44 W Monroe - Page 6

soleri · #**101** Posted **Jun 16, 2006, 5:15 AM**

^The projects have the same developer but appear to be otherwise separate. But I did have the same thought you did. My impression is that the hotel is a definite, but not the condos. Maybe the Sliver's podium could be constructed for parking (?). I do recall a few years ago when the property was going to be developed as an Embassy Suites, that the space occupied by the Golden West Hotel was going to be used as a parking circle/entrance. I'll save the question for another day. BTW, if any of you are downtown, don't hesitate to stop in the sales office of 44 Monroe. The rep is very personable and enjoys talking about the project.

soleri · #**102** Posted **Jun 22, 2006, 9:06 PM**

From the 8th floor of the US Bank Building, which gives you an idea of the views for 44 Monroe's lower floors.

I went by the office today to clear up that question about the parking at the Professional Building. Turns out it really is a problem and they don't appear to have quite figured it out. Either parking will be remote, or they'll devise some system where they'll excavate below the valet-parking circle (where the Golden West is located), and somehow use a hydraulic platform to take the cars up and down (whew!).

A couple of other things: they've heard Cosmopolitan Towers is delaying groundbreaking for at least 18 months. The condo market is the main reason, it seems, but the cost of construction materials is also a factor.

How will Central Park East's condos' sales impact the groundbreaking/construction pace? Apparently there is some buzz about this in the real-estate community, and no one has come up with an answer. In due time...

kevininlb · #**103** Posted **Jun 23, 2006, 4:13 PM**

Yippee, progress!

So, what's the final height on this? I think it's listed as 400, but I think I also saw 411ft somewhere and possibly even 450ft. Anyone know?

Don B. · #**104** Posted **Jun 23, 2006, 5:25 PM**

I was told 411 feet, but that was a long time ago.

I've tried getting an updated figure to confirm after the project was revised and have been stymied at every turn.

--don

kevininlb · #**105** Posted **Jun 23, 2006, 6:56 PM**

Thanks, Don. OK, I'm not sure how reliable the sales office is, but I just called to ask about height. They said it will be "400 at most." They said they don't have an exact figure but the guy I spoke with said it's between 11 and 12 feet per floor.

plinko · #**106** Posted **Jun 23, 2006, 7:54 PM**

You'd get a much more definitive answer if you called Weitz on-site construction office (wouldn't take much to get the number).

Sales people could care less about overall height. The only care how many floors and what the maximum ceiling heights are.

Don B. · #**107** Posted **Jun 23, 2006, 9:36 PM**

^ I've called them at least two or three times - I always end up in someone's voice mail and the call is never returned.

--don

plinko · #**108** Posted **Jun 24, 2006, 6:24 AM**

^Try the Weitz PR office then? Totally depends on who you can get to talk to you...

kevininlb · #**109** Posted **Jun 27, 2006, 8:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by plinko

^Try the Weitz PR office then? Totally depends on who you can get to talk to you...

OK, just to close this loop...for now anyway. I called Weitz -- thanks for the suggestion -- who passed me onto Grace Communites...who passed me back to the sales office.

The sales office said...drum roll, please...to call Weitz.

Anyway, some sales guy promised he'd call me back with the height. I'm probably the only person interested in this, so sorry for taking up space with my own personal ramblings.

kevininlb · #**110** Posted **Jun 27, 2006, 9:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevininlb

OK, just to close this loop...for now anyway. I called Weitz -- thanks for the suggestion -- who passed me onto Grace Communites...who passed me back to the sales office.

The sales office said...drum roll, please...to call Weitz.

Anyway, some sales guy promised he'd call me back with the height. I'm probably the only person interested in this, so sorry for taking up space with my own personal ramblings.

OK, just to amend my last ramble. So, the sales guy just called back and told me he spoke to Weitz to get the final height (I had to sit through a rather long conversation about the "tons" of ASU students inquiring about rentals). He says the "official" height is 360.

Who knows...

PHX31 · #**111** Posted **Jun 27, 2006, 9:30 PM**

Thanks for doing the footwork!

Well, where did the 400-411' height come from in the first place? 34-stories on a residential building should be right around 360' I'd say... 375' would make it 11' floor heights.

I remember when the phelps dodge tower was under construction. I went right up to the fence on the construction site and asked some guy how high it was going to be and he told me 289'. So maybe someone actually on site would know. At least some foreman type.

Don B. · #**112** Posted **Jun 27, 2006, 9:45 PM**

^ That seems to make sense given the building's rendering, but only if they are talking about roof height. The amenities part of their website states that the ceiling heights are 8.75 feet (which is fairly low by modern residential standards - most homes today have at least 10 foot ceilings and some go up to 12 feet on average), so:

34 x 8.75 = 297.50 feet. Of course, the individual floors have to be about a foot thick, so that would add another 34 feet to the structure, for a total of about 330 feet. Looking at the rendering, it is quite apparent the lower floors where the garage and ground-floor retail are located will either be higher than 8.75 feet and/or have thicker floors (adding another 30 feet or so), so I could see a 360-foot structure height for the main roof.

However, those fins on the latest rendering seem to be fairly tall and would drive the actual tip building height even higher. That is the key question.

I also read something that said this would be the third tallest structure in Phoenix. If so, it has to be around 400 feet as the third tallest now is the Qwest tower at 398 feet if I recall correctly.

--don

HX_Guy · #**113** Posted **Jun 27, 2006, 10:57 PM**

On top of that, the eight floor will have 20' ceilings according to their website (but it will probably only be some parts with 20' ceilings and will count as two floors).

Edit: After looking at the floorplans online, it does seem that the 20' ceilings take up the 8th and 9th floors for the gym/pool area...and for the space it does not take up, it will be normal height residences.

The thing about that, if the normal floor height is 8'8" (according to their site), and you get 20' by taking out the the floor slab on level 9...does that mean each floor slab is 2'8" in thickness?

(Ok maybe I'm looking too much into it...but that 360' figure was really dissapointing...I was really looking forward to see this thing almost as tall as the Chase tower...not over 100' shorter)

GeorgeLV · #**114** Posted **Jun 28, 2006, 12:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHX31

Thanks for doing the footwork!

Well, where did the 400-411' height come from in the first place? 34-stories on a residential building should be right around 360' I'd say... 375' would make it 11' floor heights.

There's a lot of variability in residential. 400'+ for a 34-story building is quite reasonable, Panorama I and II in Las Vegas are 32-stories each and 420' tall.

plinko · #**115** Posted **Jun 28, 2006, 6:02 AM**

^Perhaps it's only the 3rd tallest building in DOWNTOWN Phoenix? In that case, 375' would be about right (both Two Ren Sq and Wells Fargo being 372')

CANUC · #**116** Posted **Jul 7, 2006, 9:24 PM**

I remeber the article in the AZ Republic that originally had the story of how the renovation of the 10 story building would be sctrached and a 34 story tower would take it's place, listed the building at 407ft and noted that it would be the third tallest structure downtown. This was before the updated facade of the building was released showing the new spires in the updated rendition. Emporis has also updated it's height for the building from 407ft to 411ft.

HX_Guy · #**117** Posted **Jul 7, 2006, 9:57 PM**

Another thing...I noticed in the other thread about the 20 story Glendale hotel would be 250ft...so that's 12.5 ft per story...34 stories would be 425 ft...so a little over 400 ft definately sounds reasonable.

...then again...isn't the Sheraton going to be 31 stories and only 360 ft? 11.6 ft per floor...or 394 ft for 34 stories.

soleri · #**118** Posted **Jul 9, 2006, 9:47 PM**

Vicelord John · #**119** Posted **Jul 10, 2006, 2:35 AM**

wow, now that I've switched properties from the Wyndham to where I am now, I miss a lot. I loved watchign that building from the windows in the wyndham.

soleri · #**120** Posted **Jul 22, 2006, 8:08 PM**

Real-estate sales often uses visual aids to educate buyers about the various levels of happiness you can acquire. Here, 44 Monroe's marketers created a maquette of downtown showing a significant height advantage for their tower vis a vis the US Bank Tower directly south.