Phoenix Area Low- and Mid-Rise Development Thread

[combusean]

Wasn't sure where to put this but this cute little rehab/small business center called The Royale popped on my feed and is opening in the Melrose district.

https://www.abc15.com/entertainment/...lrose-district

[PyroD]

Another argument against the reversible lanes is that it’ll allow 7th ave in Melrose to become the main street it desperately wants to.

[ASU Diablo]

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

Rainbow Road apartment building breaking ground on Jan 23. Looks like the exterior color scheme changed...used to be white.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...deal-wrap.html

Additional renderings:

[xymox]

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

Additional renderings:

That would make for a really unique 20+ story building. Is there a height restriction where it is so close the I-10/Deck Park?

[ASU Diablo]

Well, finally an update on The Fillmore Phase 2 and it's not a great one...developer wants to push groundbreaking back another 2 years.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...n-phoenix.html

The second phase of a long-planned mixed-use project in downtown Phoenix previously called The Fillmore could be delayed by years.

Citing conditions of the capital markets, the developer of the project has requested that Phoenix City Council update a development agreement to reflect a new construction start date for the second phase.

High Street Residential, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., started construction on the first phase of The Fillmore in 2019 and completed 330 residential units and 10,000 square feet of retail as well as an urban paseo for pedestrians in 2022, a city report said.

The overall project, previously priced at $140 million, is located on about 7.5 acres along Fillmore Street between Fourth and Sixth avenues on the western side of downtown Phoenix. The next two phases are currently in visioning and design processes, the city report said.

The second phase is expected to include another 330 apartment units and an additional 10,000 square feet of retail. Through an agreement with the city, High Street Fillmore Phase 2 LLC was required to break ground on the second phase by February 2024.

Now they're looking to push the start date for the second phase by two years, to February 2026. Phoenix City Council is scheduled to vote on updating the agreement during its Jan. 24 meeting.

Trammell Crow Co. declined to comment for this story.

The city of Phoenix previously entered into a development and purchase agreement for the project with High Street Fillmore LLC and High Street Fillmore Phase 2 LLC, entities connected to Trammell Crow, in March 2018.

The project was a result of a request for proposals that the city of Phoenix has posted for the city-owned land in downtown.

Trammell Crow previously told the Business Journal that the overall mixed-use project would be built in two phases and cost between $140 million to $145 million for both phases.

After completing the first phase of the project, High Street Residential in January 2022 sold its seven-story apartment complex at 555 N. 5th Ave. to New York City-based RXR Realty for $145 million, according to real estate database Vizzda.

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by xymox

That would make for a really unique 20+ story building. Is there a height restriction where it is so close the I-10/Deck Park?

Just the usual 250' height limit in the majority of RR/CE area. But there's no height limit related to Deck Park. Too bad, they didn't go for more height.

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

Well, finally an update on The Fillmore Phase 2 and it's not a great one...developer wants to push groundbreaking back another 2 years.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...n-phoenix.html

Trammel-Crowe should never have been awarded the RFP for those lots IMO.

[downtownphxguy12]

Originally Posted by CrestedSaguaro

Trammel-Crowe should never have been awarded the RFP for those lots IMO.

anyone know how to get a comment to the city on the agreement? As a neighbor, id like the city to require them to at least level and gravel the lot so it looks a little better over the next two years.


**** never mind. found it.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by downtownphxguy12

anyone know how to get a comment to the city on the agreement? As a neighbor, id like the city to require them to at least level and gravel the lot so it looks a little better over the next two years.


**** never mind. found it.

You could also go to the City Council hearing and put in a request to speak and then ask them to have the developer make those temporary improvements. Mention blight or whatever but also dust suppression. They like to avoid dust.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by CrestedSaguaro

Trammel-Crowe should never have been awarded the RFP for those lots IMO.

Im not too worried actually maybe if its delayed a few years as downtown develops more they will amend the plan for more height/density on that lot.

[Obadno]

Maybe I need a history lesson but how the hell did the city end up owning so much vacant land to begin with?

Since City Council passed the Housing Phoenix Plan in 2022, Phoenix’s plan to improve the local affordable housing landscape by selling or leasing City-owned parcels has had successes, but more work and opportunities remain.

Approximately 20 properties were identified under the initial plan as possible new housing locations. Sites were chosen because they were suitable for housing development and not planned for other uses, according to Deputy Housing Director Samantha Keating.

One project has gone through the process so far. Council approved plans from Richman Group of Arizona for a two-phase development next to the Helen Drake Senior Center at 27th Avenue near Northern Avenue. The City is working with the developer on permitting, and construction on the first 80 units out of a possible total of 204 is expected to start early next year.

The City also has an open solicitation for three noncontiguous properties totaling 12 lots in the area of 3rd Street and Northern Avenue in Sunnyslope.

These could be used for either single- or multifamily housing, but at least half of the units will have to be available for households earning 80% or less of the Area Median Income. Proposals are due March 22, with Council recommendations expected by June.

Some parcels around town have zoning in place, which could make for faster development. One such site is near Central and Columbus avenues and could be developed for mixed-income housing and other uses. Officials expect to release an RFP later this year.

Despite interest in some areas, others have failed to generate responses. Land on small lots near 15th Avenue and Polk Street did not generate any interest when requests were issued. The City is currently looking at its options for that property to decide whether or not to issue another request.

Several other properties are currently going through due diligence, and more development requests will probably be issued before the end of the year.

https://azbex.com/local-news/phoenix...king-progress/

[MiEncanto]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Maybe I need a history lesson but how the hell did the city end up owning so much vacant land to begin with?



https://azbex.com/local-news/phoenix...king-progress/

I recall an article that said beginning in the 60s when downtown/central areas started vacating, the city gobbled up parcels to prevent them from becoming even more blighted. And then there has been a ton of turnover and basically it seems like they struggled to even have a proper understanding of how much land the city owned. At some point in the past, they couldn't even produce a complete parcel list- they since fixed that. But they didn't have a strategy for what they were doing with it.

[Obadno]

Any speculation on how long The Met will last? That thing is sitting on 1.75 blocks of prime downtown real-estate that is now clearly underutilized.

[combusean]

I've though about the Met a lot.

As long as it's serviceable, it's going to keep standing. It's coming up on 30 years old which is definitely a milestone in the age of apartment complexes where you start thinking about replacing pipes and that sort of thing which makes demolition tempting. The A/C units are definitely going out, but that would make sense given the complex's age and repairing those is much less of an issue since they're all roof mounted.

But I don't even see anything even approaching structural issues in the few bad reviews of the complex.

Then again, it last sold for $58 million, and if you look at downtown being roughly priced at $10 million/acre, 3/4 of the value is in the land. They also apparently haven't followed through on promised upgrades since the complex sold but I can't figure out the timing of those promised upgrades related to the sale.

The unit price of the complex reflects the sales price of newer buildings, which is odd, but "upside potential" is definitely the value in the land.

I think for it to redevelop the value of the land would have to increase substantially to make the existing improvements inconsequential. Secondly, an exceptionally deep pocketed developer/capital partner would have to be found to hardly bat an eye at the value of those improvements compared to a modern, multi-tower, mixed-use urban center--easily pushing or exceeding $1 billion in future total development costs.

But at the end of the day, that developer/capital partner could just as easily dump the money into Arizona Center which does have far more obvious issues that make more sense to redevelop.

I suspect after that happens, the rental market and inflation reorient themselves, the met ages, and the demand is still there ... 5 min, 10 yearsish to redevelop the met?

[phxjack]

Originally Posted by combusean

I've though about the Met a lot.

As long as it's serviceable, it's going to keep standing. It's coming up on 30 years old which is definitely a milestone in the age of apartment complexes where you start thinking about replacing pipes and that sort of thing which makes demolition tempting. The A/C units are definitely going out, but that would make sense given the complex's age and repairing those is much less of an issue since they're all roof mounted.

But I don't even see anything even approaching structural issues in the few bad reviews of the complex.

Then again, it last sold for $58 million, and if you look at downtown being roughly priced at $10 million/acre, 3/4 of the value is in the land. They also apparently haven't followed through on promised upgrades since the complex sold but I can't figure out the timing of those promised upgrades related to the sale.

The unit price of the complex reflects the sales price of newer buildings, which is odd, but "upside potential" is definitely the value in the land.

I think for it to redevelop the value of the land would have to increase substantially to make the existing improvements inconsequential. Secondly, an exceptionally deep pocketed developer/capital partner would have to be found to hardly bat an eye at the value of those improvements compared to a modern, multi-tower, mixed-use urban center--easily pushing or exceeding $1 billion in future total development costs.

But at the end of the day, that developer/capital partner could just as easily dump the money into Arizona Center which does have far more obvious issues that make more sense to redevelop.

I suspect after that happens, the rental market and inflation reorient themselves, the met ages, and the demand is still there ... 5 min, 10 yearsish to redevelop the met?

Another idea would be to only demo section on corner of Mckinley and 2nd st and parcel it off for a high rise.

[combusean]

^ I don't see that happening.

It just doesn't make sense to have property you're going to tear down anyways get in the way of what you want to build today. It's why in nearly all cases developers blade existing things down to dirt and start over. That corner lot is mostly empty but provides necessary and scarce parking to the rest of the complex--you can't redevelop that lot without basically devaluing the rest of the asset.

There's also numerous potential issues with pre-construction activities, utilities, logistics and staging, as well as proforma issues that make developing tall on smaller lots much more difficult to pencil out. Developers hate uncertainty more than anything else.

I also wouldn't want to personally annoy existing tenants for two or three years and have that history of the complex sully what I'm trying to build anyways, but those are obviously much harder to measure the value of.

At the end of the day it's just a lot easier to not renew leases in the year your design and approvals take so when you're ready to build you can bulldoze everything without complications.

[ASU Diablo]

The following agenda is set for this Saturday and some interesting items to note:

LiveForward Development infill projects~ Ben Patton

1. Introduction + Background
2. Proposed projects
3. 5th Ave & McKinley - condos (see rendering below from their website)
4. Oldaker House adaptive reuse + multifamily rental
5. Residences on 2nd [& McKinley] - for sale townhomes

Hopefully renderings or additional details can be shared of the MF building at the Oldaker House lot.

Regarding Items #3 and #5, I wonder if MetroWest Development ended up selling these projects/entitlements or whatever to LiveForward Development.

Residences on 2nd (2nd Ave & McKinley) was always a MetroWest project so I'm glad to see this one come back from the dead. Regarding #3, if you recall, City of Phoenix awarded the RFP for city owned lot on 5th Ave (S of The Teapot) to MetroWest and the original proposal was to move the Oldaker House to this lot. Obviously, that effort died but now it looks like maybe LiveForward is in play and perhaps they will take over this lot for the Condos?

Trying to connect the dots here because I don't know where else these condos could go on this intersection.

[J_PHX]

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

The following agenda is set for this Saturday and some interesting items to note:

LiveForward Development infill projects~ Ben Patton

1. Introduction + Background
2. Proposed projects
3. 5th Ave & McKinley - condos (see rendering below from their website)
4. Oldaker House adaptive reuse + multifamily rental
5. Residences on 2nd [& McKinley] - for sale townhomes

Hopefully renderings or additional details can be shared of the MF building at the Oldaker House lot.

Regarding Items #3 and #5, I wonder if MetroWest Development ended up selling these projects/entitlements or whatever to LiveForward Development.

Residences on 2nd (2nd Ave & McKinley) was always a MetroWest project so I'm glad to see this one come back from the dead. Regarding #3, if you recall, City of Phoenix awarded the RFP for city owned lot on 5th Ave (S of The Teapot) to MetroWest and the original proposal was to move the Oldaker House to this lot. Obviously, that effort died but now it looks like maybe LiveForward is in play and perhaps they will take over this lot for the Condos?

Trying to connect the dots here because I don't know where else these condos could go on this intersection.

Curious if the location is the vacant two parcels about 70' East of the SEC of McKinley & 5th Ave (APNs 111-39-040 & 111-39-044)

[ASU Diablo]

Originally Posted by J_PHX

Curious if the location is the vacant two parcels about 70' East of the SEC of McKinley & 5th Ave (APNs 111-39-040 & 111-39-044)

Ah that's prolly it! Looking at the rendering, you can clearly see the alley and the row of palms along McKinley (between 4th & 5th Aves). Great find!

[IndyAZ]

Finally a little info on the Republic Services new HQ at City North from PHX Business Journal. Six-story office building and six-story parking garage helps add more height to the corridor.

"Republic Services declined to comment for the story.

Around the same time as the land sale, city of Phoenix documents show that an infrastructure review permit under the name "Project Zeal" was issued for the same location, at 5353 E. City N. Drive, acquired by U.S. Realty for Republic Services' headquarters. The permit relates to the development of a six-story, 250,000-square-foot office building with an associated six-level parking garage."