ASU/UofA Downtown Phoenix construction thread

[scottkag]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

does anyone have a site plan for this thing? I'd like to see how it is laid out on the block. I hope to hell it doesn't turn it's back on 7th street.

http://phoenix.gov/ECONDEV/pbc_buildout.pdf

Probably not enough detail on this vague rendering to tell, snoop around on the city's website if you have the time...

[Vicelord John]

I think it's safe to say that master plan is outdated. The building in question doesn't really fit in there.

[Crispy]

This .pdf was updated on June 14th. It has a good aerial layout of the campus on pages 3 & 4. It does appear that HESB backs to 7th St. but it has a common area entrance from 7th. That whole area along Fillmore on the north side of the campus looks like it will be a parking lot for the time being. Page 15 shows their plan for future buildings along Fillmore and 7th St.

http://phoenix.gov/ECONDEV/phx_bio_camp.pdf

Edit: Just saw that this has already been posted too

[Vicelord John]

You answered quite a few questions. Thanks.

So U of A is occupying the NEC of 7/VB. And the fenced off area on the SWC of 7/Fillmore is going to be a parking lot, and the current parking lot is going to be the building? So the fence and construction materials there now have nothing to do with teh building construction really.

[HX_Guy]

From an AZCentral.com article...

"Taylor Place was built two years ago on the downtown Phoenix campus. A record 1,200 students are expected to live in Taylor, pushing the hall nearly to capacity this year and doubling the number who lived there two years ago prior to an expansion."

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

From an AZCentral.com article...

"Taylor Place was built two years ago on the downtown Phoenix campus. A record 1,200 students are expected to live in Taylor, pushing the hall nearly to capacity this year and doubling the number who lived there two years ago prior to an expansion."

Good news. Hopefully this means they build that third residential tower we saw in some renderings sooner rather than later. Though I still believe they need to help figure out a new home for the Valley Youth Theater. Maybe the 333 E Portland building would be a good choice, its been used as a theater in the past :/

Originally Posted by Crispy

This .pdf was updated on June 14th. It has a good aerial layout of the campus on pages 3 & 4. It does appear that HESB backs to 7th St. but it has a common area entrance from 7th. That whole area along Fillmore on the north side of the campus looks like it will be a parking lot for the time being. Page 15 shows their plan for future buildings along Fillmore and 7th St.

http://phoenix.gov/ECONDEV/phx_bio_camp.pdf

Edit: Just saw that this has already been posted too

Just relooked at this. Page 12 shows the city doing an RFP for a garage just north of the TGEN building. I pray to God they demand street level retail along 5th street & Fillmore. The campus is inward facing enough, a garage would present a good spot for some retail. Plus Im sure the workers at the expanding Campus would love some more places to eat and running across the street every day to the Arizona Center probably gets old quick.

[combusean]

I seriously don't get why they're building a parking lot for the HSEB building on top of what used to be a parking lot only to dig it all up again for the garage. It seems rather wasteful.

I seem to recall from early descriptions of the garage that it was to have ground floor retail.

[Vicelord John]

so whats up with the new building in the biomed campus? They are digging a pretty damn deep hole and I went over last night to check it out and the hole is in the middle of the lot. I thought this building was supposed to have 7th street frontage. Unless they plan on doing more digging, or that part aint gonna have a hole, it's not going to happen. There are some construction trailers where I thought the building would be built.

Also, can someone find out if there will be a tower crane?

[gymratmanaz]

I want a crane!!!!

[Vicelord John]

Heh you said crane.

[HX_Guy]

From tonights speech...

University of Arizona officials also had news of expansion at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

The Arizona Cancer Center, which is primarily based in Tucson, will open a center in Phoenix, said Dr. Joan Shapiro, dean of research at the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix.

"Not only are (officials) in the planning of the design, but we hope it will break ground by next year," Shapiro said.

UA officials did not immediately respond to a question about the number of jobs the center's opening will bring.

Gordon noted that downtown has seen enormous change over the past seven years with the addition of UA and Arizona State University Phoenix campuses, Metro light rail, the Phoenix Convention Center expansion, the Sheraton Hotel and the Translational Genomics Research Institute.

Gordon said ASU Downtown Phoenix also will expand, and he laid down a new challenge for the university.

"I'm calling upon the university to move beyond the idea phase, to begin designing what (ASU President Michael) Crow has described as not just a law school but the Arizona Center for Law and Society - a multi-sector partnership that has the potential to redefine the study of law," he said.

ASU Senior Vice President Rich Stanley said the school will be built with private and public funds and donations.

"The center would also take advantage of its location in the heart of the legal community of Arizona to become a hub for engagement in public policy issues," Stanley said.

Gordon has said he would like ASU to break ground before he leaves office in 14 months.

But that appears unlikely. ASU is arranging financing for the law school project, which is planned for the old Ramada Inn site at Taylor and First streets sometime within the next five years.

"We appreciate Mayor Gordon's partnership and support," Crow said. "While we are interested in moving forward with all deliberate speed, we are not likely to be in a position to break ground in the next 14 months."

The speaker from ASU (wasn't Crow, he wasn't there) went into a little more detail and said that the new school will include a law library, dorms for law students and and commercial space for multi use tenants. Sounds like it could be a pretty large building.

[HX_Guy]

The Arizona Cancer Center will be 250,000 sq ft and $142,000,000. That's roughly 1/2 the size of the Cityscape office tower, so in other words, pretty large. The building will be on the NE corner of the Phx BioMed campus, so I'm thinking it will go on the SW corner of 7th St and Fillmore or maybe on the NE corner where that BioMed building was going to get build? Now that in think about it, I think I actually saw a UofA banner on that building there.

[HooverDam]

Speaking of ASU/UA Downtown and the BioMedical campus more specifically. Apparently the Southwest HIV/AIDS Center has bought the former Channel 12 building adjacent to Hance Park.

This of course is very bad news because if Hance Park is ever to succeed, the Channel 12 building has to be demolished. It blocks off the park from any views in or out, and completely conceals the parks existence from the LRT station at Roosevelt. The City needs to get that land and expand the park, especially since a lot of amenities (restaurants, cafes, a bike shop, etc) that would be good to put in the park can't be built actually on certain areas due to the tunnels weight capacity.

So am I crazy or wouldn't trying to get the Southwest HIV/AIDS Center on the BioMedical campus make a lot more sense? I wonder how difficult it would be for the City to do a land swap with the Center and take the Ch 12 parcel in exchange for some of the undeveloped BioMed land.

Didn't the City do a similar swap with Barron Collier when developing Steele Indian School Park?

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Speaking of ASU/UA Downtown and the BioMedical campus more specifically. Apparently the Southwest HIV/AIDS Center has bought the former Channel 12 building adjacent to Hance Park.

This of course is very bad news because if Hance Park is ever to succeed, the Channel 12 building has to be demolished. It blocks off the park from any views in or out, and completely conceals the parks existence from the LRT station at Roosevelt. The City needs to get that land and expand the park, especially since a lot of amenities (restaurants, cafes, a bike shop, etc) that would be good to put in the park can't be built actually on certain areas due to the tunnels weight capacity.

So am I crazy or wouldn't trying to get the Southwest HIV/AIDS Center on the BioMedical campus make a lot more sense? I wonder how difficult it would be for the City to do a land swap with the Center and take the Ch 12 parcel in exchange for some of the undeveloped BioMed land.

Didn't the City do a similar swap with Barron Collier when developing Steele Indian School Park?

Yes, although I think the swap was a bad deal for the City. Barron Collier got the prime land facing the street, even though it still has no immediate plans for the site. The City got the land behind it for the hidden park.

I agree about the Channel 12 building, though. If there's any building that needs to be torn down, that's the one. It has no street presence and shows its ugly backside to Hance Park.

[HooverDam]

^Right, I was just making sure I was remembering correctly and a land swap like that had precedence and was legal/possible.

The Ch 12 building has just got to go, and since the City loves knocking down buildings so much, maybe they can get that out of their systems on this one.

[Vicelord John]

Crane!!!! Today!!!!

[HX_Guy]

Yea? Tower crane?

[Vicelord John]

Yup. Putting it in now.

[HX_Guy]

Sweet...love seeing tower cranes up, it means good shit is still being built.

I'm anxious to hear more about the Cancer Center. At 250,000 sq ft, it will be just about as big as what is going up now (268,000 st ft if I remember correctly) and I'm thinking it will have a smaller footprint (since this this is like a block wide it seems) so hopefully it'll have a bit of height. Construction schedule for the Cancer Center is 02/2011 - 07/2012.

[Vicelord John]

They are putting another building there in feb?