Phoenix Development News (3)

[combusean]

^ Singer, the Circles owner, owns only the current building and the parking lot to the immediate north. Everything north of the parking lot is under a different ownership.

[azsunsurfer]

I was up at Kierland Commons yesterday and the Optima project just north of there is in full swing. They are actively excavating below grade. Hope to see it go vertical next year!

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by combusean

^ Singer, the Circles owner, owns only the current building and the parking lot to the immediate north. Everything north of the parking lot is under a different ownership.

Ah. I didn't know how much of those buildings were part of Circles since I haven't been here long enough to know much about the building and it's history. Yea, it would have to be 1 skinny highrise to fit in that parking lot, so I don't see them saving the entire building. They would have to be very creative which usually cost more to design and build.

[exit2lef]

This morning I passed by Roosevelt Point and noticed some construction in one of the ground floor storefronts. A sign on the door mentions that "O.S.B. Coffeehouse / Cafe," standing for "Oliver's Sophisticated Brew" is coming in January. I don't know anything about the business and haven't been able to find a website or any social media presence.

This is an interesting development for a number of reasons. It's good to see the unfinished, vacant spaces in Roosevelt Point being activated. There is the issue of market saturation, though. The location is kitty corner from Be Coffee, which replaced Songbird in Monorchid. Songbird's new location on 3rd St. and Jobot are just a few blocks away.

[combusean]

Originally Posted by RonnieFoos

Ah. I didn't know how much of those buildings were part of Circles since I haven't been here long enough to know much about the building and it's history. Yea, it would have to be 1 skinny highrise to fit in that parking lot, so I don't see them saving the entire building. They would have to be very creative which usually cost more to design and build.

Go on http://maps.mcassessor.maricopa.gov and you can see who owns what piece of property anywhere in Maricopa County. (ROW jurisdiction and federal government and certain state bodies excluded)

[nickw252]

Scottsdale-based Empire Group plans on buying the historic Circles Records & Tapes building in downtown Phoenix and wants to redevelop the well-known property into a 19-story apartment building with more than 300 units.

The project will keep some of the architectural and building elements of the current 19,300-square-foot property, which opened in 1946 as a Studebaker dealership.

Geoffrey Jacobs, a principal with Scottsdale-based Empire, said he’s working toward buying the record store property and on site plan approvals from the city of Phoenix. He said the project does not need rezoning from the city and he’s looking at restaurants to occupy ground-floor space at the apartment development.

He said construction could start next summer.

“It will be at least 300 units,” Jacobs told the Phoenix Business Journal.

The Circles building at Central Avenue and McKinley Street has been empty since the record store closed in 2010. It was listed for $2.9 million.

Jacobs said the sale is moving forward. He declined to comment on the price.

An Empire affiliate Aspirant Development will be moving forward with the project, Jacobs said.

CCBG Architects, which has done a number of infill and adaptive reuse projects in Phoenix, is handling the design for Empire.

Jacobs said he is looking at ways to keep a rotunda window and iconic signage in the new apartment development. He said that rotunda space would work well for a restaurants.

Circles occupied the building from 1972 to 2010. The Singer family, which owned the Phoenix record store, still owns the property.

Colliers International broker Larry Ortega has been marketing the Circles building for the Singers.

Link

[PHX31]

/\ "Looking to keep the rotunda window and signage" ??? That's all they want to keep? I'm afraid this might not end well. I see a near complete demolition and then the lot sitting empty forever as has been the case countless times before.

I don't even think the whole south side of the building needs to be kept, only the Southeast portion of the south building. Looking at google earth and streetview you can easily see what part of the building should be saved. The SE portion is a bit taller, has the most distinct architectural elements, and probably has some amazing bow trusses based on the curved-looking roof.

[exit2lef]

Interesting development for the downtown location of ZPizza. I'm still trying to figure out how "self-pour" wine & beer can be compliant with liquor laws, though: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/...a-is-opening-a-tap-room-in-downtown.html

[biggus diggus]

Interesting, to my knowledge Empire has not done a residential development of that scale, they may need assistance.

Regarding Z Pizza I got a flyer in the mail about their grand opening including the beer and wine. I hope it works for them.

Additionally, I must add there are currently three coffee shops about to open downtown. Street Coffee on 7th, some other one at Roosevelt Pointe, and another on Washington.

There's also signs for Dirty Martini at the 1100 block of E Washington, looks like it's about to open. edit: yup, November 22 https://www.facebook.com/Dirty-Martini-Bistro-Bar-1663459590566089/

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

Interesting development for the downtown location of ZPizza. I'm still trying to figure out how "self-pour" wine & beer can be compliant with liquor laws, though: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/...a-is-opening-a-tap-room-in-downtown.html

Maybe under the same or similar rules as the self-pour "growler stations" at a lot of gas stations here in Phoenix.

[ASU Diablo]

Nice! Good win for downtown

Silicon Valley-based Gainsight Inc. announced it is opening its corporate marketing headquarters in downtown Phoenix, days after depositing $50 million in Series D funding in the bank.

Anthony Kennada, vice president of Gainsight, called the pick a "no-brainer."

“We chose downtown because we wanted to be in the middle of what we see as the place for ‘Generation 3’ technology companies," he said.

The company, which focuses on customer gains and retention in the enterprise space using data culled from customer relationship management software, considers itself among the next generation of technology companies. The first wave, companies such as Avnet Inc. and GoDaddy Inc. set the stage for what is coming, Kennada said.

“Infusionsoft and WebPT and similar companies are the second generation,” he said. “Now the small companies, and those coming in, like ours, are Phoenix 3.0.”

Gainsight plans to take an undetermined amount of space at 111 W. Monroe St., the downtown building that has been courting tech companies.

The company already is taking down its first expansion space before opening its doors. A half dozen marketing team members will relocate from the Bay Area. Kennada said the company is staffing up with marketing and account management team members. The initial year hires will hit around 50.

“The evolution of the tech sector with these new, growing companies is happening faster than we expected,” said Chris Camacho, president and CEO of Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “It used to be we’d talk about it happening in five to ten years, ‘tomorrow,’ we’d say. That ‘tomorrow’ is today.”

Gainsight is currently determining salaries for the positions it will hire, but expectations are for the average salary will be more than double the Valley average.

“Every role in this company has an equity package,” Kennada said.

Kennada said despite providing support to enterprise companies, the office will not be a call center. The drawing factor for the company's decision was that it had a key hire who didn’t want to leave the region.

“We give a lot of credit to Mike Manheimer for bringing us to Phoenix," he said. Manheimer is the founding head of marketing for WebPT.

Gainsight also is opening its first international office, and global marketing efforts will be supported in Phoenix.

The company, founded by serial entrepreneur Nick Mehta, doubled its book value to $400 million since last year. There are no state incentives in the first phase of the Gainsight deal.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/...town-phoenix-lands-new-marketing-hq.html

[Obadno]

[QUOTE=PHX31;7234046]/\ "Looking to keep the rotunda window and signage" ??? That's all they want to keep? I'm afraid this might not end well. I see a near complete demolition and then the lot sitting empty forever as has been the case countless times before.
[QUOTE]

But that hasn't been happening. Most of the projects in recent years have moved ahead quickly.

This isn't 2006 and the demand for downtown is growing as you can see in the rent increases. once the current mid-rise developments show success developers will be more willing to invest tin high rise developments.

[crwhiteinaz]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Maybe under the same or similar rules as the self-pour "growler stations" at a lot of gas stations here in Phoenix.

The self pour 'movement' has picked up traction in other cities. Interesting to see how this works out! IMO I personally love the idea of not having to wait and compete with the others to get my brew. Self pour = instant gratification

http://pourmybeer.com/news.html
http://pourmybeer.com/

[combusean]

Minor nitpick:

“The evolution of the tech sector with these new, growing companies is happening faster than we expected,” said Chris Camacho, president and CEO of Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “It used to be we’d talk about it happening in five to ten years, ‘tomorrow,’ we’d say. That ‘tomorrow’ is today.”

A tech company expanding here and not hiring engineers isn't evolution of the local tech sector. People think having Yelp and Uber and Paypal and other Bay Area tech companies opening backoffices here speaks of some resilience of Phoenix and tech, but it's not tech. The "tech" part of those tech companies remains in the Bay Area and probably always will. Phoenix is just not a strong open-source market unlike the Bay Area, and almost all of the web startups I've seen in Phoenix are using Windows which has difficulty approaching web scale for anything serious.

If Phoenix had a decent tech job market, I wouldn't have had to leave the region. To that end, I'm certain my current job title and responsibilities don't even exist in the Phoenix area.

[biggus diggus]

I'm of the opinion that these places opening shop in Phoenix builds the city's resume and if there are enough opening here then I have hopes it will snowball into bigger and better companies and offices.

Admittedly real estate is my area of expertise, not tech jobs, so perhaps that effect doesn't happen.

[PHXFlyer11]

Originally Posted by combusean

Minor nitpick:



A tech company expanding here and not hiring engineers isn't evolution of the local tech sector. People think having Yelp and Uber and Paypal and other Bay Area tech companies opening backoffices here speaks of some resilience of Phoenix and tech, but it's not tech. The "tech" part of those tech companies remains in the Bay Area and probably always will. Phoenix is just not a strong open-source market unlike the Bay Area, and almost all of the web startups I've seen in Phoenix are using Windows which has difficulty approaching web scale for anything serious.

If Phoenix had a decent tech job market, I wouldn't have had to leave the region. To that end, I'm certain my current job title and responsibilities don't even exist in the Phoenix area.

Well of course, software engineering has and will always be primarily in the Bay, Boston, and to a lesser extent Dallas (now Austin as well).

There really aren't any major markets outside of those three/four cities for software developers. Just the way it is. I wouldn't discount though the fact that these companies are putting major presences in Phoenix for other functions.

I am please to see Uber and now Gainsight both downtown Phoenix, rather than some office park in the east valley. That will help them to attrach more of the younger, skilled talent they seek.

[doppelbanger]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11

Well of course, software engineering has and will always be primarily in the Bay, Boston, and to a lesser extent Dallas (now Austin as well).

There really aren't any major markets outside of those three/four cities for software developers. Just the way it is. I wouldn't discount though the fact that these companies are putting major presences in Phoenix for other functions.

I am please to see Uber and now Gainsight both downtown Phoenix, rather than some office park in the east valley. That will help them to attrach more of the younger, skilled talent they seek.

Just to clarify for others who might misunderstand your post; software developer/engineer is not synonymous with tech startup. There are literally thousands of software developers/engineers in the Phoenix area. Government, large corporations, healthcare, small companies, technology firms and yes even some startups employ a large amount of developers. Just clarifying as the prior post seems to claim that these jobs don't exist however he is referring to the percentage of jobs as well as visibility of the companies.

[crwhiteinaz]

Not sure if this was posted here before... This is an interesting look at Hance Park renderings from an architectural site out of NY.

http://www.melk-nyc.com/work-portfolio/hance-park/

[ASU Diablo]

Whoah this could be interesting. Another 19-story tower proposal, empty lot right next to Angel's Trumpet Ale House

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/...-story-micro-housing-tower-proposed.html

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by airomero83

Whoah this could be interesting. Another 19-story tower proposal, empty lot right next to Angel's Trumpet Ale House

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/...-story-micro-housing-tower-proposed.html

Unless they are insanely inexpensive that's going to be a tough sell in The Phoenix market.

In other news that's the 5th "high rise" in the pipe for downtown now.

1. The Marriot at 19 floors (under construction)
2. Central station at 35 floors
3. Circles Records building 19/20 floors
4. 2nd/3rd street and Roosevelt 19 floors (iffy)
5. Micro housing tower 21 floors

and there was a statement about a Fillmore and Central location but we aren't sure if that's the same as Circles, also at about 20 floors.

!!!!!!!!! this is GREAT
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