A little more detail on the apartments slated for 4th & Jeff from Downtown Devil.
Potential new apartment complex downtown would give students more options
A real-estate development company hopes to acquire property in mid-May to build a new apartment complex in downtown Phoenix, which comes as welcome news to many students in the hunt for housing.
Concord Eastridge, a Virginia-based developer, would provide downtown students another option in their search for local residences by building a complex on the southwest corner of Fourth and Roosevelt streets.
The developer has not closed escrow on the property yet, but Senior Vice President Steve Schnoor said the company is optimistic they will obtain the lot soon.
“We’re very excited about the potential for developing quality property in downtown Phoenix,” Schnoor said. “If everything goes as planned, the project would include the downtown community and the university student community.”
Don Keuth, president of the Phoenix Community Alliance, said Concord Eastridge will try to target students as its main demographic for the project.
“There certainly aren’t a ton of apartments downtown,” journalism sophomore Charlie Feinerman said. “I have heard that other people have had trouble finding an apartment.”
According to Sean Sweat, a downtown Phoenix community advocate, people looking for apartments downtown currently have seven apartment complexes as options, and most of them are nearly full to capacity.
“We have so much to do downtown, but we need residents to support these things,” Sweat said. “We don’t have all the people to take advantage of all the things there are to do.”
Sweat said despite the strong rental market in downtown Phoenix, many believe the market is depressed and do not want to invest in it yet.
“It’s so stupid when I hear people say they want to wait for the market to bounce back before they start construction,” Sweat said. “(Concord Eastridge is) doing it the right way while they can get low construction costs, and when the market bounces back, they’ll be able to sell.”
Feinerman said the primary factors he looks for in an apartment complex are location and safety.
“Personally, I love living downtown,” he said. “So the closer the complex is to the downtown area, the better.”
The property that Concord Eastridge is trying to acquire lies about six blocks from Taylor Place, bordered by Third, Fourth, Roosevelt and Garfield streets.
“They are on a very important site,” Keuth said. “As you come down Third Street into the downtown area, their project will be one of the first things you’ll see. It will help create an excellent urban setting. It will also bring a few hundred more residents to the downtown and fill in some gaps in the area.”
Keuth said the preliminary designs for the complex will include “an impressive and very upscale-looking building.” He hopes the complex will drive some retail to the businesses on Roosevelt Street.
Brian Graham, manager of Bliss/ReBar near Fourth and Roosevelt streets, is excited about the prospect.
“Any time you have an apartment complex, it brings about three or four hundred more people to the community, so that’s more business for us, which would be great,” he said.
As far as design goes, Sweat said he thinks there may be room for improvement so as to appeal to pedestrians.
“They could probably use some on-street access,” he said. “A lot of architects incorporate a private mentality even when they do urban planning.”
Contact the reporter at
alancial@asu.edu
http://downtowndevil.com/2011/04/21/...ix-apartments/
April 21st, 2011