future; Phoenix will have to be much more dense to justify the enormous cost of construction.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Upward (Post 2627217)

Yay! Welcome back Chris! It was from Don that he told me you were in France. Give me a heads up. Good to hear from you again.

-Andrew

The reason subway isn't practical here in the Valley is due to sprawl. In a city like NYC, you can literally have thousands of people using a stop and going anywhere from 1 block to hundreds of blocks. You'll notice that in most cities with subway systems, once the subway gets out of the main part of the city, it goes above ground. In these areas, the land was not expensive enough to justify the cost of going underground. The same is true in PHX, except that there's no land anywhere in the valley that's expensive enough to justify the cost of going underground. Precisely because PHX ISN'T built up is why it's much more economical to run the tracks above ground.

*Head bobbin like Hell Yeah**

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ind...dest=STY-83995

Plan centers on Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe
Garin Groff, Tribune
The Hayden Flour Mill stood as one of Tempe’s most visible buildings for more than a century even as its thick concrete walls masked its inner workings from public view.

But the elaborate milling equipment that turned grain into flour will be on display in a glass structure next to the mill as part of a plan to restore and redevelop the site.

The proposal includes adding three stories of glass floors on top of the mill and new buildings for shops and restaurants. But most building space will be the new headquarters for the developer, Avenue Communities. That’s the same company behind the 30-story Centerpoint Condominiums a few blocks away.

Avenue is moving to buy the site from Tempe, which took ownership after another developer’s plan fizzled and the city received the property in the midst of an extended lawsuit. City and business leaders are hopeful the developer will finally bring life to the mill since its 1998 closure.

“They’ve done everything that the city has asked them to do and they’re doing it in a very high-quality way,” said Chris Salomone, Tempe’s community development manager.

Avenue will present its plans to the City Council Thursday. The company plans to demolish half-century old additions so the 1918 structure will stand as it did originally. Also, Avenue will build a trailhead to Hayden Butte, add parking and buildings along the street to give the area a more urban feel.

Many Tempeans have been anxious for something to happen on the site after it closed and transients set a fire that burned part of the building. The site has been a source of embarrassment, especially considering it was built by Tempe’s founder, Charles Trumbull Hayden, in 1872 and was one of the Valley’s most important businesses.

Avenue will likely take up all the office space at the project, company spokeswoman Margie D’Andrea said. The company hasn’t selected other tenants yet but is shunning chains in favor of chef-driven restaurants, D’Andrea said.

One potential tenant includes a Vancouver chef who would operate a bakery and cafe. The wine bar will have a tie to a winery that the developer is setting up at Centerpoint Condominiums.

The city is requiring Avenue Communities to have a permit in hand and to have “substantial” construction underway by Jan. 23, 2009, but D’Andrea said the company hopes to begin work late this year.

The first phase would roughly double the amount of building space to 60,000 square feet. Avenue plans to later replace parking areas with two more phases of development that would bring the project to 500,000 square feet of offices, stores, housing and more.

The mill was built for strength, not beauty. Still, the development plans should make the mill a proud entry feature for downtown, said Vic Linoff, a downtown merchant and history buff. Linoff has been critical of many redevelopment efforts and the destruction of historic structures, and he doesn’t like Avenue’s plan to add more floors on top of the mill. He’d prefer to keep the building as close to its original form as possible.

But Linoff said Avenue deserves credit for showing a strong interest in using historic equipment and elements in the design.

The development will include railroad tracks that once ran through the site and some remnants of a canal that brought water to power the mill in its early days.

“We’ve lost too many historic buildings in the name of redevelopment and this is such an expensive investment that even as a preservationist, you have to realize there’s going to be compromise to save those historic structures,” Linoff said.

Mayor Hugh Hallman said the glass addition is needed to make the project work financially and to service the dated structure with elevators and utilities.

The project is small compared to other downtown projects that will take up to 1 million square feet. Hallman said the project was meant to be smaller in scope in order to respect the mill’s history.

A recent $1.5 million archeological project funded by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community helped unearth history about Tempe’s first settlers and even discovered a Hohokam canal that’s perhaps 1,000 years old.

Hallman said the city might ask for some changes, but he’s eager to see a project move forward that revives Tempe’s history.

Hayden Flour Mill redevelopment

The first phase:

• Restores the 1918 mill building

• Attaches a building on the west side for shops

• Adds a building for a wine bar

• Builds a trailhead for Hayden Butte

• Adds surface parking

• Includes nearly 65,000 square feet of existing and new buildings

• Paints the 1950s silos, but leaves them empty

• Would transfer the land from Tempe to Avenue Communities, but only if work starts by January 2009

Two future phases would:

• Develop the silos, perhaps as housing or a hotel

• Replace the surface parking with more offices, shops and housing

• Eventually include about 500,000 square feet of buildings

• Be valued at about $500 million

• Be limited to the height of the silos, 168 feet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevdogAZ (Post 2628179)

You'll notice that in most cities with subway systems, once the subway gets out of the main part of the city, it goes above ground. In these areas, the land was not expensive enough to justify the cost of going underground. The same is true in PHX, except that there's no land anywhere in the valley that's expensive enough to justify the cost of going underground. Precisely because PHX ISN'T built up is why it's much more economical to run the tracks above ground.

That's true, but most subway systems that go above ground in the suburbs become elevated trains, not trains that run on the middle of streets. Here in the Lille area, there is a subway system with two lines. It does go above ground in some areas, but then it's elevated. There is also what they call the "tramway", and it's the same sort of thing as the light rail Phoenix is getting. It runs down the middle (or the side) of regular roads. This is the secondary system, with the subway being the main transit system.

Trains that run at street level are slower than subways/elevated trains, and suffer from another serious limitation: they're bound by the street grid. This will be a problem in Phoenix. Tempe is an exception, because the light rail will have its own bridge and then use some defunct railways. That's good. But for most of the line, the train won't be that much different from a bus, because it's running on the streets. A subway would have the advantage of being able to exceed the limitations of the gridded streets.

Quote:

The company hasn’t selected other tenants yet but is shunning chains in favor of chef-driven restaurants, D’Andrea said.

One potential tenant includes a Vancouver chef who would operate a bakery and cafe. The wine bar will have a tie to a winery that the developer is setting up at Centerpoint Condominiums.

Further proof (as if we needed more) that Tempe is the urbanization leader in the Valley of the Sun. The difference in the development climate between Tempe and Phoenix is almost comical at this point.

P.S. - I was down on Mill yesterday. The wife and I went to Cafe Boa for V-day (love that place!). Centerpoint is really starting to get tall. One tower is 9-10 stories now (maybe more) and the other is 3-4. They should really start climbing into the skyline now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Upward (Post 2630837)

Clearly there are major advantages to subways and elevated trains which is why the most dense cities have these systems, despite their enormous cost. However, here in PHX the cost cannot be justified for many reasons. First, the money just isn't there. Second, there is no culture of riding mass transit, which means many residents already think that light rail is a huge boondoggle. Third, the distances involved are huge for the amount of potential riders. Fourth, the decentralized structure of the Valley means that for such a system to be efficient, it would have to have nodes running from N. Scottsdale to S. Gilbert, from E. Mesa to Surprise, from N. Phoenix to S. Phoenix, from Avondale to Deer Valley. We're talking hundreds of miles of tracks at a cost of hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars.

At that point, most taxpayers would simply prefer to stay in their air-conditioned cars rather than pay huge taxes to stand on a sweltering train platform and cram into a crowded, smelly, compartment at rush hour.

Centerpoint Condominiums Update: 02.21.07

I walked around Downtown Tempe today, and decided to snap some pictures of Centerpoint...give all of you guys an update. It looks like they are up to the 12th floor for Phase 1, and only up to the 3rd floor for Phase 2.

Phase 1 (22 stories) is already halfway up, and should be topped-out around April, with Phase 2 (30 stories) following in August or September.

Peaking above Chase from the intersection of Mill Avenue & University Drive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint001.jpg

A closer shot within the Centerpoint plaza.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint002.jpg

Behind some trees. It looks shy from this angle, but give it a few months.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint003.jpg

Both cranes looming above the construction site.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint004.jpg

Here is a shot from 6th Street. This angle provides the best view of the construction site, and shows how massive the tower is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint005.jpg

Another angle with both cranes in the photograph.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint006.jpg

Close-up of Phase 1, now on the 12th floor, going on 13.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint007.jpg

At the intersection of 5th Street and Mill Avenue.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint008.jpg

Close-up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...erpoint009.jpg

That's it for now! Give it a few weeks, and it'll be noticeably taller. It's say when it gets to the 15th floor, I'll do another update.

-Andrew

Pics from Sunday 2-19

Jim, great pictures, especially the first pano...once Centerpoint's two towers rises out of the ground, it will certainly dominate the Tempe skyline. By the way, I didn't get a new camera (I don't have one). I was actually out in the field for work, and decided to shoot some pictures. Come back soon! When you do, I am sure the Phoenix and Tempe skylines will look much different than what you saw last Sunday.

-Andrew

You guys both beat me!
SOB's!
Jim- amazing pics.
I love this forum.....

We sometimes eat at Uno's Pizza on 6th St. with our ASU freshman daughter, right around the corner from the rising Centerpoint Condos. Afterwards I have to walk down the block to get a closer look at the construction site. Thanks to everyone for the pictures.

My first post after lurking a couple weeks. I had no idea there were so many high-rise geeks like me. Probably some here count the number of floors in pictures of high-rises in other cities like I do.

44 Monroe reached 16 floors yesterday.

^Welcome JAHOPL! Trust me, there are TONS of high-rise geeks...just gotta look to see where they all congrgate. Welcome to the forum.

-Andrew

Hi, I just signed up....I have been looking for a long time on this site... I love looking at how Tempe is developing. I am out of the country right now but was interested in Onyx and Northshore. I was there in November and I saw some pics of recent developments on Northshore @ www.northshoreaz.com but they haven't updated any pics in awhile. Just seeing if someone can post some?

I was reading some previous posts talking about Onyx and it said the square footage was starting out at 1,300. I think it is more like the 600's square foot range starting in the mid $300's.

Thanks~Keep up the pics..

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