Tempe Development Thread

[MegaBass]

More on Paisan's Italian Kitchen

Paisan's Pizza & Italian Kitchen, at 425 South Mill Avenue (5th Street and Mill and in the former home of Dunkin' Donuts), to test run a new favorite slice -- which Paisan's says are giant. Also on the menu: bottomless bowls of pasta, baked subs, wings, Italian hero sandwiches, and bruschetta. And with late-night hours of 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily, Paisan's seems to understand that a late-night slice after an evening of imbibing is worth keeping its doors open for. (New Times)

Notice there's a sign at the old Border's location for one of three temporary art exhibits

Handle(?)Bar & Grill public notice up near Centerpoint area

No more Del Taco over by Cornerstone Mall but has already found a tenant

[Phxguy]

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...lour-mill.html
More info on the Hayden Flour Mill.

[plinko]

Does anybody know how tall the Hayden Flour Mill is?

[Butta]

Originally Posted by plinko

Does anybody know how tall the Hayden Flour Mill is?

According to this link http://www.tempe.gov/museum/tempe_hi...ies/hps193.htm it is 140 ft at its tallest point.

[TempeSilverFox]

The City of Tempe's website was updated yesterday with this new Active Development Case: "Villas at South Bank." It's located in that area just north of Rio Salado Parkway- across from Karsten Golf Course! Here's what it says:
Request for VILLAS AT SOUTH BANK (PL120046) (City of Tempe, property owner; Michel Hebrant, MDT Development Partners LLC, applicant) consisting of 262 units within a 17-story senior living facility (including assisted living and memory care components) and a 2-story commercial building, totaling 367,896 sf. in building area on 2.23 net acres, located at 1122 East Vista Del Lago Drive in the MU-4 (PAD), Mixed-Use High Density District with a Planned Area Development Overlay and the Rio Salado Overlay District.

Here is the link:
http://www.tempe.gov/maps/StandardDe...4-ee74f339949d

[phoenixheadphones]

Originally Posted by TempeSilverFox

The City of Tempe's website was updated yesterday with this new Active Development Case: "Villas at South Bank." It's located in that area just north of Rio Salado Parkway- across from Karsten Golf Course! Here's what it says:
Request for VILLAS AT SOUTH BANK (PL120046) (City of Tempe, property owner; Michel Hebrant, MDT Development Partners LLC, applicant) consisting of 262 units within a 17-story senior living facility (including assisted living and memory care components) and a 2-story commercial building, totaling 367,896 sf. in building area on 2.23 net acres, located at 1122 East Vista Del Lago Drive in the MU-4 (PAD), Mixed-Use High Density District with a Planned Area Development Overlay and the Rio Salado Overlay District.

Here is the link:
http://www.tempe.gov/maps/StandardDe...4-ee74f339949d

Looks like thats now crossed out and it says "PULLED FROM THE AGENDA BY CITY STAFF"

[plinko]

Somewhere in that link it gave the height as 211ft. So basically it's the size of the Landmark on Central. Good thing most seniors are hard-of-hearing. The airplane noise there is terrible.

[MegaBass]

Allstate signs one of Valley’s largest leases in Tempe building

The Allstate Insurance Company signed a lease for 66,000 square feet of space in a downtown Tempe office project, in what is one of the largest leases signed in the Valley this year. Allstate’s lease is in the Tempe Gateway building, an eight-story structure owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Real Estate.
Allstate plans to move into the Tempe location in September. The new lease brings Tempe Gateway’s occupancy up to 64 percent and reflects the improving office market in Tempe.
Tempe Gateway is a 260,000 square foot building that was new and vacant when Vulcan bought it in 2010. The building is the first purchase that Seattle-based Vulcan made outside of its home market.

[ciweiss]

More good Tempe news...

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...o-open-in.html

A new hotel is slated for development in dowtown Tempe with an opening expected late next year or in early 2014.
Construction is expected to start soon on a 173-room hotel Residence Inn by Marriott hotel on Forest Avenue. The project will be located on the east side of Mill Avenue, adjacent to the Tempe City Hall parking garage at the southeast corner of Fifth Street and Forest.
The hotel is being developed by Miami-based Finvarb Group and managed by Marriott International.
“The Tempe market is poised for strong growth and we are confident that this is the best location in the market,” said Ronny Finvarb, principal of the Finvarb Group. “We believe we will be able to establish a market-leadership position given the outstanding quality of our location, brand and management team.”
The property will feature guest suites containing fully-equipped kitchens along and an outdoor rooftop pool and fire pit with panoramic views of the Valley. The hotel will have about 3,500 square feet of meeting space and 5,700 square feet of ground-level retail space.

There are two photos of the building in the article. The 2nd one shows the rooftop pool which looks pretty cool.

[HX_Guy]

Hotel pool looks alright but the hotel itself is very bland, maybe it's the colors.

[PHX31]

I like the idea of a new 10-ish story tower in that location, but will always miss Bandersnatch.

[AJphx]

^ I remember that place being closed and rundown for a long time. Can't remember if I had ever gone there when it was open. Then they started that urban garden there.... Does anyone know what ever became of that? The lot is just empty and weeds now.

southeast corner of Fifth Street and Forest

Its actually on the southwest corner.

[MegaBass]

Originally Posted by AJphx

^ I remember that place being closed and rundown for a long time. Can't remember if I had ever gone there when it was open. Then they started that urban garden there.... Does anyone know what ever became of that? The lot is just empty and weeds now.




Its actually on the southwest corner.

There;s talk that the Urban Garden would move to Hayden Flour Mill but doesn't sound settled for now.

[MegaBass]

Also 323 East Veterans Way will be named The Hub.

[Phxguy]

Speaking of the Hayden Mill, walked past it earlier today. They're doing quite a bit work on it. From what I saw they were working on the first two floors, have about 7 trees in planters awaiting to be planted, a huge sign on corner of Rio Salado and Mill. There's also a stretch of grass; picnic/movie in the park?

[MegaBass]

Originally Posted by Phxguy

Speaking of the Hayden Mill, walked past it earlier today. They're doing quite a bit work on it. From what I saw they were working on the first two floors, have about 7 trees in planters awaiting to be planted, a huge sign on corner of Rio Salado and Mill. There's also a stretch of grass; picnic/movie in the park?

ciweiss touched base on it earlier.

Originally Posted by ciweiss

http://southwest.construction.com/yb...y_id=170518700

Tempe Flour Mill Restoration Leads to Quandry Over New Paint
03/20/2012
The Tribune Text size: AA
By Garin Groff, East Valley Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

March 20--As Tempe is finishing a partial restoration of the historic Hayden Flour Mill, an architect is urging the city not to paint the iconic building despite prominent rust stains and peeling paint.

The city is sprucing up the abandoned mill with a plaza and historical markers -- and perhaps a fresh coat of white paint as well -- after years of complaints the site is an eyesore.

But two months before Tempe will complete work at the city-owned mill, architect Robert Graham told the city in a letter that plans for a fresh coat of paint would cover "ghost signs" that have been revealed as paint flakes off the concrete structure.

His advice? Leave it alone.

"To paint over these features would be like refinishing a treasured piece of antique furniture -- it may make it look 'like new,' but is that really the highest value?" he wrote. "Or do we value the patina of age, which cannot be recreated once lost?"

The faint ghost letters and advertising images document how the business changed over time and evoke the industrial age, he said. Other historic sites have successfully dealt with similar issues, Graham told Tempe.

Graham works for the Phoenix-based Motley Design Group and has 24 years of experience with historic projects. That includes the current restoration of the Tempe-owned Eisendrath House, an adobe structure built in 1930. Graham cited a previous report from an archaeological consultant who also advised against painting the mill.

The City Council will discuss the issue Thursday. The city has received painting bids ranging from $15,000 to $34,000. The city did not ask for bids to paint the silos behind the mill.

The fenced mill site is expected to open in May. A grassy plaza will host events, and visitors will be able to peer into first-floor windows to see milling equipment on display.

The mill opened in 1874, built by Tempe founder Charles Trumbull Hayden. Fire destroyed the first two wood mill buildings, and the existing reinforced concrete structure opened in 1918. The mill closed in 1998.

Tempe bought the site for $11.8 million in 2003, when a developer failed to meet a timeline for a project there. A $500 million redevelopment plan later emerged, only to go nowhere in the wake of the 2007-2009 recession. Both projects would have restored the mill and reuse it for offices and shops, with new buildings surrounding it.

Tempe wants to eventually sell the property to a developer that will fully restore the mill. The city estimates it will take several years before the real estate market improves enough for a developer to be interested in the site. In the interim, Tempe decided to launch a more modest project so the high-profile site is more than an abandoned landmark.

___

(c)2012 East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)

Visit East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.) at www.eastvalleytribune.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.



I also walked by the new building at College & E. Veterans way and they are already up to the 2nd floor. It is going up quick.

[nickw252]

Construction will begin this month on an 11-story hotel in downtown Tempe, which has witnessed a flurry of development and new business openings in recent months.

The Miami-based Finvarb Group now has a building permit for a Residence Inn by Marriott and could begin work at any time, according to Tempe.

The hotel is a response to the high room occupancy rates in Tempe and a shortage of hotels downtown, said Nancy Hormann, executive director of the Downtown Tempe Community.

“I think there’s a huge demand for more hotel rooms, especially this type of hotel,” Hormann said. “It’s more for extended-stay. With all of our high-tech firms coming into town, it’s a wonderful place to stay for an extended period.”

The hotel is a long time in the making.

Finvarb started working on the project at least as far back as 2006. Plans got sidelined during the recession, and it was delayed again a year ago as the developer worked to secure financing. The DTC had used the future Residence Inn site for a community garden, but it gave up the space a year ago as it anticipated work was imminent.

“We’ve been saying for the longest time we planted a garden and grew a hotel,” Hormann said. “It just took a while to start.”

The 173-room hotel will be built on the southwest corner of Fifth Street and Forest Avenue, where the popular Bandersnatch Pub once stood. It will include some retail space and a rooftop pool.

The Residence Inn is one of several new projects announced recently. Just east of the site, a nearly 300-unit multistory apartment tower called The Hub is under construction. That’s another project that fell victim to the recession, but plans for luxury condos have morphed into housing aimed at Arizona State University students. Also, plans were announced this year for a 10-story office building at Hayden Ferry Lakeside in response to increasing demand for office space in Tempe.

Mill Avenue has added 48 new businesses since 2009, and the vacancy rate has fallen from about 32 percent to about 20 percent.

The Residence Inn reflects a growing level of interest among hotel developers in the downtown, Tempe spokeswoman Kris Baxter-Ging said. Downtown Tempe needs more hotel rooms than this one project will supply, Hormann said.

The area needs a property with a conference center because the one at the Tempe Mission Palms isn’t big enough to satisfy demand, Hormann said.

“It will be great to have these new hotels come in, but it would be especially great if we could have one with a conference center,” Hormann said.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/loc...a4bcf887a.html

[phoenixheadphones]

The Tempe Improv is closing June 1

by Randy Cordova - May. 8, 2012 02:19 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

The Tempe Improv will close its doors Friday, June 1, the comedy club announced in an aggressively stated press release that placed much of the blame on competing comedy club Standup Live.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/...#ixzz1uJeAziE4

This is really bad news and something I've been worried about since Stand-Up Live opened- The Improv was pretty well known nationally, and while it was kind of a funky place, losing something like this is always a drag.

[nickkoto]

It's unfortunate that the Improv is closing, but not really surprising. The quality of their acts really dropped off over the last few years, long before Stand Up Live ever opened. And really, in a metro the size of Phoenix, they can't blame their demise on having a single competitor. It seemed like their marketing efforts only involved changing the headliner's name on the marquee and incessantly spamming previous customers.

[ciweiss]

I went over to the West 6th building to inquire about the grocery store. They said the place was going to be a Milk & Honey ? and I guess they have them back east. He described a cafe and that it would sell local produce / meat / cheeses. It kinda sounds expensive but I'm still hoping not. I did some searching online but wasn't sure I found their correct website. I forgot to ask when it will open... DOH.

On a side note - Holy Cr@p those towers are pricey. A 2 bedroom w/o parking starts around $1800. I still want to tour the place though and check out that awesome view. I guess you have to go earlier in the day if you want to view a unit. I still find it funny that people commenting in AZCentral kept saying 'Nobody will rent those and tear those things down...' idiots...