Tempe Development Thread

[JAHOPL]

The second picture above accompanied the following article in this morning's East Valley Tribune:

SunCor sheds light on Marina Heights project
Garin Groff, Tribune
A developer has unveiled plans for the largest project yet in downtown Tempe along Town Lake.

SunCor, based in Tempe, is moving to develop about 26 acres on the lake's south shore with more than 3 million square feet of offices, condos, hotel rooms and shops.

The Marina Heights project will give SunCor control of an entire mile of the lake's shoreline, as it owns the adjacent Hayden Ferry Lakeside. SunCor figures it will take until 2029 to finish the project on land that today is owned by Arizona State University.

Tempe has long been frustrated that ASU has spent six years studying, planning and restudying its land without turning over a shovel of dirt. That undeveloped land deprived Tempe of millions of dollars in fees to maintain the lake and in property tax revenue, so the city has many reasons to see work start soon.

But the proposal has triggered a new set of issues. ASU wants the city to approve the project by next month, which some consider hasty given the years of delay. And proposed towers of about 300 feet triggered Tempe-based US Airways to ask that the project be put on hold while it studies the impact on airline safety.

US Airways and some city officials were clearly peeved that they learned of the project's specifics within only a day of a Tuesday city commission meeting on it.

"I have just become aware of the proposed project," Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said Wednesday. "I'm surprised at the level of density and what appears to be absurdly tall buildings. Not having yet received any information yet on the project, I eagerly await a briefing to learn more about what's being proposed."

SunCor made its first public pitch Tuesday before the Development Review Commission.

ASU needs the city to treat the plan with urgency and approve it by June, said Steve Nielsen, ASU's vice president of real estate. ASU wants the Arizona Board of Regents to approve the deal the same month, Nielsen said, before regents take the summer off.

Commission chairman Charles Huellmantel said he was a little uncomfortable to have to move so quickly, yet he called the proposal impressive.

The commission approved it unanimously, after cutting two proposed 28-story towers from 347 feet to 299 feet. The buildings sit north of Hayden Butte and would have towered above the mountain at 347 feet.

US Airways learned of the towers Monday and by Wednesday, asked the city to delay the project. A US Airways letter to the city indicates SunCor wants the Federal Aviation Administration to review plans for a building of 393 feet, which would make it the tallest in Tempe.

The towers could be in the path of where a disabled plane would need to fly during takeoff, US Airways wrote. The airline wants more time to study the issue.

The FAA also is reviewing the plan for safety concerns.

SunCor agreed to address the problems raised by US Airways and to get the city involved if the two can't work out a deal.

Nielsen said he was surprised anybody felt the deal was being rushed, especially after Tempe has pushed so hard for the sale.

"We have been under increasing pressure on behalf of the city to get this property in the hands of a private developer," Nielsen said.

ASU expects to make $20 million selling 10 acres to Sun-Cor. The university would lease the rest to SunCor.

SunCor would keep the nautical-inspired design of Hayden Ferry Lakeside at Marine Heights so the project would have the same character along the mile of property between Rural Road and Mill Avenue, SunCor's Randy Levin said.

SunCor would put office and hotel buildings toward Rural and Mill and place condos in the center. Two walkways would run through the entire project.

The Marine Heights buildings would range from three to 12 floors, except for the towers. Levin said SunCor designed the buildings to work in harmony with Hayden Butte.

"We're very protective of keeping the view corridors between these buildings," he said.

SunCor's proposal lays out where buildings would sit, their approximate heights and uses. Each building would need another level of review later.

The existing SunCor condos and offices have fetched high prices and helped bolster Tempe's desirability, said Neil Calfee, Tempe's deputy community development manager. The latest proposal shows how the East Valley is getting an office and residential hub that rival the Camelback Corridor or central Phoenix, he said.

"It puts us on par with those locations, although you could argue we're already on par," he said.

[desertdj]

Just commenting on all these mega projects that contain a group of similar, architectural styled buildings, like The Pier 202, or Hayden Ferry or the Marina Heights, I think they are great but I also love it when I go to other cities and they have a bunch of different styles and diversity. It looks like we won't be having a bunch of diversity on the south side of the lake but at least they are all pretty well designed and unique.

[dbUNIT16]

2029??? The site won't be completely built out for 22 years? That's ridiculous! I'll be 43... that's scary!

[JAHOPL]

If it was Dubai it'd be finished this time next year. We need a prince with very deep pockets.

[combusean]

^ Yes, and it will have also caught fire a few times in the meanwhile as well. It's not all rosy over there.

[vertex]

Originally Posted by dbUNIT16

2029??? The site won't be completely built out for 22 years? That's ridiculous! I'll be 43... that's scary!

I think it will be built out a lot sooner than that.

[andrewkfromaz]

Meh, I think the whole reason ASU is pursuing developing this land is to torque off Tempe, and the only reason Tempe is going along with it is b/c they're always looking for a reason to be annoyed with ASU. These two have no concept of working together, teamwork, cooperation, etc. and it's distressing.

[combusean]

Most of the reason it's taking so long, to Tempe's consternation is that ASU just can't hash deals with the private sector and they owe Tempe big----they are on the hold for lake user fees.

I also doubt ASU's ability to hash out or follow through with long-term plans. Look at campus development plans from as recently as a few years ago--those brown Le Corbusierish dorm boxes where Timberwolf and the dome bank were are supposed to be lined with retail on Apache, built up to the streeet. Look at how long the Research Park in south Tempe has stood mostly vacant. The Arts and Business what? A New Times story confirms the wacky progression of Marina Heights over the last decade--from four story bullshit that SunCor didn't want to build to what we have today.

That's not to say Tempe's not at fault too. Judging by the fight between Phoenix and Tempe over Sky Harbor departure corridors I'm sure Tempe brings a lot of baggage to the table that we don't know about.

ASU just needs to just get out of the real-estate game. If this were any other non-broken metro it would be a miracle to have such a cache of property for the long term good of students, but they're too disconnect and flush with assets to know what they've got.

They need to figure out their long term plan, figure out what they need, sell what they don't, and focus on educating students/tweaking numbers to make themselves look good in US News

[vertex]

Hmmm, by comparison ASU's relationship with Phoenix is going pretty well so far.

I think Tempe really resents the amount of land ASU has taken up in the last decade. It's grown like a weed, and has enveloped all of the land south of Apache to the railroad tracks, between College and Rural (with the exception of a few homes on 13-15th streets. Twenty years ago everything on the south side of Apache was a bar or a motel. Less taxes for Tempe, less land, less resources. In a funny way, I bet Tempe is relieved to see the downtown campus.

And your right about Business and Arts/Tempe Center. ASU has gone through at least 3 completely separate sets of plans for the center since the 1980's, each one championed by a different president; Nelson, Coor, and now Crow.

[soleri]

Who knows what this building is (or was)?

[desertdj]

it looks like those buildings by Rio Salado & Ash?

[oliveurban]

Yea, a section of the old Train Depot on Ash and about 3rd?

Hard to say. Why, what do we win?

[vertex]

yes, that was the amtrak passenger station.

[soleri]

If you're driving down Ash past Rio Salado, it's behind but incorporated with the Macayo's. AMTRAK was operational here until 1996.

Here, you're looking at the railroad museum/Macayo's from the light-rail tracks running on its other side. Old train stations really get to me, and it almost seems like sacrilege to make a tourist trap/beer parlor out of it. Still, it's really nice to have even if it's just an exhibit.

[JAHOPL]

Slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the morning last .......

ASU’s lakeshore development back on slow track
Garin Groff, Tribune
Arizona State University’s drive to develop lakeshore land went from slow to fast to slow again — all in the course of a week. The university shifted into slow mode Friday on its planned Marina Heights by telling Tempe it wasn’t ready for the city to formally consider the massive development at Town Lake.

But earlier in the week, ASU surprised the city by begging for rapid approval of the longstalled project.

Several groups bristled at ASU’s request for a quick approval because of plans for a pair of roughly 300-foot towers near Hayden Butte.

The tall buildings disturbed Tempe, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tempe-based US Airways because they’re under a flight path.

ASU and its developer, Tempe-based SunCor, realized the plan had worried others and decided to slow things down.

“We just don’t want a project that one of those entities isn’t going to feel completely satisfied about,” said Randy Levin, a SunCor executive. “That’s just the kind of company we are.”

Marina Heights would run along Town Lake’s south shore and include 3.8 million square feet of offices, condos, hotel rooms and shops. It would meld with the existing Hayden Ferry Lakeside at Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue, which is another SunCor project, and give the developer control of the lakefront from Mill to Rural Road. That’s a mile.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said he was pleased Sun-Cor wanted to slow down because it didn’t seem ASU, the airline and SunCor had talked to each other enough yet.

“I’m grateful that SunCor has recognized that those conversations need to take place to work out all of those issues,” Hallman said.

The mayor questioned the density and the project’s “absurdly tall” buildings earlier in the week. He figures it’s the largest project in the city’s history and suggested its scope means more time is needed before the city considers it.

The City Council had been scheduled to consider Marina Heights at its regular meeting Thursday night. The requested delay means the city could postpone action until ASU and SunCor are ready again.

ASU has been studying how to develop its roughly 26 acres of lakeshore land since 2001. SunCor holds development rights and would buy about 10 acres for roughly $20 million under the current plan. ASU would lease the rest to Sun-Cor.

Tensions have run high between Tempe and ASU for years. The city has pressured the university to develop the land so it can get on the tax rolls, and so Tempe can collect fees for lake maintenance.

ASU asked the city on Tuesday to approve the plan by the end of June so the Arizona Board of Regents could approve the sale the same month. The delay makes it nearly impossible to meet ASU’s desired deadline.

Even communication between ASU and SunCor appeared problematic Friday. Levin said his company and ASU jointly requested the delay. But it was SunCor, not ASU, that requested the delay, said Virgil Renzulli, the university’s vice president for public affairs.

[sundevilgrad]

The copper siding on the Tempe Arts building is sweet! I love the shiny copper siding (think University of Phoenix development near the airport). Does anyone know if the copper will age normally (turn blue-ish green as it oxidizes) or do they coat it with some type of antioxidant so that it stays shiny and bold as is ages?

[holygman480]

I know this might sound weird but do you think Tempe Town Lake will be swimmable. Theres a lot of polution in the water but maybe they could fix that.

[DevdogAZ]

Originally Posted by holygman480

I know this might sound weird but do you think Tempe Town Lake will be swimmable. Theres a lot of polution in the water but maybe they could fix that.

They've held the swim portion of the Ironman Triathalon in the lake, but generally it's not considered clean enough for swimming, and the banks are not designed for people to enter and exit for swimming.

[JAHOPL]

May 29, 2007
ASU, SunCor's Town Lake project needs to do it right
Tribune Editorial

SunCor Development Co.'s Marina Heights proposal on the banks of Tempe Town Lake managed to accomplish what had previously been impossible; it put Tempe officials on the same page as aviation interests out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Both camps insisted they needed more time to review the 3 million square-foot office/ retail/condominium project after the developer and the owner of the land it hopes to buy, Arizona State University, asked that the city take no more than a month to do so.

With no logical explanation why this had to be at the state's Board of Regents' June meeting for approval of the $20 million land sale, SunCor and ASU put their application on hold until further notice.

Now, we hope this change can provide a fresh start for all parties involved. We hope it doesn't signal a return to the snail's pace at which development of this site had been proceeding, which has left Tempe taxpayers with lake maintenance bills that building up this property is supposed to cover.

This is Lot 59N - 26 acres of overflow Arizona State University parking, sandwiched between Rio Salado Parkway and the Salt River bed, the Rural Road bridge and the condos and offices of SunCor's Hayden Ferry.

It's also, as Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman told then-Tribune writer Jason Emerson two years ago, "right in the middle of Town Lake. It is the most easily developable. And it's the most visible. It's the focus. We can't demonstrate that the lake is viable if this property sits vacant."

Emerson's February 2005 story was an indepth look of how ASU and SunCor's already protracted process had hit a stalemate over ASU's dreams of a retail bonanza versus the more office- and residential-oriented reality SunCor was presenting to them.

Still, the school and the company, hammered out an agreement on the basic outline of the project in late 2004.

Friday's delay is also a chance for Tempe and Phoenix to build a more cooperative relationship, based on shared interests rather than pretending they don't have any, while Tempe ponders Marina Heights' density and Phoenix looks at the safety implications of its tallest towers for its flight path.

Tempe needs to see this land developed within the reasonably near future, but wisely and cooperatively. It's too important for it to be handled any other way.

[nbrindley]

Originally Posted by JAHOPL

......This is Lot 59N - 26 acres of overflow Arizona State University parking, sandwiched between Rio Salado Parkway and the Salt River bed, the Rural Road bridge and the condos and offices of SunCor's Hayden Ferry......

'overflow parking' makes it sound like it's only rarely used. I haven't parked at ASU since the structure in Lot 59 was built (graduated in '03), but when I was there, Lot 59N was nearly full every day. Is it usually empty now?