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Posted May 28, 2006, 2:34 PM
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Skyriser
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Newark, California
Posts: 7,270
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University Square
More Tempe towers proposed
By John Yantis, Tribune
May 19, 2006
Quote:
Scottsdale developers are proposing to turn a square city block east of downtown Tempe into more than 1 million square feet of living, work, hotel and shopping space anchored by three towers, including one that would be 30 stories.
University Square would be larger than Centerpoint, which is under construction near University Drive and Mill Avenue.
Planning officials recently received zoning and design applications for the project. It would be built between Myrtle and Forest avenues and University Drive and Seventh Street.
“We found some errors, some inconsistencies in their numbers on parking and we have some other questions so they’re not going to the (planning and zoning) board yet,” said Chris Anaradian, Tempe’s development services manager. “They’re still working with our staff as we review their drawings, and they gave us quite a number of drawings so there’s a lot of information to go through.”
The 30-story tower is proposed to be 329 feet tall. It would have 180 hotel rooms on the first 17 floors and about 40 condos above the 17th floor. A second tower that would be 286 feet tall would have 226 condos. A 12-story office tower would be about 168 feet tall and is proposed to have 267,000 square feet of offices and 44,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.
The whole project would be about 1.3 million square feet, not including 1,800 parking spaces. Centerpoint, which is planning three 30-story buildings and one 22-story building, is 930,000 square feet, Anaradian said. Smaller floor plates make the Centerpoint towers skinnier, he said. Centerpoint’s height will be 343 feet.
“This is a mixed-use project so you have residential, office, hotel and retail all mixed together,” Anaradian said of University Square. “That’s a good thing. We like to see that diversity in a project, so it’s not all one thing.”
The towers would jut from a “podium” that’s about five stories with four levels of underground parking. Anaradian said the project resembles a wedding cake: The bottom tier is large and then next tier up is narrower.
A partnership called University Square Investors submitted the plans. It is led by Scottsdale businessman Tony Wall and includes Scottsdalebased Shea Commercial, known for office projects. Both Wall and a Shea spokeswoman declined to provide details of the project until next week.
Anaradian said the team has either finished purchasing the property or is in the process. The project would replace the Arches on the north side of University east of Myrtle. The center has been popular with Arizona State University students, and it features restaurants, a bicycle shop and a tattoo parlor.
Anaradian said University Square is at least 1 1 /2 years from starting construction.
“This is pretty early in the process and just because somebody submits 1.3 million square feet and we review it, doesn’t mean it’s going to get built,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes on on financing and lot of things the city doesn’t have control over.”
While it’s great somebody wants invest in the community, he said the size of the project could be problematic.
“There’s only so many square feet of office and residential that are going to get bought or leased in any particular year,” he said. “That’s just the market demand. A project like this comes in and . . . if it actually gets built all at once or even in phases, it’ll suck up tenants from other projects that are also in here right now being reviewed. Only so many of these projects are actually going to get built.”
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Downtown Tempe block may tower
By John Yantis, Tribune
May 26, 2006
Quote:
A mostly vacant city block in downtown Tempe may one day be a glitzy, towering $500 million project that will feature office space, a downtown hotel, boutique shops and dozens of high-rise condominiums, according to plans released by developers Thursday.
Under the proposal, three groups of investors will transform an area between Seventh Street and University Drive and Forest and Myrtle avenues into the 1.5 millionsquare-foot University Square.
The plan includes a 30-story hotel condo tower with 225 rooms and additional condo units, a 23-story residential tower that would feature an outdoor swimming pool on the top floor and a round office tower with 12 floors. Retail shops and upscale restaurants would go on the ground floors.
“We’re totally stoked on this project because it’s got a phenomenal location in a vibrant town and huge growth potential with having (Sun Devil Stadium) and (Arizona State University) nearby and Mill Avenue,” said Jim Riggs, founder and president of Shea Commercial, one of the developers.
The project will feature parking above and below ground.
Here are the players:
Scottsdale-based Shea Commercial teamed with 3W Companies and Triyar to develop University Square. It’s the biggest project Shea has ever done, Riggs said. The company is in the midst of doing 20 mixed-use projects in nine states. Triyar is a private real estate development company based in Westwood, Calif. with offices in Scottsdale.
Most recently, it developed the W Hotel in Scottsdale.
Scottsdale-based 3W Companies looks for developments in the Valley and the southwestern United States.
And then, there’s the land. An article by Business Real Estate Weekly of Arizona on Shea’s Web site says the investors paid just under $24.5 million to assemble the 3.2-acre site. A trust and a company formed by Sidney Joseph of Tempe were the sellers of most of the site in two deals totaling just over $23 million. Biltmore Management of Tempe was the seller of a small parcel for just over $1.39 million.
Businesses in some of the buildings that will be razed for the development will remain open for a while.
“Our timeline is not totally clear, so we’re in the middle of discussions with them because we want to keep everybody open as long as we can,” Riggs said.
The financial impact could be substantial. Developers estimate University Square will increase spending in and around Tempe by an estimated $1.16 billion during the construction of the project. By completion it is expected to create nearly 1,500 jobs. University Square will generate more than $100 million in fiscal benefits for Tempe and the Tempe Union School District, the developers said.
Mayor Hugh Hallman said drawing permanent residents to the Mill Avenue district will stabilize the Tempe economy for years to come.
Development services manager Chris Anaradian called University Square a milestone project that promises to be an asset for residents, retailers and visitors.
Formal zoning for the project was filed on May 9 and is expected to be approved in late summer. Riggs said construction is planned to begin in the first quarter of 2007.
“We’re going to go down with the parking lot and work on that,” he said. “That’s going to take a while to dig that hole.”
Tenants would begin moving in in early 2009.
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