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Posted Jun 12, 2023, 4:39 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
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Big plans are in the works for a former garden on Central Avenue near Indian School
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...y/70304340007/
Quote:
A long-vacant parcel on Central Avenue could see a major new development over the next decade, including a 22-story high-rise, planned to bring 1,500 apartments and 20,000 square feet of commercial space across four phases.
Petree Development submitted plans to develop the roughly 15-acre site at Central and Glenrosa avenues, directly across Central from Steele Indian School Park and adjacent to the George & Dragon pub. The lot previously included a community garden and was used as a plant nursery.
Petree's plans for the site include a mix of uses, heavily focused on apartments, with commercial or retail space along Central Avenue.
The Encanto Village Planning Committee gave a recommendation for approval of the project, but it still must go before the Phoenix Planning Commission and City Council. Those hearings are scheduled for August and September.
“This is the last big piece of untouched land on Central,” Brent Kleinman, a member of the Encanto Village Planning Committee, said. “This is our chance to get it at least mostly right.”
Eric Kenney, managing director of Petree Development, said he has worked on plans for the project for about two years. Before getting involved in the development, he remembered driving past the central Phoenix site and thinking it was a great location for new development that so far had remained vacant. He contacted the site’s owners, who had owned the vacant parcel for decades and is now working with them to bring a development forward.
“It was a great property then, it’s a great property now,” Kenney said.
Large development planned in the 1980s
The property went vacant in the 1980s but was used as a community garden and plant nursery from 2016 to 2021. However, in 1984, the city approved large-scale commercial zoning on the site, which could have allowed for a high-rise tower on the site reaching 500 feet, with a total of about 1.2 million square feet allowed. A 500-foot-tall tower would be the tallest building in Arizona.
Despite the approval nearly four decades ago, no development came to fruition, and Kenney said that scale and type of development no longer makes sense.
New proposal focuses height, commercial on Central
Now, the proposal calls for four phases, with a major emphasis on apartments. The site will develop in quadrants, with the first building planned for the northwest corner of the site. The buildings on the western edge will be the shortest, with buildings on that side reaching five or six stories toward the middle of the site, but decreasing in height as they get closer to Second Avenue, where nearby neighborhoods are generally only one-story homes.
The eastern portions of the site are planned to go higher, with the northeastern piece reaching seven stories with ground-floor commercial space fronting Central Avenue. The southeastern piece is planned to grow the tallest, reaching 22 stories, also with commercial along Central.
The company will look for businesses to fill the commercial space that could act as an amenity to the neighborhood, Kenney said. Small restaurants, an ice cream shop, or services like a doggie daycare or pet groomer could make good additions, he said.
The company is considering providing residents at the apartments with a short-term light rail pass to encourage the use of public transit, which is easily accessible from the site. The total buildout for all four phases will take more than a decade, according to plans submitted to the city.
Kleinman, from the planning committee, said he was glad to see a proposal to develop the long-vacant site, and said Petree Development has worked closely with neighbors to address concerns about it. He said he would like to see that level of involvement and community input as a standard set for other developers in the area.
“They created a framework or a guideline for developers to really listen and be honest and upfront with neighbors to reach a consensus,” he said.
Density reduced, commercial added after neighborhood discussion
Resident concerns about the development mostly hinged on the building height and density, which was reduced after discussion with them, Kenney said. The proposal originally had 100 more apartment units than the new plan.
Kleinman said the frontage on Central is right for the height and density.
“This is putting the density on Central, on the eastern part of the property, it makes sense for that site,” he said. The amount of commercial space was also increased based on neighborhood and other feedback. The original plan called for 7,000 square feet, but that has nearly tripled to 20,000.
Residents have grown tired of some of the types of development built along Central, Kleinman said, which have included a lot of mid-rise apartments without any commercial.
Kleinman said the new plan is one that is “realistic and doable,” unlike the plan that was approved in the 1980s.
Kenney said the development is still in the very early stages of zoning approval, so it is difficult to estimate when construction might start on the site, but full buildout will likely take 10 years or longer.
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