Tempe Development Thread - Page 48

NorthScottsdale · #**941** Posted **Jul 9, 2007, 7:17 AM**

on the nwc of apache and rural is that those ugly new buildings with tall, thin windows and it looks like the top half wasnt aligned properly before it got slapped on? i hate that building. thanks for the info but i was actually refering to the south side of apache just west of rural like a few lots down from the corner

PHX31 · #**942** Posted **Jul 9, 2007, 3:33 PM**

This isn't too important, but I was at the Owl's Next on the rooftop patio for the first time in a long time on Saturday night. Looking out over Mill Ave to the Centerpoint tower was a great view. The tower looked much taller than just 22 stories... the 30 story one will look awesome as well.

HX_Guy · #**943** Posted **Jul 9, 2007, 4:11 PM**

What is going on with the 30 story tower? It seems it should have risen quite a bit more by now but it almost seems to have stagnated.

DoubleG · #**944** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 1:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthScottsdale

on the nwc of apache and rural is that those ugly new buildings with tall, thin windows and it looks like the top half wasnt aligned properly before it got slapped on? i hate that building. thanks for the info but i was actually refering to the south side of apache just west of rural like a few lots down from the corner

Totally Agree about that dorm ... they have managed to build something that looks 30 years old - not 3 months

ljbuild · #**945** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 8:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhxSprawler

One more link on Marina Heights from AZ Rep. This contains renderings from SunCor of before and after.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/docs/Marina.pdf

Dtwn tempe + marina project + the new tempe market place will make one hell of a strip. Who knows maybe the indian reservation will build a casino at the east end of the lake, (which is where the Indian reservation boundaries start).

However thanks to a few IGNORANT PLANNERS, who built that dam airport between two hot downtowns of phoenix and tempe, the projects being built there cant really stick out.
If that airport wasnt there, both dtwns would be rivaling vegas or maybe even Dubai, because at one time the world tallest skyscraper was planned in Dtwn phoenix at 114 stories. (check out the emporis highrise website about this) BUT guess what killed that project. You got it that dam airport location.

ljbuild · #**946** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 8:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhxSprawler

One more link on Marina Heights from AZ Rep. This contains renderings from SunCor of before and after.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/docs/Marina.pdf

Dtwn tempe + marina project + the new tempe market place will make one hell of a strip. Who knows maybe the indian reservation will build a casino at the east end of the lake, (which is where the Indian reservation boundaries start).

However thanks to a few IGNORANT PLANNERS, who built that dam airport between two hot downtowns of phoenix and tempe, the projects being built there cant really stick out.
If that airport wasnt there, both dtwns would be rivaling vegas or maybe even Dubai, because at one time the world tallest skyscraper was planned in Dtwn phoenix at 114 stories. (check out the emporis highrise website about this) BUT guess what killed that project. You got it that dam airport location.

combusean · #**947** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 9:47 PM**

The airport got its start there about 50 years before any major highrise was built in Phoenix. You can't blame bad planning when the biplane was the height of aviation achievement at the time. But Phoenix has rightly kept the airport as it is and expanded it to accommodate for our population growth and to keep damn near every last bit of the aviation economy in the metro to itself. Phoenix would be stupid to give the airport up and north Tempe and East Phoenix would have gone to shit long ago if Sky Harbor was closed.

Secondly, the airport didn't kill that 114-story tower. It was to be built in an area outside the flight path. Phoenix leaders asked for a $50,000 feasibility study and the architect balked and walked away, by then the S&L crisis had eliminated speculative real-estate projects like that and the economy was tanking rapidly.

It was a long shot for so many reasons. The airport is last of them.

jvbahn · #**948** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 10:06 PM**

Thanks Combusean, I was just gonna say: the failure of that project had nothing to do with the airport, just a reality check towards the end of the last real estate bubble. Even today, who is going to fill a 114-story building in Phoenix? Buildings are built because they are needed, and if they aren't there, they weren't ever needed. It's nice to look at renderings and dream about what could have been, but they need money and tenants to succeed. Phoenix lacks tenants, and prefers to stick the majority of its money on the fringe.

The airport is one of the main drivers of the Phoenix economy, and a major advantage being so direct in the center of town. Without the airport, I believe Phoenix would be much less than it is now.

PhxSprawler · #**949** Posted **Jul 10, 2007, 10:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

What is going on with the 30 story tower? It seems it should have risen quite a bit more by now but it almost seems to have stagnated.

I assume you are referring to the CenterPoint II, and I haven't noticed any signs of stalling. It appears they are doing a lot of prep for the 7th storey ammenities.

I couldn't dig up any vacancy numbers for the first tower. Has anyone heard anything about the success of Centerpoint I?

Azndragon837 · #**950** Posted **Jul 11, 2007, 2:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthScottsdale

on the nwc of apache and rural is that those ugly new buildings with tall, thin windows and it looks like the top half wasnt aligned properly before it got slapped on? i hate that building. thanks for the info but i was actually refering to the south side of apache just west of rural like a few lots down from the corner

Those ugly grey buildings you are referring to is the Hassayampa Academic Village, a shitty design that annoys me everytime I pass by it. Whatever architecture firm that designed those ugly, crappy, outdated and seriously misconfigured building needs to shoot themselves in the head and get rid of their huge egos. Who in their right mind would place windows a few feet off of alignment? That bugs me sooo much! LOL...I agree with you, those buildings are ugly.

As for the construction site west of Rural and south of Apache, that's the new location of ASU's South Campus Residential Community....dorms basically, with a few pools, eateries, classrooms, computing commons, and retail. When I was working with Tempe as an intern, I remember seeing the design and layout, and it looked so much better than the dorms just to the north.

The building going up on College and Apache is the new police building for ASU, since the old one is being knocked down to make room for new dorms and classrooms.

-Andrew

combusean · #**951** Posted **Jul 11, 2007, 4:46 AM**

What's irritating so much is that ASU brings so much promise with campus draft plans that include, as we see today, cocktail napkin drawings that never progress past that phase. Every building fronting Apache should have been lined with retail, but in that Hassayampa crap we instead get something akin to Cabrini Green or any other Le Corbusierish outdated monstrosity.

bwonger06 · #**952** Posted **Jul 11, 2007, 5:37 AM**

Hassayampa had so much potential. The original renderings were really promising

But the place ended up all bland, very little color, and with all the constant construction, the place looked omore like a boring old doctor offices than cool, new, hip dorms.

desertdj · #**953** Posted **Jul 11, 2007, 5:47 PM**

it looks like a lot of the color is in the trees and plants in this rendering, you know they always make those renderings with a kind of lighting that only happens about 5 minutes a day. with the right lighting and trees and a few college students walking around you can make a crack house look decent. They should have used something from the design students that go to ASU, they could have come up with a better design in their sleep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwonger06

Hassayampa had so much potential. The original renderings were really promising

But the place ended up all bland, very little color, and with all the constant construction, the place looked omore like a boring old doctor offices than cool, new, hip dorms.

PhxSprawler · #**954** Posted **Jul 11, 2007, 8:59 PM**

The Campus Edge Lofts appear to be just as hideous in their design. I appreciate what they are going for, but it looks way to 1970 hip to remain in style. The retro look will appear outdated VERY quickly. At least they are in walking distance to the drive-in liquor store.

Sorry.. I can't find a stable pic to post, but here is a link...

http://www.campusedgelofts.com/

DevdogAZ · #**955** Posted **Jul 13, 2007, 3:20 AM**

Luckily the new South Campus Residential Village (across Apache from Hassayampa) isn't being built by ASU. It's a partnership with a company that builds/manages college dorms all over the country. I trust that with their expertise, they'll do a much better job of designing and building something that will attract the students.

loftlovr · #**956** Posted **Jul 13, 2007, 10:15 PM**

That rendering for Hassayampa was great...
To bad what was built is pathetic.

As for Campus Edge-
I am a fan of the architecture....
It kills anything in the area.
Regardless of whether you like places like The Vale, or PRD-845,

You should want them in our City- they add color and evoke emotion unlike most of the dead, bland developments that surround them...

The interiors of Campus Edge are awesome.
I like everything about the exterior too except the choice of paint...
(I hated the Vale paint selections too)
I can't wait for C.E. to come to life...

DevdogAZ · #**957** Posted **Jul 15, 2007, 1:45 AM**

So Campus Edge is on the NE corner of Rural and Apache, just to the east of the Taco Bell? So if I'm looking at this picture correctly, you can just see a bit of Apache on the left edge of the picture? The orange-accented wall runs east/west and you can see that liquor store that's next to the Taco Bell between the two buildings? Am I looking at the picture correctly?

sundevilgrad · #**958** Posted **Jul 15, 2007, 4:36 PM**

So, I got an invitation from Mosaic for their "VIP Groundbreaking Gala" in September at the new Tempe Center for the Arts... Maybe that means will see another crane in the Tempe sky this year!

PhxSprawler · #**959** Posted **Jul 16, 2007, 11:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevdogAZ

So Campus Edge is on the NE corner of Rural and Apache, just to the east of the Taco Bell? So if I'm looking at this picture correctly, you can just see a bit of Apache on the left edge of the picture? The orange-accented wall runs east/west and you can see that liquor store that's next to the Taco Bell between the two buildings? Am I looking at the picture correctly?

I believe you can see a bit of the Taco Bell through the picture, but the drive-through liquor store is hidden behind the building on the right.

HX_Guy · #**960** Posted **Jul 17, 2007, 12:06 AM**

Anyone know what is going on with tower 2 of Centerpoint? It seems to have been sitting at the same floor level for months now.