Tempe Development Thread

[PhxER]

ASU Baseball Moving to Phoenix Muni in 2015

After months of deliberation and plans falling through, the Arizona State Sun Devils will play their baseball games in Phoenix Municipal Stadium starting in the 2015 season.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved the move on Thursday, which means ASU can finalize its 25-year lease agreement with the city of Phoenix to play baseball at the Oakland A's spring training facility.

The Athletics are currently working on a deal that would send their franchise to Mesa and play in Hohokam Stadium, the Chicago Cubs old stadium. Meanwhile, the Cubs will move to their new stadium at Riverview Park in Mesa on Dobson Road off the 202 loop.

This should be a big news for Sun Devil baseball fans and also local media. ASU Baseball has played at Packard Stadium since 1974, but the university wants to use the space along with Karsten Golf course and expand the Tempe campus closer to Tempe Town Lake.

Packard Stadium currently seats four thousand fans, while Phoenix Municipal can comfortably fit 8,775. Besides an increase in attendance, ASU could use the new press box to attract the Pac-12 network, ESPN and possibly even Fox Sports Arizona to broadcast more baseball games. This season, the Pac-12 network will not stream every home game online because of Packard Stadium's inconvenience.

Under the new terms that were agreed upon by all parties, ASU will receive all revenue from ticket sales, net concession and parking. The university is responsible for maintenance, operating expenses and paying annual rent. It's estimated to cost the Sun Devils nearly $300,000 annually to cover rent.

Arizona State originally hoped to join the Chicago Cubs in their new facilities at Riverview Park, but negotiations ended back in November.

Be sure to enjoy what could be the last two seasons in Packard Stadium because a big piece of Arizona State athletic history will soon be in rubble.

Source

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by PhxER

ASU Baseball Moving to Phoenix Muni in 2015

BUT...will they sell beer?

This will be a good move for Sun Devils baseball. Phoenix Muni is a very nice facility. The article states the incorrect capacity for Packard: the stadium has between 3,000-4,000 "backed seating" but a capacity of 7,875...still smaller than Phoenix Muni.

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by PhxER

ASU Baseball Moving to Phoenix Muni in 2015

After months of deliberation and plans falling through, the Arizona State Sun Devils will play their baseball games in Phoenix Municipal Stadium starting in the 2015 season.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved the move on Thursday, which means ASU can finalize its 25-year lease agreement with the city of Phoenix to play baseball at the Oakland A's spring training facility.

The Athletics are currently working on a deal that would send their franchise to Mesa and play in Hohokam Stadium, the Chicago Cubs old stadium. Meanwhile, the Cubs will move to their new stadium at Riverview Park in Mesa on Dobson Road off the 202 loop.

This should be a big news for Sun Devil baseball fans and also local media. ASU Baseball has played at Packard Stadium since 1974, but the university wants to use the space along with Karsten Golf course and expand the Tempe campus closer to Tempe Town Lake.

Packard Stadium currently seats four thousand fans, while Phoenix Municipal can comfortably fit 8,775. Besides an increase in attendance, ASU could use the new press box to attract the Pac-12 network, ESPN and possibly even Fox Sports Arizona to broadcast more baseball games. This season, the Pac-12 network will not stream every home game online because of Packard Stadium's inconvenience.

Under the new terms that were agreed upon by all parties, ASU will receive all revenue from ticket sales, net concession and parking. The university is responsible for maintenance, operating expenses and paying annual rent. It's estimated to cost the Sun Devils nearly $300,000 annually to cover rent.

Arizona State originally hoped to join the Chicago Cubs in their new facilities at Riverview Park, but negotiations ended back in November.

Be sure to enjoy what could be the last two seasons in Packard Stadium because a big piece of Arizona State athletic history will soon be in rubble.

Source

Great news! As much as Packard is a piece of ASU history, PHX Muni has an even richer history, and is a nice stadium too. Having ASU play there is awesome. My only concern would be transportation. It is a bit of a hike from the light rail. Id defenitely ride my bike to it, but im not sure many would be as willing in the hot early summer days.

[MegaBass]

Originally Posted by Arquitect

Great news! As much as Packard is a piece of ASU history, PHX Muni has an even richer history, and is a nice stadium too. Having ASU play there is awesome. My only concern would be transportation. It is a bit of a hike from the light rail. Id defenitely ride my bike to it, but im not sure many would be as willing in the hot early summer days.

Stadium deal just the start of larger partnership in east-Phoenix area. Could involve moving golf programs to Papago.

[savphili]

Saw this article for possible land sale near TCA. This will hopefully spark some new developments west of Mill Ave.
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http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe...possible-land-sale-may-fund-dam-fix.html

"By Dianna M. Náñez
The Republic | azcentral.com
Fri Feb 8, 2013 9:03 AM
Tempe is considering selling about 100 acres of high-profile land that city officials have said could net $11.9 million and help pay for replacing Town Lake’s western dam.

The City Council is expected to vote today on the agreement, which would allow Liberty Property Trust, a Pennsylvania-based real-estate company, to develop large parcels of high-profile land at Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive just west of Town Lake.

The sale terms include $15.1million for 76 acres, $2.1million for 5 more acres and the option to buy an additional 21 acres. The city would credit Liberty for about $5 million in remediation costs to prepare the land for development. Upon development, Liberty would make a one-time $50,000 payment to two Tempe school districts.

“Revenue from the arrangement could help Tempe pay for the replacement of the western dam at Tempe Town Lake, as well as for improvements at parks and other locations throughout the city,” a Tempe news release said.

The estimated cost to replace Town Lake’s rubber dam with a steel dam is $36.8 million.

But Tempe Finance Manager Ken Jones told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday that to put the land-sale revenue toward the dam, the sale must occur by the deadline to pay for dam construction.

Tempe’s target date to begin construction of the dam is November, with completion in December 2015. The development deal would allow Liberty to complete its project in phases over a nine to 12-year period.

Jones said that the city still could bond for the Town Lake dam project. The revenue could be used for other municipal projects, he added.

Councilman Kolby Granville said he supports the land sale regardless of whether it helps pay for the dam.

“The biggest factor for me is there’s a vacant piece of property that we have the ability to have developed and that will create jobs and create revenue and create quality of life in that portion of Tempe,” he said.

About 800,000 square feet of office or industrial buildings would be developed by Liberty Property Trust. The city has estimated that development may generate as many as 6,500 jobs over the next decade.

John DiVall, senior president of Liberty’s Arizona office, said that the land, which has been used as a landfill, requires significant remediation before construction can start. He expects the remediation to be complete by fall and construction to start by year’s end on an initial building that would be 60,000 to 100,000 square feet on 12 to 14acres.

Liberty Property Trust, among the nation’s largest real-estate companies, is a $6.9 billion publicly-traded, real-estate investment trust that owns 77.8 million square feet of office and industrial space in more than 21 markets in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

“In a nutshell, that is why the city picked us to develop this property,” DiVall said, referring to Liberty’s leasing of space to businesses that have a large employee base.

Liberty considers the Tempe site attractive to major employers because of its central Valley location and proximity to the airport, he said.

Tempe has offered the developer a Government Property Lease Excise Tax break, which allows cities to enter into deals that reduce or eliminate property taxes that certain developers pay.

Generally, the tax break is offered to developers who build in blighted areas on property the city owns or where a municipality becomes the property owner of record and leases it to the developer.

The property benefits from the city's tax-exempt status and is effectively taken off the tax rolls while the developer pays a considerably smaller excise tax. This deal would provide Liberty an eight-year abatement of property taxes. During the term of the GPLET lease, Liberty would pay Tempe annual rent in an amount equal to 50percent of what the property taxes would have been without the tax break.

Granville said he would not have supported the development agreement if the deal didn’t have the potential to generate much-needed jobs."

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....and a quick pic of W6 while I was in tempe. I was practicing my night shots!

[azsunsurfer]

Saw the renderings for the "Apache Villas" Project, very disapointing but kind of expected. 4 Story stucco apartments with a one story professional office building that mirrors the architecture you would find at any of these "professional villages." Appears to be gated from the north.

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by azsunsurfer

Saw the renderings for the "Apache Villas" Project, very disapointing but kind of expected. 4 Story stucco apartments with a one story professional office building that mirrors the architecture you would find at any of these "professional villages." Appears to be gated from the north.

Yeah, not a fan either. Apache has evolved beyond these types of projects. We need density, but density that ties into the urban fabric. The era of gated apartment complexes in Apache had come to an end.

[alexico]

Originally Posted by savphili

Saw this article for possible land sale near TCA. This will hopefully spark some new

....and a quick pic of W6 while I was in tempe. I was practicing my night shots!

-nice pic! I live here and have been here for 6 months. so far so good.
-tower 2 corner units have the best views. they see all of tempe and scottsdale.
-my view is about in the top 3 for units (22nd floor look right onto 6th st)

FYI, if you ever want to take pics of my unit Id love that. (camera challenged)

[savphili]

Originally Posted by alexico

-nice pic! I live here and have been here for 6 months. so far so good.
-tower 2 corner units have the best views. they see all of tempe and scottsdale.
-my view is about in the top 3 for units (22nd floor look right onto 6th st)

FYI, if you ever want to take pics of my unit Id love that. (camera challenged)

I've been up in the penthouse in the left tower (not sure what tower #) and the views are ridiculous! Nothing else like it in Tempe... Except for maybe hub now.

I'll have to take you up on that offer sometime, I've been taking all kinds of pictures the past two months for the website I'm building!

[Spitfiredude]

Originally Posted by alexico

-nice pic! I live here and have been here for 6 months. so far so good.
-tower 2 corner units have the best views. they see all of tempe and scottsdale.
-my view is about in the top 3 for units (22nd floor look right onto 6th st)

FYI, if you ever want to take pics of my unit Id love that. (camera challenged)

I live in tower 2 with the corner unit. Its an E2 (3 bed/3 bath/21st floor). The funny part is J. Wright used to live in my unit. I've been here for 3 months now & have no complaints. Its about half college students/half regular people ranging from young professionals to retirees. Security and staff are very helpful and nice. The unit itself is very nice, I enjoy it, especially with the 225 degree view of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe. I looked into The Hub on Campus and the seem a bit lower quality than W6. The views are not as great (the building is only 19 stories), they have dry wall covering the exterior in most parts instead of all glass windows, the units come furnished (after one year, that's disgusting), and the floor plans look more frat like. Now, I have to say their pool looks like it beats ours and they are putting in a volleyball court, but considering it is being created by the same developers as The Vue, I believe it will end up like The Vue. Anyway, I would recommend to anyone to try West Sixth if you have the opportunity. It is a bit expensive, but very much worth the price. Very nice picture by the way. I had my lights on lol.

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by Spitfiredude

I live in tower 2 with the corner unit. Its an E2 (3 bed/3 bath/21st floor). The funny part is J. Wright used to live in my unit. I've been here for 3 months now & have no complaints. Its about half college students/half regular people ranging from young professionals to retirees. Security and staff are very helpful and nice. The unit itself is very nice, I enjoy it, especially with the 225 degree view of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe. I looked into The Hub on Campus and the seem a bit lower quality than W6. The views are not as great (the building is only 19 stories), they have dry wall covering the exterior in most parts instead of all glass windows, the units come furnished (after one year, that's disgusting), and the floor plans look more frat like. Now, I have to say their pool looks like it beats ours and they are putting in a volleyball court, but considering it is being created by the same developers as The Vue, I believe it will end up like The Vue. Anyway, I would recommend to anyone to try West Sixth if you have the opportunity. It is a bit expensive, but very much worth the price. Very nice picture by the way. I had my lights on lol.

Although I would agree that the views won't be as good as W6, I can personally tell you that the view from the north units, as well as the west facing ones is pretty great. The north units anywhere above the 12th floor have a direct view into the ASU stadium, which would be really awesome for game nights. While the west ones have a great view of the valley. The finishes are also quite nice. That being said, W6 was planned to be condos while Hub has always been intended to be marketed as student apartments. So it is to be expected that W6 would have nicer finishes and larger units. But from the floor plans I have seen, I have to say that the Hub is better organized, and better designed.

[Jjs5056]

Just FYI, and sorry for repeating myself, but given the recent article posted, I feel that is relevant to bring up again... Additional land near the lake being sold to Liberty Trust is NOT a good thing if you have any interest in seeing the western side of TCA intgrate into downtown, be pedestrian-oriented or be built to any kind of urban standards. It will be a real shame if the majority of lake front real estate is developed by them- we will end up with a low-rise office park that could go anywhere; it would literally be a nearly identical replica of Cotton Center.

With the lake, ASU, light rail, streetcar, emerging downtown, etc, etc, prime real estate like this should be developed in a much more thoughtful way and leverage all of these assets, rather than ignore them. The site plans I saw were horrible enough when they only had the area west of Priest (and a small piece east)... Having that expand eastward is devastating. Developable land around the lake is finite... sucks that we are screwing it up with mediocrity.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

Just FYI, and sorry for repeating myself, but given the recent article posted, I feel that is relevant to bring up again... Additional land near the lake being sold to Liberty Trust is NOT a good thing if you have any interest in seeing the western side of TCA intgrate into downtown, be pedestrian-oriented or be built to any kind of urban standards. It will be a real shame if the majority of lake front real estate is developed by them- we will end up with a low-rise office park that could go anywhere; it would literally be a nearly identical replica of Cotton Center.

With the lake, ASU, light rail, streetcar, emerging downtown, etc, etc, prime real estate like this should be developed in a much more thoughtful way and leverage all of these assets, rather than ignore them. The site plans I saw were horrible enough when they only had the area west of Priest (and a small piece east)... Having that expand eastward is devastating. Developable land around the lake is finite... sucks that we are screwing it up with mediocrity.

I agree...but

Maybe it's location near the final approach of the south runway has something to do with this project. I'm sure that Tempe is just happy to have anything be built there that'll increase their tax revenues. The Lakefront is non existent at Priest. It's a barren wasteland of an empty river channel, so it's not as if prime lakefront property is going to waste.

[Jjs5056]

That's true for the area they were originally developing that was mainly comprised of land west of Priest, with only a small portion on the east side. This recent article is saying that they'll now own land up to TCA- that land is certainly lakefront real estate, and I think would be a real shame if development immediately adjacent to TCA is wasted on a generic office park.

That building is a gem architecturally and there are so many uses for that land that are more complementary and none have to be within high rise development if the airport is truly an issue. Just across the street, mixed use apartments are being constructed with a focus on the arts community and pedestrians- a coffee shop and bike co-op are planned, parking spots reduced, built up to the street AFAIK, etc.

If we were still talking about the original acreage west of Priest, I'd say sure- go ahead and build Cotton Center II. I would argue that it would be short-sighted given the potential streetcar, etc. but, reality is that Tempe's urban core would likely never extend that far west and bringing jobs and development to an infill location would likely outweigh any negatives.

However, slapping 4-story glass blocks, a sea of parking lots and monstrous garages right next to a gorgeous performing arts center, a one-of-a-kind pedestrian bridge and rare waterfront is an entirely different situation. It would be like throwing a gated apartment complex on Ash and University. It just seems like Tempe has grown up and set different urban ideals for itself, especially downtown.

Perhaps they know this and now that their property extends closer to downtown, they'll go back to the drawing board and come up with something better for the project. The article just struck a nerve, though, and I would rather have these discussions now than when bulldozers and cranes are on-site (not that the city is listening to us, but... Lol). Just my .02. I'm really passionate about downtown Tempe because I really do think it has the most potential, with assets such as ASU, historic building stock that was built at a pedestrian scale, the lake, light rail and what is usually a very pro-urban local government. I don't think it (and this is probably the fault of unimaginative developers; I understand that the city needs to make money and isn't going to hold back a development because of setbacks or shade) has made the best use of the lake and land adjacent, but this would certainly be the worst case IMO, and would be another blow to the chances of making downtown Tempe more than just Mill Ave.

[Jjs5056]

Okay, I don't know if I had a few too many beers when I read that article or what the first time, but I just skimmed it again and I guess it doesn't mention anything about them developing any of the land closer to TCA.

I'll leave my post for the off-chance that I read that somewhere else and it is true; otherwise, I'll just work on my reading comprehension in the meantime.

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

Okay, I don't know if I had a few too many beers when I read that article or what the first time, but I just skimmed it again and I guess it doesn't mention anything about them developing any of the land closer to TCA.

I'll leave my post for the off-chance that I read that somewhere else and it is true; otherwise, I'll just work on my reading comprehension in the meantime.

Haha! I was wondering where the TCA part had come out of. As far as I understand, they were potentially thinking of adding the construction yard east of priest, but wouldn't go very much farther than that. I am certain the city has better plans for the area adjacent to TCA, since they too view it as a huge asset. I really don't see the urbanity of downtown really develloing westward. Without a doubt Ash and Farmer will get denser, having more developments such as the apartment complexes on the west side of Farmer take place on the empty parking lots to the East, but the neighborhoods to the west of framer will probably create a buffer for growth.

I really see the expansion of downtown going East. We are already seeing some of it take place with the Hub and the new hotel, but my guess is that soon, we will start to see some of the empty lots and parking lots begin to be planned. With ASU's plan to develop lot 59, and the fact that they just bought the University Center, I really do see density expanding beyond Rural.
Another reason for which I think that development is going to go East, is that so far the plans for the Rio Salado street car only show it starting around Mill and moving East to Dobson.

Who knows, maybe something a lot grander will happen next to TCA, but my guess is that it will probably be something in the midrise scale similar to the Argo project. A nice in scale, much better than a potential Cotton Center II, but also not super urban.

[Spitfiredude]

I noticed that the tower crane for Block 12 has gone up today. It seems like it is much taller than the one they put up at the Marriott hotel. Does anyone have any information on building height? I know five stories, but I estimate that to be 50-65 feet + 10 feet for space between the tower crane and actual structure. This crane seems to be about 120' high (or nearly as high as Manzanita)... I could not imagine this building to be 80-100' Seems quite large.

Work has ceased again on Milk & Honey. Suppose they are having financial troubles.

Also, I went by Wright's Handlebar, that place is awesome. Enjoyed the food (even though it is a limited menu) & it was very vibrant and open.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by Spitfiredude

I noticed that the tower crane for Block 12 has gone up today. It seems like it is much taller than the one they put up at the Marriott hotel. Does anyone have any information on building height? I know five stories, but I estimate that to be 50-65 feet + 10 feet for space between the tower crane and actual structure. This crane seems to be about 120' high (or nearly as high as Manzanita)... I could not imagine this building to be 80-100' Seems quite large.

I don't know anything about that particular project but a 5 floor building should be between 77 to about 105 feet tall. An academic building would be on the higher end.

[dtnphx]

State Farm to build Tempe regional headquarters, bring thousands of new jobs

Kristena Hansen, The Business Journal

Illinois-based State Farm Insurance is planning to build a massive regional headquarters along Tempe Town Lake that is slated to bring thousands of new jobs to Arizona.

I have spoken to multiple sources who confirmed this but wanted to remain anonymous. These sources told me that State Farm will build a roughly 1 million-square-foot regional headquarters campus on a site owned by Scottsdale-based Sunbelt Holdings Inc. where 5,000 to 7,000 employees will be housed.

The site, sources say, is located on the east side of the $50 million luxury apartment project planned by San Diego-based developer OliverMcMillan. It’s just east of the Hayden Ferry Lakeside project near Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue.

Ryan Cos. has been picked to build the State Farm project, sources told me. There was no information available as to how much the project would cost or when it would be built, but sources say all parties involved want to “move fast.”

State Farm has apparently been searching for a site in Arizona for the past several months and recently narrowed it down to the Sunbelt Holdings site in Tempe.

John Graham, president and CEO of Sunbelt Holdings, declined to comment Monday morning when I reached out to him.

John Strittmatter, president of the southwest region for Ryan, did not respond to my email and phone call Monday morning.

[HX_Guy]

Was just about to post the same thing! Holy crap that's pretty big news...why can't it be in downtown Phoenix! Damn you Tempe for having such great vision as Tempe Town Lake.

1,000,000 sq ft could have been epic in downtown Phoenix...the Cityscape tower is 568,000 sq ft if I remember correctly...imagine what height this could have been! Unfortunately the location in Tempe won't allow it for that much height so we'll probably end up with a huge campus similar to Univ. of Phoenix's off the I-10.