exit2lef - Yes, that's exactly what I figured. The entire campus has been built with an inward POV that seems centered along the 5th Street alignment. If this thing had to be built on its own, it should have been on Fillmore/7th Street with retail on either/both streets. Fillmore seems like the only logical space for retail to work on this campus as it is highly trafficked, used by many other commuters and ASU, and will eventually be the dividing E-W street once ASU builds on its land. If the developer cared at all about getting some sort of ROI on the retail component, the entrances/exits would have been reconfigured to allow it to wrap along that corner with the hope that in 5-10 years, it will be central enough to work out. With the street grid still in place and the lack of an AZ Center to contend with, the north portion of the campus has no excuse to be as poorly designed.
Other Major Updates:
Disposition of the Personnel Building on Monroe/2nd Ave.
At 6 stories of outdated commercial ceiling heights and no dedicated parking, can anyone imagine this getting any attention? The only things I could see it having potential for are:
a) purchased by 111 W Monroe, gutted and perhaps turned into 3 floors all with a 2nd, loft level to accommodate the ceiling issues? A new facade in silver and more awesome retailers =
b) Purchased by ASU and turned into student housing (no need for parking and residential heights are lower still).
c) If this was 2006, and Wallach still owned Adams/2nd Ave, a highrise residential project there could be built with a large garage that connected to the building above the existing 111 parking ramp. The building is 60,000 square feet above the ground level; with the added residential density, it could be turned into a combination of big box retailers - for example, a TJ Maxx/HomeGoods combo store is exactly 60,000 square feet.
I assume that even though both are government agencies, Federal and City landowners don't do much collaborating? A mixed use garage behind the Federal Building between Monroe and VB, 1st-2nd Ave would be a decent solution if some sort of swap could occur.
The Derby (Transwestern Micro-Housing Highrise)
More details on the the planned microhousing highrise by Transwestern on the lot on 2nd St/McKinley. This project, given its GPLET incentives, fast progress, and experienced team makes me think it's almost certainly going to happen.
The tower will be 19 stories, 215' in height (awesome) with 5 levels of parking integrated into the tower and 4,500 sf of retail space. Amenities will be on a separate, privately owned parcel. In an oddly progressive move, the City allowed a different model to be used for calculating parking requirements and offered the developer a 100% reduction in spaces. They are only reducing it by 50%, though, as they have built other projects and have a good sense of demand.
4,500 sf isn't too bad for that lot... I hope it is split on both 2nd St and McKinley though I'd imagine 2nd St will be sacrificed for the garage rams and loading docks. Still, even a small wrap-around would tie into the rest of the block. I'd like to see ~3,000 of it go to a nightlife venue and ~1,500 to a boutique of some sort. Either way, there are a few bumps along the way, but McKinley will be really great from Proxy down through this tower.
"The 211-unit development will be constructed on a vacant 14,157-square foot site .... would be among the highest-density residential projects in downtown at 650 units/acre. With an average unit size of approximately 400 square feet, the units are all for rent and are furnished." - Amazing density. But, my only critique of the whole project: that they will be furnished. I would certainly live in 400 sf in a downtown tower if the price were reasonable, but I would never, ever lease a furnished apartment. No biggie.
Finally,
"Developer must start construction within 18 months thereafter, and complete construction no later than 36 months after starting."
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