Hey guys!
I work for Chase in downtown Tempe (and I live nearby in the Riverside/Sunset District) and was able to attend a presentation that Nancy Hormann from the Downtown Tempe Community made to our leadership yesterday. She spent a lot of time talking about the Downtown Tempe area included a discussion about projects / businesses slated to come to the area. She was quick to point out that some of the projects / potential tenants have signed lease agreements or taken out permits -although no exact construction or move in dates may yet be known. Here is a brief summary of some of the projects slated to come to Downtown Tempe- according to the Downtown Tempe Community:
- Whole Foods and an additional parking garage for the store and for Chase (University and Ash) - Her comments on this one: Now that there are several new residential projects either built or committed to the area, Whole Foods has signed a lease for that spot and will eventually close their existing location at Rural and Baseline. They were waiting until there would be approximately 10,000 housing units in the Downtown Tempe area (which she defined as Farmer on the West, College on the East, Town Lake to the North and University to the South.) I'm excited about this one- since I live in the area and there is no grocery store anywhere close to me -save for the Safeway at Rural and Broadway- although Whole Foods is dang expensive and I still wish it would be a Trader Joes
- Zipps (Sports bar- I think...) At Mill and Seventh (Where Unos used to be)
- Pita Pit - right next door to Zipps
- Milk and Honey Grocery - still slated to open at some point in West Sixth's retail area. It will be a small convenience store type of grocery
- Chick-Fill-A - Slated to take over the spot where Burger King is now on University- near CVS
- THE HUB PART II - That's Right Gang! She said that the Hub that is under construction is already over 75% leased out and that as soon as the first tower is done- they are supposed to immediately start on a second tower to the south of it- closer to the ASU Pool Complex! The second tower is supposed to hold approximately 300 units. She did not indicate how tall it might be- but I'm assuming it will be close to the height of the first tower- and I know we all hope it will be more architecturally interesting!
- Steak and Shake - yet another burger joint is moving into the location where Borders was (or at least part of that space)
- Omni Hotel and convention center- SE corner of Mill and University - where the parking lot is behind Chilis - This one she was slightly skeptical on - due to the fact that it is on ASU land- and her comment was "It may get done in my lifetime..." - but that would be GREAT if it happens soon!
- Block 12 - which we already have discussed
- The Hannover Project (I think that is what it is called?) - SW corner of Fifth and Maple- in the parking lot next to W6 - she showed a picture of a 5 -6 story condo project that looked like the ones we already have seen here on this blog. Not very exciting due to the lack of retail on the bottom floor- but at least it's bringing more residents downtown- and this project is NOT geared towards students...
- State Farm Campus - Ok, she was funny about this one- she wouldn't come right out and say "State Farm," but she laughed and said "All I'm gonna say is that they are Like a good neighbor!" She said that the complex will be home to more than 4,000 employees and will extended east from Hayden Ferry Lakeside all the way to Rural. So this is going to be quite large!
- Hayden Ferry Lakeside - Third Office Building - Is about to start construction! She did not have a picture- and I know we have discussed the differences in proposals we have seen. I hope it is very interesting since it occupies such a great spot!
- A new movie theatre - at the site of MADCAP (old Harkins) - She said this is for sure! There are TWO companies (she wouldn't say who) that were bidding to take over the MADCAP site- so she said very soon we will have a full on movie theatre downtown once again! The work being done inside the old Islands Restaurant is part of this effort to get the space ready for whichever company takes it!
She also mentioned that the Downtown Tempe Community is actively trying to get Tumble Weeds and the Salvation Army to move out of the Downtown Tempe area (and she made it sound like this may happen soon...) The hope is that this will remove a lot of the panhandling / homeless element there. I have to admit- this kinda excites me. I understand that as a city, we need to serve these people, but I would prefer to do it from some other location... like Tucson haha! Just kidding... but she didn't offer any thoughts as to where they would go- just that they wouldn't be Downtown any longer.
As for the Street Car, Nancy made it sound like it will now start at Gammage, not Southern, do the loop around Downtown- and will head east along Rio Salado to the Cubs new stadium in Mesa. So pretty much like it was going to be- but for now at least it won't go any further south than Gammage. It is supposed to be done by 2015.
I think that was pretty much it. I can't remember any other projects or updates that we haven't already talked a lot about on here. There was some other hotel she did mention that might come downtown- but I don't recall the name or where it would be. If I do- I'll mention it here. Hope this stimulates some excitement and good discussion!
Here is a link to the Downtown Tempe Community website too:
http://www.millavenue.com/
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I had no plans for my Friday but to sit home and ponder these topics, so the unfortunate result is the following longwinded thesis. Before that, I will say I am glad to hear more activity is heading toward the Centerpoint/7th street area. It's taken a very long time for those spaces to recover after most were essentially kicked out/leases left to expire during the boom to make way for... Wait for it... Condos.
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