Freeport-McMoRan Center (One Central Park East) - Phoenix, AZ

[dtnphx]

For what it's worth, I was speaking to someone who knows a bit or two about OCPE and said that Freeport will be taking 185,000 SF on floors beginning on 6 floors above the garage. Supposedly the announcement was going to be made at the Mayor's State of Downtown, but it was postponed because the hotel is scheduled to receive a tax abatement and other downtown hotels are balking at that. Also, parking for the hotel is said to be an issue, since there is none left.

[Vicelord John]

and FWIW, about 8 floors from the top, there is a completed office... wtf?

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

and FWIW, about 8 floors from the top, there is a completed office... wtf?

Yeah, I noticed that 2 days ago. On the north facing side, I noticed three windows lit up that appeared to be occupied (or soon to be) office space.

Its a start, I guess.

[tacoma02]

It's probably an office mock-up.

[Vicelord John]

you're an office mock-up.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by dtnphx

For what it's worth, I was speaking to someone who knows a bit or two about OCPE and said that Freeport will be taking 185,000 SF on floors beginning on 6 floors above the garage. Supposedly the announcement was going to be made at the Mayor's State of Downtown, but it was postponed because the hotel is scheduled to receive a tax abatement and other downtown hotels are balking at that. Also, parking for the hotel is said to be an issue, since there is none left.

The permits show that it will in fact be 6 floor, but on #21 - #26, not the floors directly above the parking garage.

[dtnphx]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

The permits show that it will in fact be 6 floor, but on #21 - #26, not the floors directly above the parking garage.

My bad, HX. I meant the floors directly above where the proposed hotel would go. Wasn't sure what actual floor it was.

[HX_Guy]

Any word on who the hotel operator would be?

[Don B.]

^ In this economy, Motel 6? LOL...

--don

[Vicelord John]

I suspect it will be either a Hilton or Starwood brand. I haven't heard much intrest from Marriott around the area.

I say either ALOFT, Hampton Inn, or the like.

[HX_Guy]

Drumroll please....

It's a Westin!

Westin, Freeport to fill new downtown high-rise

by Jahna Berry - Dec. 10, 2009 03:04 PM
The Arizona Republic

A Westin hotel with up to 278 rooms could open in downtown Phoenix as early as 2011.

The hotel is expected to occupy eight stories of One Central Park East, a recently competed 26-story high-rise near Central Avenue and Van Buren Street, according to the National Electrical Benefit Fund, the building's owner.

The fund plans to invest an additional $30 million to $40 million into the $175 million office building to build hotel rooms, to construct a hotel entrance and to create a pool deck, said Ryan Whitaker, an equity investment officer for the fund.

The hotel entrance will face Central Avenue, across the street from the Van Buren/Central light rail stop and Central Station.

All of the hotel rooms will be suites, and the hotel operator plans to target business travelers. Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc. has signed a letter of intent to operate the Westin hotel for the fund, Whitaker said.

The rest of the building - the top six floors and possibly a seventh floor - will be the new home of Freeport McMoRan-Copper & Gold.

The international mining company's headquarters is currently located at One North Central Ave. Freeport plans to move to One Central Park East by the second quarter of 2010.

Freeport has agreed to lease 185,000 square feet, and its name will appear at the top of the building.

The complex will be called Freeport-McMoRan Center, said Eric Kinneberg a company spokesman.

The Thursday announcement means that the 26-story building will be almost completely occupied.

The first floor of the complex is the lobby level and the second through first 10th floors are parking levels.

Construction began in 2007 and the building was completed in November.

I love signage!

[Vicelord John]

I fucking called it.... sweet.

What I don't like is that Jahna Berry told me something I didn't know.

[gymratmanaz]

THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone, and Tiny Vicelord too!

[HooverDam]

I found this bit interesting:

The hotel entrance will face Central Avenue, across the street from the Van Buren/Central light rail stop and Central Station.

Since the building is set back from Central a little ways, I wonder if they'll re-work that area to be a pull in for cars like the Sheraton has.

I still can't quite imagine how this add on pool deck thing is going to work though. :/

Maybe something like this? (excuse the extremely crude MS Word mock up):


A new structure hanging off the West side, along Central would provide area for a pool deck, as well as a car drop off/pull in and new hotel entry.

EDIT: Also it is a bummer that the (soon to be former) Phelps Dodge building is now going to have a huge amount of empty space. Though it is better to have older buildings empty than newer ones, thats a lot of space to go empty.

I wish the city would try to lure BHP Billiton to open a HQ in downtown. They have HQs in London and Melbourne and do most of their mining operations in other countries but their US investments are primarily in Arizona and the Southwest. They're the largest mining company in the world and are behind the potentially huge Resolution Copper Mine and they have 3 other mines in AZ, plus a coal mine in New Mexico and a gas and oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. Phoenix seems like a perfect place for them to be HQ'd if theyre looking to expand operations in the Western hemisphere.

Obviously in this economy Im sure theyre not looking to expand but when things pick up and if the Resolution Mine moves ahead I hope our leaders have the foresight to try to capitalize on that.

[Tempe_Duck]

I posted this is the other fourm before I realized I was in the wrong one. The article mentioned the Freeport-McMoRan will have the top 6 or 7 floors. Where is the extra floor coming from? Add a floor or remove one from the hotel?

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by Tempe_Duck

I posted this is the other fourm before I realized I was in the wrong one. The article mentioned the Freeport-McMoRan will have the top 6 or 7 floors. Where is the extra floor coming from? Add a floor or remove one from the hotel?

Lobby: 1 floor
+ Parking: 9 floors
+ Freeport McMoran: up to 7 floors
+ Hotel: 8 floors
-----------------------------------------
Total: 25 floors

Of 26 possible, so there would still be one floor left to lease out to smaller firms unless my adding skills are even worse than I thought.

[HX_Guy]

That is what I was thinking too. I think it can have a very cool look off of Central...right there by the park...could be good for future development in the area.

Here is another article from Jahna with a little more info. I wasn't aware that Freeport was considering a move out of downtown...that would have been a disaster for the downtown office market.

Hotel, mining firm to occupy high-rise

by Jahna Berry - Dec. 11, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

A Westin hotel is planned to fill up half of a new and empty upscale office building downtown, with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. moving its headquarters to the upper floors, the tower's owners said Thursday.

The hotel will inject nearly 300 upscale hotel rooms into the 26-story One Central Park East office building at Central Avenue and Van Buren Street. The mining company, which some say had been considering a move out of downtown, will help the business district hold on to a key employer.

The moves will help strengthen downtown Phoenix in several ways, market analysts and property owners say. But a slow economic recovery may provide challenges for the hotel during its early years.

The Westin will fill a key gap in downtown Phoenix's hotel offerings, said Ryan Whitaker, an equity-investment officer for the real-estate arm of the National Electrical Benefit Fund, the majority owner of the building. The hotel could have up to 278 rooms and could open in downtown Phoenix as early as 2011, he said.

"The fact that we have been able to do this is extraordinary," said Whitaker, adding that financing for hotels is extremely difficult to find because of the economic downturn.

"We will be able to take full advantage of the recovery," he said.

The fund plans to invest an additional $30 million to $40 million in the $175 million building to build hotel rooms, construct a hotel entrance and create a pool deck.

All of the hotel rooms will be suites, and the hotel operator plans to target business travelers.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has signed a letter of intent to operate the Westin hotel for the fund, Whitaker said.

The National Electrical Benefit Fund controls $10 billion in assets and owns 90 percent of the building. Developer Mesirow Financial Real Estate Inc. owns 10 percent.

Because the hotel is expected to open in 2011, it will avoid the brunt of the recession, said Robert Hayward of Warnick & Co.

The Valley depends on tourism, and local hotels and resorts have struggled as businesses have slashed conferences and travel and consumers have cut back on leisure trips.

"Over time, for the convention center to maximize its capability, we are going to need more hotel rooms downtown," Hayward said. "The addition of these hotel rooms over next two years will be timely."

The hotel will bring 226 jobs downtown and will have an economic impact of $32 million, according to the fund.

Freeport at top

The rest of the building, the top six floors and possibly a seventh, - will be the new home of Freeport-McMoRan.

The international mining company has been at One North Central Ave. since 2001 but plans to move to One Central Park
East by the second quarter of 2010.

Freeport has agreed to lease 185,000 square feet. Its name will appear at the top of the building, and the complex will be called Freeport-McMoRan Center.

It was known in real-estate circles that Freeport wanted to move, said Donald Mudd, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC.

The company had weighed relocating to the 24th Street and Camelback Road corridor before it decided on One Central Park East.

Although the Freeport move creates a big vacancy at One North Central Ave., the Westin hotel project will help take roughly 300,000 square feet of high-end, Class A office space off the market, Mudd said.

The Class A vacancy rate in downtown Phoenix could drop from 23.9 percent to 17.9 percent, he said. A lower vacancy rate stabilizes the market and will help with the future recovery, Mudd added.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

That is what I was thinking too...though the Westin will ocupy the bottom half of the main tower, it will not be an add on (you probably already know...but the drawing made it look like Freeport was going to occupy the whole main building). I think it can have a very cool look off of Central...right there by the park...could be good for future development in the area.

Sorry my drawing is bad...the add on I was suggesting would just be to house the pool deck and the new lobby/entryway as well as elevators and other back of the house type stuff perhaps. The actual hotel rooms would go from the top of the parking garage up 8 floors, with the pool deck being at floor 8. Thats just my guess but I can't see much else making sense, if they have to build an entry facing Central, that also means elevators on that side I'd think (unless its sharing all of OCPE's elevators) and you might as well put the pool on the top of that entry area.

Obviously as the building is currently configured there ain't no place for an outdoor pool, nor is there a proper hotel entry, so I think they'll have to build something like what I have in my drawing.

Here it is again with more detail for clarification:


EDIT: VVV My thinking of having the pool that high up was first it would be easiest to access for the people staying in the hotel.

Secondarily a lot of times hotel pools are right near workout centers with big glass windows looking out onto the pool area, if you had the pool only 2 or 3 stories up and adjacent to the parking garage I dont think that would be possible. Plus how much would it suck to be swimming next to a giant metal sheet with thousands of cars behind it? It would be lame-o for sure. Plus if they built it on the 8th floor you'd get some cool views of the CBD as well as the Civic Space/art piece, it could end up being a really cool place for events.

But who knows, it may cost way too much to build it up that high, I really have no idea how far $40M goes for this sort of thing, probably not far.

[HX_Guy]

From what I've seen and heard, they are going to use the same elevators already in place, just make a different entrance for them and maybe seperate them somehow from the office ones?

I agree with your idea that they will build out toward Central for the entrance, though I don't know if they would go quite that high for the pool deck...I was thinking more like right above the lobby level or maybe one more up. It's going to kind of suck pool wise though with it being on the west side of the building...shade all morning and through lunch. They should build a pool on top of the building.

[Jsmscaleros]

Just a thought... it would make the most sense to me that the pool is contained within the existing structure - an indoor pool, that is. Anyone have an update?