Tempe Development Thread

[vertex]

Thanks for posting. Unfortunately lot of this has been proposed before, much of it going back over 20 years (i.e. Arts and Business Gateway, Biodesign Institute, North Campus Village).

[bwonger06]

Denver investor gets bargain with lakeside luxury condos
SunCor sells Tempe units for much less than buyers paid in '06
12 comments by J. Craig Anderson - Aug. 12, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Tempe Town Lake's Bridgeview Condominiums at Hayden Ferry Lakeside, one of the most highly visible luxury developments built in the recent condo craze, sold Friday to a Colorado investment firm for a fraction of its original market value.

Built by Tempe-based developer SunCor, Bridgeview opened in 2006 at the crest of a decadelong run-up in Valley real-estate prices, when buyers shelled out $800,000 or more for a two-bedroom unit inside the posh 12-story high-rise.

On Friday, the developer, a subsidiary of Arizona Public Service Co. owner Pinnacle West, sold its remaining interest in Bridgeview for an average of about $317,000 per unit.

Pinnacle West spokesman Alan Bunnell said the sale is part of a strategy to sell off the bulk of SunCor's assets and pay down its $175 million in debt by the end of the year.

"Almost all of our assets at SunCor are on the market," Bunnell said.

Buyers Peter Wells and Marcel Arsenault, partners in Denver-area investment firm Condo Capital Solutions, said they were pleased with the $20.3 million sale price - paid in cash - for the project's 64 unsold units, including five luxury penthouses.

"We were able to buy at a fairly significant discount compared with the original construction cost," Wells said, adding that the savings would be passed on to buyers.

Local real-estate analysts said they were surprised to see Bridgeview sell for such a low price.

"The sale price, well below recent previous SunCor offering prices, is indicative of the challenges luxury-condominium sellers face today," said Phoenix analyst Jim Belfiore, president of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting.

"The limited homebuyer pool for these units, due to the current available financing and the larger economy, allowed the buyer to purchase A-quality units at a desirable price."

Wells acknowledged that the sale amount might be a bit painful to Bridgeview investors and residents who had purchased the other 40 condos at the original prices.

An Arizona Republic article published in mid-2006 about the condo project quotes one buyer who had just acquired a 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom unit for $850,000.

Wells said the building's 104 condos range in size from 1,500 to 4,500 square feet.

Bunnell said the publicly traded Pinnacle West's board of directors would not have approved the sale price had they thought it was a raw deal for investors.

He said minimizing the negative impact of SunCor's debts on the rest of the company was essential for the company to shed its boom-and-bust baggage and move forward.

SunCor itself is expected to sell nearly all of its assets and shrink from a company of nearly 500 employees to about 20, company executives have said.

Wells said residents interested in an affordable luxury-condo lifestyle can expect to hear from his company soon.

Having specialized in buying distressed condo properties for the past 15 years, Wells said the unfortunate reality is that one person's loss is the other's gain.

"Somebody usually ends up taking a hit, and in this case it was SunCor," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2009/08/12/20090812biz-bridgeview0812.html

Interesting... this has huge implications on another office or condo tower and a hotel being built.

[Leo the Dog]

^^^ I think this is good news for Tempe.

"'We were able to buy at a fairly significant discount compared with the original construction cost,' Wells said, adding that the savings would be passed on to buyers."

Cheaper high rise residential, this is great!

[combusean]

^ I think it's bad news for Tempe as SunCor is severely downsizing their operations...the "Bridge to Bridge" proposal is probably dead at this rate.

[Sonoran_Dweller]

Originally Posted by combusean

...the "Bridge to Bridge" proposal is probably dead at this rate.

As is everything else.

[bwonger06]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

^^^ I think this is good news for Tempe.

"'We were able to buy at a fairly significant discount compared with the original construction cost,' Wells said, adding that the savings would be passed on to buyers."

Cheaper high rise residential, this is great!

Although this is very bad news in the short-term, I hope this will more importantly lower the vacancy rates in Tempe. This is key when talking about Centerpointe, and various other developments in Tempe (onyx, lumina, etc). Development will only occur once all of this available space is taken up, at least this is when development should occur.


And i am surprised this wasnt posted earlier... Opus West (the developer of Tempe Gateway) filled for chapter 11 bankruptcy just last month:

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/07/08/the-daily-docket-opus-west-drills-into-bankruptcy/

[Don B.]

The prices of these units were absurd. $850,000 so you can live in the flight path to Sky Harbor? No thanks.

$317,000 is a little more reasonable.

--don

[Tempe_Duck]

Not sure if this has been posted before, University Square (I think that is what is was called) the development across the street from ASU on the north, has taken down the fence. It looks like this project is now dead.

Anybody know any info on the hotel that was going to be build by the parking garage across of the police station on 5th?

[TAZ4ate0]

I think the hotel on 5th is on hold (was to be a Marriott I think.) It will probably get built sooner rather than later. Who knows tho.

Man, Tempe is having some real heartbreaks with all of the proposals as of late. About the only thing going right now is that Wal-Mart under construction on southern. Yippee!!!

It would be in Tempe's best interest to be working hard to get CenterPoint restarted and completed asap.

[NIXPHX77]

Originally Posted by combusean

^ I think it's bad news for Tempe as SunCor is severely downsizing their operations...the "Bridge to Bridge" proposal is probably dead at this rate.

What proposal is that?

[bwonger06]

Originally Posted by NIXPHX77

What proposal is that?

Originally there were suppose to have four residential towers and a hotel, hopefully infilling the whole area in-between the mill and rural bridge.

http://www.haydenferrylakeside.com/siteplan.htm

[combusean]

^ The plan was extended a lot further than that ... there was a row of midrises proposed for the whole area of Lot 59, which ASU wants to sell.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by combusean

^ I think it's bad news for Tempe as SunCor is severely downsizing their operations...the "Bridge to Bridge" proposal is probably dead at this rate.

If SunCor is in bad shape, I'm fine with them downsizing and scrapping the projects. Last thing this city needs is for a developer to run out of money half way through the construction.

[mwadswor]

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/08/24/20090824biz-aquarium0825.html

Legoland owner plans aquarium inside Arizona Mills
Owner plans $15 million, 26,000-square-foot aquarium
26 commentsby Andrew Johnson - Aug. 25, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
The owner of Madame Tussauds wax museums and Legoland amusement parks plans to open a 26,000-square-foot aquarium in a former Hi-Health store at Arizona Mills in Tempe.

United Kingdom-based Merlin Entertainments Group said Monday it plans to build the $15 million Sea Life Aquarium in the outlet mall's northeastern section next to Sports Authority. It likely will employ 50 workers, including full- and part-time staff, officials said.

It will be Merlin's 30th Sea Life Aquarium and its second in the United States, said Julie Estrada, spokeswoman for Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif.

Merlin opened a Sea Life Aquarium in August 2008 adjacent to its Carlsbad Legoland park.

It will be the second aquatic-life facility to open in the Phoenix area in the past year. In December, the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park opened a three-building aquarium. It is planning to add a fourth building.

The Phoenix area "is a prime site," Estrada said. "(Merlin was) looking for some place where people would want to go indoors to escape the heat. It pretty much met all the criteria they were looking for."

The Tempe City Council unanimously approved a development agreement with Merlin subsidiary Sea Life US Inc. on Thursday.

Under the pact, the city will rebate all construction sales taxes the developer pays to build the project and rebate privilege taxes it pays to rent the property in an amount not to exceed $78,000.

The agreement also waives fees for planning, engineering and building-safety processing.

Tempe Economic Development Director Sheri Wakefield-Saenz and Community Development Manager Chris Salomone did not return calls seeking comment Monday. City spokeswoman Nikki Ripley declined to comment.

The attraction could help boost the state's struggling tourism industry, as Merlin estimates more than 200,000 visitors in the aquarium's first year of operation, Estrada said.

Todd Olson, general manager of Arizona Mills, said the plans call for the aquarium operator to begin taking over the former Hi-Health space by the end of the week.

Olson would not discuss the terms of Merlin's lease, citing company policy.

Sy Chalpin, president and chief executive officer of Scottsdale-based Hi-Health Corp., said the nutrition retail chain had been trying to sublease that location for months, adding it is much larger than most of its locations, which typically are about 6,000 square feet.

It officially closed the store Sunday, he said.

Mickey Ollson, director of Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium, said he thinks there is enough business in Arizona to support a second Valley aquarium.

"You've got a very large population base here in central Arizona," Ollson said. "We welcome them to the market and look forward to seeing their project."

I think this is cool as hell. I've always wondered how a city the size of Albuquerque could have an awesome aquarium while a city the size of Phoenix doesn't. Maybe I'm just biased because I'm in Tempe, but the Wildlife World Zoo is too far out in the middle of nowhere and way too expensive. Arizona Mills isn't exactly downtown, but it's a whole lot more accessible than Litchfield Park.

The only potential roadblock that I'm curious about is the size. The developers must know what they're doing if they bought the space, but I'm pretty sure I've seen Petsmarts with bigger aquatic sections than that Hi-Health store.

I don't see any talking about it now, but maybe they have future plans to expand the space?

[Leo the Dog]

I have wondered the same thing. I always thought that Phoenix should've built a massive aquarium in DT, similar to Denver's.

[NIXPHX77]

didn't the one in Denver close down?
this will be cool - a nice addition. tho i'd prefer it in DT Phx.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by NIXPHX77

didn't the one in Denver close down?
this will be cool - a nice addition. tho i'd prefer it in DT Phx.

I didn't hear anything about it closing down. Their website is still up and running with aquarium hours. It appears to be a national chain with multiple locations. (Denver, Houston, Nashville, and Kemah TX.) Apparently Landry's Restaurant Inc. bought the aquarium and has a huge restaurant in there surrounded by a 150,000 gallon tank. I think this would be very cool if we had this in DT Phx.
http://www.downtownaquarium.com

[CONative]

Originally Posted by NIXPHX77

didn't the one in Denver close down?
this will be cool - a nice addition. tho i'd prefer it in DT Phx.

No, it's still around and kickin just fine on the edge of downtown Denver.

[ciweiss]

I think it should go DT Phx as well. Next to light rail. A lowend mall seems a bizaar place for this.

[Tempe_Duck]

Thought I would mention this. Tonight after the Devils game, was hanging out with some of the alumni from my fraternity and one of their girlfriends is opening a brewery in the building at the corner of College and 5th. Took a tour of the place, kinda small but it should be a nice place. It going to be called Dave's Electric and they are looking to open on Sept 18. According to her, it is a second brewery for them. The other is the first brewery in the state and is in Bisbey.