[phxbabe]

How do people feel about the multitude of highrise or midrise condo buildings currently under development in downtown and midtown Phoenix? Are they good investments now considering the current economic environment? What about if you signed up for one in 2005, before all the disastrous developments in the housing and credit markets; is it still a good idea to close, depending on your intended use of the unit (ie, whether you personally intend to live there, rent, or sell)? What price/sq ft would still be a good investment for a new condo in the current downtown/midtown luxury condo market if:

if you intend to live there;
if you intend to rent;
if you intend to sell within the next year;
if you intend to sell within the next 5 years?

Please advise!

[bmfarley]

What buildings downtown? I have not been to downtown Phoenix in quite a while. Is there a place online with pics to view, or development plans to take a look at?

How does Google Earth's 3D depiction of downtown compare?

[HooverDam]

Phoenix stuff...Please advise!

My advice would be to ask this in the Mountain West forum, specifically the Phoenix Development thread (which is sort of a catch all thread for Phx discussions). You'll get more responses that way, though I'm not sure what advice to give you as I'm no real estate expert.

What buildings downtown? I have not been to downtown Phoenix in quite a while. Is there a place online with pics to view, or development plans to take a look at?

How does Google Earth's 3D depiction of downtown compare?

44 Monroe (http://www.44monroe.com) and the Summit (http://summitcoppersquare.com) were completed this year, they're downtowns first highrises built as condos (we also have the Orpheum lofts, but that structure was initially an office building).

There will also be a condo section of the currently under construction Cityscape (http://www.downtownphxrising.org/) project which is at the zero, zero corner, the direct heart of Phoenix.

There has also been a good deal (for Phx standards anyhow) of condo infill of the non high rise variety in downtown/Central Phoenix. Projects like the midrise Portland Place (http://www.portlandplacecondos.com/), Portland 38 (http://www.jagdevelopment.com/portland/index.html), Evergreen 9 (http://www.jagdevelopment.com/evergreen/index.html), Willetta 9 (http://www.jagdevelopment.com/willetta.php), 215 E McKinley (http://www.urbanform.net/Home.html), Portland 1 and 2 (http://www.odysseyhomes.com/communities/portland/index.htm) and lots of others that I feel to lazy to look up the websites of right now, but you get the idea.

As far as Midtown goes there hasn't been as much development. There has been plans for a project called Cielo (http://www.cielophoenix.com/) that seem to be on hold because of the market. Century Plaza (http://centuryplazaphoenix.com/) was a midtown office building thats slowly being turned into condos. There's also proposals for the large empty lot on the NW Corner of McDowell and Central (across from the Art Museum) and for the parking lot North of the library on Central, but they're probably on hold until the market swings back up.