PHOENIX | Project Rundown

[Don B.]

Pics of newer Phoenix projects:

Central & Palm Lane: 350 feet, 34 stories








Central & Buchanan: 250 feet, twin 19-story towers:






7th Street & Buchanan: 175 feet, one 22-story tower






5th Street and Lincoln: 175 feet, twin 18-story towers






3rd Street and Earll: 250 feet, three 22-story towers:






Three 40-story towers in downtown Phoenix, at 3rd Avenue and Fillmore and 2nd Avenue and Van Buren:




--don

[shrek05]

how sure are we of any of these projects going through?

[DracoCaifan]

yeah!! how sure?

[Don B.]

^ We aren't. There are no guarantees in the market, only choices.

Downtown Phoenix currently has four skyscrapers under construction, ranging from 10 to 34 stories in height. That number will likely double to eight by the end of the year. I'm more bullish on downtown than before the ASU tax vote (which passed easily), so I think that will help downtown Phoenix become more appropriate for a city the size of Phoenix.

If I had to guess, I would speculate that about a third of the proposals will make it to reality. I think these projects will probably be under construction by 2008 or 2009:

Cityscape (although we might only get two of the four proposed towers)
Park Place, Phase II (albeit in smaller form)
Trump in downtown Phoenix (although I doubt he'll build two towers)
Copper Pointe (I suspect only one of the three towers will get built)
Biltmore Holdings Office Tower
M Tower

The rest probably won't happen, unless another developer with experience snaps them up. Even so, the projects above, along with what is going up now, will dramatically transform downtown Phoenix. We'll double or triple our paltry collection of only two skyscrapers over 400 feet tall, that's for sure.

--don

[DracoCaifan]

Well, I agree with you Don... but even with that small portion I think is going to help bring more developments in the near future What about the W Hotel, is that going to happen?

[Don B.]

^ Probably. There's a snit between the FAA and the city - rare, because the city has already apparently signed off on the 450-foot tall project and then the FAA (presumably) changed their mind. This disconnect is even stranger because the city allegedly came out in favor of the FAA in order to protect Sky Harbor, and because the height does not violate the recent new overall cap zoning adopted by the city of Phoenix.

Regardless, I imagine these issues will work themselves out. Unfortunately, one result might be that the W Hotel gets shaved down 50 feet in height to placate the FAA, or even shorter. If it does get shorter, it might end up becoming a twin tower project to get the density necessary to make the project work. The original proposal called for a total of 50 stories (one 39-story tower and one 11-story), I could see this becoming two 25-story towers to get them under the FAA objection.

Time will tell. I think it will happen no matter what. Sarver and the Phoenix Suns already own the land, have the capital and weight necessary to pull this project off.

--don

[kevininlb]

Hey Don, thanks again for the PM.

So, it sounds like the City Centre project isn't going to happen. Any chance there are any proposals on the table for Phoenix's tallest? Sorry, I don't like the current tallest, so would love to see something great for a great city. Haven't found any proposals in numerous searches, so I'm guessing the city's next tallest is some time off. Thanks, though, for the pics you have posted. Some of these buildings look great. Was so happy to see construction going on downtown last time I was there.

[Jasonhouse]

^Hey, nice to see that you found the correct place for your question...

Now if you can just avoid attacking people with your childish antics via PM, you might not get banned.

[Don B.]

Originally Posted by kevininlb

Hey Don, thanks again for the PM.

So, it sounds like the City Centre project isn't going to happen. Any chance there are any proposals on the table for Phoenix's tallest? Sorry, I don't like the current tallest, so would love to see something great for a great city. Haven't found any proposals in numerous searches, so I'm guessing the city's next tallest is some time off. Thanks, though, for the pics you have posted. Some of these buildings look great. Was so happy to see construction going on downtown last time I was there.

No problem.

Some of the projects on the table now (listed in my roster above) certainly have the potential of exceeding Phoenix's current tallest skyscraper, the 486-foot 40-story Chase Tower.

That includes the twin towers of Cityscape, Central Park East, Park Place Phase II, the possible downtown Trump project (assuming he isn't totally pissed after the shellacking he received on his Biltmore project last year), and even some of the smaller projects. For example, some of the materials for Copper Pointe indicated 45-story towers.

In addition, if you look further back in this thread, you will see that the new height overlay (that is supposed to not conflict with the FAA and Sky Harbor) adopted by Phoenix downtown leaves room for up to 650 foot towers on the west side of downtown, and easily 550 foot towers along Central Avenue in the middle of downtown. So, you never know.

I predict there is a 50/50 chance we will have a new tallest or two by the end of the decade.

--don

[GeorgeLV]

Doesn't Phoenix have planning agendas on their website? It seems like a lot of the guesswork on projects like Copper Pointe could be taken care of with a quick crossrefrence.

[Don B.]

^ In a nutshell? No.

In other news, more renderings.

1. Canvas at 1011 (two buildings, one 15-story and one 22-story):


2. Phase one of Centerpoint under construction in Tempe:


3. New renderings of the Century Plaza site showing the new twin, 40-story towers proposed there:




--don

[Don B.]

Master list revised once again. Phoenix nears 100 towers on my roster - the highest ever. 25 are actually under construction now or will be within six months, most likely.

--don

[Don B.]

New proposals:

1. The Arizona Business Journal has an article in the edition that is out now talking about Toll Brothers building up to 685 feet on a parcel located on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Thomas Road - potentially twin towers mixed use.

2. Central Park East is likely going to break ground this summer or fall. The two towers will be on the block located immediately north of the Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix. The orientation of the property has the 475-foot condo tower on the NW corner of the parcel, farthest from the Chase Tower, while the shorter 305-foot office tower is located on the southeast corner of the property.

--don

[Chicago2020]

Wait, so are they planning on destroying that old mill next to the lake in Tempe?????????

[Don B.]

^ No. The city of Tempe would prefer a developer come in and rehab it along with other mixed-use development around it. Unfortunately, no one has bitten off on that, probably because rehabbing the old mill will cost a fortune.

--don

[Don B.]

Here's the latest on the 685-foot proposal:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=105009



Here's a pic of a model of downtown Phoenix, built by students at the new downtown ASU campus, with info I added:


--don

[bobjuba]

Hi Don, thanks for letting the world know about Phoenix! True there are many great projects in the works across the valley but it is apparent the social attitudes regarding skcrapers in Arizona still favors sprawl versus growing up.
I am a commercial real estate agent and developer and I still see the new home builders winning out even though they are building now an hour away without traffic from the city center. You would think with rising gas prices the highrise condo format would be exploding. But the highrise development for Phoenix being so big is still painfully slow.
For developers to do these projects they have to charge astronomical prices for the condo units. Remember, 740 sq ft is a very small space and devlopers are charging up to 400 a square for these units.
With all these projects, they will only go as high as sales permit.
But thank you for all the great pictures and designs.
I would do anything to get a couple hundred feet off the desert floor during the summer, its probably ten degrees coooler up there, but I cannot justify paying the prices for small spaces. Our real estate market has shifted back to the buyers, has anyone alerted the condo developers?

[Don B.]

^ Well, thanks for replying to this nearly dead thread, and welcome to the forum.

There's some less expensive stuff coming to market now, so things are getting back to normalcy.

--don

[Azndragon837]

I'll give this thread a bump...and Don, I think this thread will become more alive when Summit, 44 Monroe, the Sheraton and Central Park East have their skyscraper steel structures up.

-Andrew

[Don B.]

See first post in thread with revised skyscraper list. We are now over 100 projects - the highest ever!

Here's Will Bruder's 700-foot "vision" for downtown Phoenix:



--don