Phoenix Development News (3)

[PhxER]

Retailers Rediscover the Valley

Panda Express launched a new free-standing restaurant near Ninth Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix.

Other retailers focusing on infill locations include include Nordstrom, which has announced plans to open a Rack discount store at Town & Country shopping center in Phoenix and Swedish retailer H&M, which plans to open a third Phoenix-area store later this year at Arizona Mills in Tempe.

There has been speculation in real-estate circles that Whole Foods may open a store at Town & Country, near 20th Street and Camelback Road. And LA Fitness is building a new health club near Northern and 23rd avenues next to a new large-format Circle K convenience store.

Many retailers are tailoring their stores to the new infill locations as well. Walmart, Best Buy, Petco and others are developing smaller stores that can squeeze into smaller sites.

Read more Here

[hrivas]

according to this post on the Arizona Preservation Foundation's facebook page, Ben Bethel is meeting with lenders to possibly finish Hotel Monroe...



heres the link in the post
https://picasaweb.google.com/108802868999125345703/20111007HotelMonroe

[gymratmanaz]

That would be incredible!!! Go Ben. Go!!!!!!

[glynnjamin]

Wow! Amazing! That would be huge if Ben bought it. He's done such a good job on Clarendon. Shame the state/city won't kick any money or tax breaks his way even though they've done so for the corporate downtown hotels.

[combusean]

^ Who says they won't? The city has subsidized damn near everything else. Even a renovation of the Wyndham (whatever happened to that, anyways?) has got a GPLET incentive.

[nickw252]

Dump trucks, backhoes and other hefty construction machinery are removing a vestige of Phoenix's segregated past.

The machines have been bumping their way through the demolition of 138 units in the Frank Luke Addition homes, which were built nearly 70 years ago near 16th and Villa streets, north of St. Luke's Medical Center and a mile east of downtown.

In 1941, the Phoenix Housing Authority decided the project would be exclusively open to White residents, while the Matthew Henson public housing would be for African-Americans and Marcos de Niza for Mexican-Americans. After the 1960s civil-rights movement, desegregation opened the housing units to people of all ethnicities.

The barracks-style homes deteriorated significantly over the years. City officials placed Frank Luke Addition on their to-do list of public-housing projects that needed redevelopment.

This year, the Phoenix Housing Department was awarded a $20 million grant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to raze the old units and build 250 new senior and mixed-income family units on the Frank Luke Addition property.

Phoenix homes, part of segregated past, demolished

Does anyone know what the new building will look like? Will it be street facing and encourage walkability or will it be a suburban barracks style place that caters to automobiles?

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Phoenix homes, part of segregated past, demolished

Does anyone know what the new building will look like? Will it be street facing and encourage walkability or will it be a suburban barracks style place that caters to automobiles?

It will probably look like the new Mathew Henson Apartments on 7th Ave. It is a medium-density, suburban styled complex:

http://www.mycheapapartments.com/Matthew-Henson-Apartments-Phoenix-AZ-2740548-For-Rent

But, maybe not:

"This phase includes a 60-unit senior living project consisting of a 3-story, 67,749 SF building with activity areas, office space, dining room, and center courtyard."
http://www.a-p.com/project/recently-awarded/frank-luke-senior-housing

I'm sure someone will dig up some renderings of the project soon.

[PHX31]

Behel needs to mention the upcoming super bowl and the necessity of having the hotel Monroe finished. I can't wait.

[Vicelord John]

Well that just means hotel Monroe will be an ill maintained 🞵🞵🞵🞵 hole like Clarendon. Damnit I hope this actually doesn't happen. I know a few groups with deep enough pockets are trying to make that property work, and would turn it into a fantastic place. If bethel gets involved, prepare to see card tables for bar tops, moldy carpets, and btw the windows on the units at Clarendon were never replaced. He did a complete half assed Reno there and I wouldnt expect anything better at Monroe. It would be wise of the city to block this.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by combusean

^ Who says they won't? The city has subsidized damn near everything else. Even a renovation of the Wyndham (whatever happened to that, anyways?) has got a GPLET incentive.

This is one thing we agree on! The City should take interest in this project because it is one of the few remaining historic buildings downtown. It's an awesome structure and needed to be renovated long ago. This project needs to be handled with great care and plans for this hotel must be as grand as Grace Properties' for the first Hotel Monroe project; it can't be half-assed and a "spared no expense" approach must be taken to make this a premiere boutique hotel.

[Vicelord John]

And that's the problem. Bethel doesn't have access to the type of funds it would take to build something grand, with no expense spared. He would equal a budget remodel, and I would rather wait for some money to come along.

[combusean]

There's no way the Clarendon would provide him enough capital to pull this off, so that's why he's meeting with lenders today.

[Vicelord John]

And how much do you think he will be loaned based on his collateral and cash reserves??

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

And that's the problem. Bethel doesn't have access to the type of funds it would take to build something grand, with no expense spared. He would equal a budget remodel, and I would rather wait for some money to come along.

Well, that is a huge concern. I used the term "half-assed" because I've heard similar reviews of Clarendon even though it receives much praise in numerous publications and industry mags. Rather surprising to hear.

I thought Grace Properties and the original proposer of the Hotel Monroe project (that was to be completed by 2008) still had a vested interest in the building? If this is true perhaps a partnership can be formed. A little info for this building from last year:

"Synder says the renovation project that began and failed a few years ago is about 1/3 complete. Some of the floors are completely framed out and much remains to be done. He estimates an additional 30 million will be needed to finish the build-out. On the good news side, much of the ground work has been done to qualify for historic federal tax credits and the property is already on the both state and federal historic registers."
http://urbanconnectionrealty.com/2010/10/hotel-monroe-downtown-phoenix-looking-for-new-developer/

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by glynnjamin

Wow! Amazing! That would be huge if Ben bought it. He's done such a good job on Clarendon. Shame the state/city won't kick any money or tax breaks his way even though they've done so for the corporate downtown hotels.

Wasn't familiar so I took my kid to a delightful brunch at the Clarendon. Nice property.

Oops... posted before I read the comments above. Interesting....

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

It will probably look like the new Mathew Henson Apartments on 7th Ave. It is a medium-density, suburban styled complex:

http://www.mycheapapartments.com/Matthew-Henson-Apartments-Phoenix-AZ-2740548-For-Rent

But, maybe not:

"This phase includes a 60-unit senior living project consisting of a 3-story, 67,749 SF building with activity areas, office space, dining room, and center courtyard."
http://www.a-p.com/project/recently-awarded/frank-luke-senior-housing

I'm sure someone will dig up some renderings of the project soon.

I'm not familiar with how these projects have fared but they've been a godsend in Denver which as Vicelord John would say is a different "animal."

Denver cleared a roughly 6-7 block area formerly called Village East for a Hope VI project. Built in phases, the quality is better with sustainable features. An urban village that features several different
architectural styles and variety of affordable housing.

It is sooo much nicer than before. Denver does benefit from downtown having over 8,000 hotel rooms and over a 1,000 retail establishments many being restaurants so there is a need for nearby
affordable housing. All are within a few blocks of downtown and to light rail that goes through downtown.

In the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood Denver is specifically protecting the character of this historically Hispanic area. The former Public Housing, though, will be replaced with the next Hope VI project also
within blocks of a (different) light rail line. Great masterplan. The first phase, under construction, is a ten story senior project which the neighborhood residents "helped" design through several neighborhood meetings.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Congress doesn't kill future Hope VI funding.

Given the battering this area has taken, I remain impressed with the activity in and around downtown Phoenix.

[nickw252]

After decades in midtown Phoenix, processed-meat manufacturer and hot-dog brand Bar-S Foods Co. will move to the Camelback Corridor in an 11-year lease brokered by the Jones Lang LaSalle tenant-advisory group.

The company, currently headquartered at 3838 N. Central Ave., will relocate to an office building at 5090 N. 40th St. in early December.

Bar-S has been headquartered at or within four blocks of its current location - which offers access to restaurants, light rail and other amenities - since its founding in 1981, according to Tom Weinman, vice president of administration.

Bar-S moving to Camelback

[phxSUNSfan]

According to the Republic, downtown business groups are interested in turning the Downtown Phoenix Partnership into a "holding group" similar to what downtown Denver has that "would enable them to share some functions, such as marketing the downtown area." This could enable the groups to focus and share some resourcing on developing downtown further, luring business and entertainment to the area.

They could start by trying to jump start "Jackson Street"?

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic...-floated-by-downtown-phoenix-groups.html

[Phxguy]

More good news...
http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/2011/10/27/one-lexington-all-sold/

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

According to the Republic, downtown business groups are interested in turning the Downtown Phoenix Partnership into a "holding group" similar to what downtown Denver has that "would enable them to share some functions, such as marketing the downtown area." This could enable the groups to focus and share some resourcing on developing downtown further, luring business and entertainment to the area.

They could start by trying to jump start "Jackson Street"?

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic...-floated-by-downtown-phoenix-groups.html

The Downtown Denver Partnership does yeoman work and some impressive stuff. There are like six major events per year in downtown and then other stuff will come up from time to time.
They also help sheppard many improvements and retail recruiting to downtown.

For me, it seems like yesterday that they started the Capitol Hill People's Fair, sort of an artsy event with many food booths. Technically it started in 1971 and after a couple of locations, it moved
to the Civic Center Park in 1987 which is where my memory of it starts. It now is a big deal and attracts people metro-wide.

Only in its second year, this years Fourth of July free symphony concert and fireworks brought about 10.000 people/families to the Civic Center.
It is intentionally held on a different day from the traditional Fourth of July offerings.

Phoenix does some cool stuff too. My point would be that with hard work, a coordinated effort, patience, perseverance, and growing financial backing over time,
these things both activate and draw attention to the downtown.

For anybody that's interested you can see the Downtown Denver Partnership's not fancy site, except for the nice rotating eye candy, here: http://www.downtowndenver.com/

Or you can see long time leader Tami Door's annual presentation to the public here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pBc10vTc7Ew