Tempe Development Thread

[Butta]

Originally Posted by MegaBass

By Corey Maleka November 3, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Students scurry along a quiet dirt lot near College Avenue and Seventh Street on the Tempe campus each day, but in the near future, cranes, hard hats and noise will claim the student footpath.
Earlier this semester, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a $17.5 million budget for the construction of a new campus bookstore for the space near the Fulton Center parking garage.
The planned two-level bookstore is part of a project named Block 12, but project plans are still in the preliminary stages.
“We are still thinking about what we want to do,” said Morgan Olsen, ASU’s executive vice president and treasurer.
Sam Wheeler, executive director of Auxiliary Business Services, said the store is not going to replace the existing bookstore on campus.
“What we would like is another store that specializes in specific things … and there has been some talk that this may be the starting point of all the campus orientations,” Wheeler said. “Right now everything is conceptual.”
Olsen said the new bookstore might have a “potential range for clientele.”
The new building will have much more than the current campus store’s commodities. According to ASU’s capital improvement plans presented at a September ABOR meeting, it will include a computer store, convenience shop and food location.
Steve Nielsen, assistant vice president of ASU Real Estate Development, said the University will hire an architect in the next few months.
When construction will begin is still uncertain, but Wheeler is hopeful the bookstore will be ready by fall 2013.
State Press

Interesting that they are planning on spending $17.5M but they are not sure what will come of it. Oh well, at least there will be 1 less empty lot.

[MegaBass]

Veterans Day sees groundbreaking for Tempe military memorial at Ash bridge
Posted: Friday, November 11, 2011 4:46 pm
By Garin Groff, Tribune | 0 comments
An overlooked bridge remnant at Tempe Beach Park last carried traffic in 1931, left to crumble for generations as nobody figured out what to do with the abandoned stub.
But a project is beginning to transform the century-old bridge abutment into a veterans memorial unlike anything in Arizona today. The old Ash Avenue Bridge segment is the first part of a roughly $2 million memorial that Tempe and the Rio Salado Foundation broke ground on Friday in honor of Veterans Day.
Rest of the article

[MegaBass]

Facelift set to begin at Tempe's iconic Hayden Flour Mill

Posted: Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:51 pm | Updated: 5:15 pm, Thu Nov 10, 2011.
By Garin Groff, Tribune
Work to restore the historic Hayden Flour Mill should start in as little as 10 days, bringing life to an iconic building that’s sat idle since 1997.
Mayor Hugh Hallman announced the project’s start date Thursday in the annual state of the city address, which will be the last Hallman will deliver as he wraps up two terms in office.
Hallman also revealed a major boost to fundraising efforts, with a $200,000 donation toward the $605,000 project. The money is from Wally Zaremba, president of the Zaremba Group, which is completing the West 6th apartment towers in downtown.
The Rio Salado Foundation has raised 2/3 of the project’s cost but will use loan money to start work as the final fundraising wraps up, Hallman said. The city is finalizing permits but is otherwise ready.
“The project should begin within days,” he said.
The effort involves only minor work to the concrete structure that was built in 1918. The mill will get a fresh coat of white paint and some of the more interesting items from inside will be pushed toward windows so the public can see what used to go on there.
Outside, a grassy area north of the mill will provide a gathering place or venue for small concerts or movie screenings. The work will take several months.
Read more of the article

[Tempe_Duck]

Did anyone else see the old time steam engine traveling through Tempe today? I couldn't grab a picture but there were people all over the tracks from Apache to University like the knew it was coming or something.

It was caring passengers anyone know the deal with it?

[Thirsty]

Originally Posted by Tempe_Duck

Did anyone else see the old time steam engine traveling through Tempe today? I couldn't grab a picture but there were people all over the tracks from Apache to University like the knew it was coming or something.

It was caring passengers anyone know the deal with it?

I'm guessing this is the train:


The Union Pacific's Goodwill Ambassador.

Started the day in Tucson, here for the centennial, but why it came in November is anyone's guess. I heard its very distinct whistle, but it was got before I got to a spot where I could see the track.

[nickkoto]

I hadn't heard about it until I saw this thread, but I did hear the whistle from my house, wondering why the train sounded so old-school.

[combusean]

Tempe OKs business development

by Dianna M. Náñez - Nov. 26, 2011 07:26 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com

Last week, the Tempe City Council approved a massive development, near Elliot Road and Loop 101, that has one of the largest sites for corporate businesses to locate in the city.

Phoenix-based Wentworth Property Company and business partner Northwood Investors aim for the Discovery Business Campus to compete with Chandler's Price (Road) Corridor, which has attracted Intel, Amkor Technology, Bank of America and Toyota Financial Services.

Wentworth Property purchased the land last summer from Freescale Semiconductor, which will remain on site.

Jim Wentworth Jr., co-owner of Wentworth Property Company, said that there are few sites along Price Road in Tempe where a major industrial/corporate business could locate.

The business parks along Price Road are attractive to corporate employers because the region is near Arizona State University, a growing tech hub, major freeways and near Scottsdale and Southeast Valley cities.

The development was approved at the Nov. 17 council meeting. A group of residents who live in the Oasis housing community next to the site had several concerns about the massive development.

Some residents disliked the retail planned for the area. Others worried that the site would create a traffic mess near their homes.

But most residents' complaints focused on elements of the project and not on the overall project, which many said would bring much-needed jobs to Tempe.

After six months of working with residents, the developer addressed most concerns, including adding more landscaping and moving stores farther from homes.

Plans for the 136-acre site include one two-story office/industrial building, four office buildings ranging from four to eight stories, two six-story hotels with a total of 400 rooms, space for restaurants and stores and a three-level parking structure.

On Wednesday, Wentworth said he is already getting calls from major corporate employers looking for space in the Southeast Valley.

"We're really seeing corporate America attracted to the Southeast Valley," he said. "They really like the labor market in the Southeast Valley. I think it has to do with access to all levels of employees. And it's a highly-educated workforce."

The developer is the middle of a multi-million dollar upgrade to the plan for the business campus. Improvements include the addition of 900 trees, a road that will loop through the property and water features similar to the fountains at nearby ASU Research Park.

Wentworth said that two of the existing five buildings, which include about 832,000 square feet of office, industrial and research-and- development space, will be ready to lease within the month. The two buildings are a 166,000-square-foot two-story office development and a 66,000 square foot fabrication facility.

Freescale is housed in the three other buildings.

[Butta]

Although this sounds cool, they will have to do something about the water quality first. Maybe they ought to put a public pool next to it, like in front of those waterfront condos/offices, I wouldn't mind taking the kids there and watching ASU coeds in bikinis.

Candidates propose swimming beach at Tempe Town Lake

by Jennifer Thomas

azfamily.com

Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:54 AM

Updated today at 2:01 PM

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Two political candidates want to create a real beach at Tempe Town Lake.

Tempe mayoral candidate Michael Monti and City Council candidate Dick Foreman say you shouldn't have to go all the way to San Diego to take a walk on a sandy beach or go swimming.

"People have been saying we've got this wonderful lake, this great asset, but why can't we swim there?" Monti said. "From the very beginning they've wanted to swim, but there's been problems that needed to be solved. So we decided, Dick and I, it's time to tackle this challenge and get it done."

They're proposing bringing in sand and creating a separate chlorinated swimming area.

So far, swimming in the lake has only been allowed at special events such as triathlons. The city has allowed kayaking, rowing and sailing on Town Lake for more than a decade.

While there are costs to consider such as construction, maintenance and chlorination, Monti and Foreman believe this can be done with minimal use of public funds.

Read more: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Candida...134767588.html

Something like a infinity pool like this (it would match the water feature at the Tempe Center for the Arts)



Or a vanishing pool like this:



This grassy area I think it may work best, but the location can be worked out.



Now, I should be running for Mayor.....

[RichTempe]

They're proposing bringing in sand and creating a separate chlorinated swimming area.

The article does indeed say they are planning on doing something about the water quality.

[HX_Guy]

905-bed Tempe development to serve ASU students
Phoenix Business Journal by Jan Buchholz, Reporter
Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 12:14pm MST

Houston-based Residential Housing Development is planning a 905-bed student housing community on Apache Boulevard, near Arizona State University , in Tempe.
The company, with assistance from CBRE in Phoenix, assembled the six acres necessary to construct the 640,000-square-foot building and parking structure. Groundbreaking is expected in February 2012 with completion by the fall semester of 2013.
In the first phase of the assemblage, RHD paid $5.17 million for 4.67 acres at 919 and 1005 E. Apache Blvd. The property includes the 50-year-old Baer’s Den college bar, which will be reconstructed at the northwest corner of the property. The seller was RB Tempe LLC of Columbus, Ohio.
In a second transaction, RHD paid $1.4 million for 1.4 acres at 926 E. Spence Ave. The property currently is the site of the 28-unit Spence Avenue Apartments, which will be demolished. The sellers were Charles and Elsa Fong of Tempe.
Bert Kempfert of CBRE represented the seller in the first transaction and the developer in the second transaction.
The project will include a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse, 70,000 square feet of open space, a 3,000-square-foot fitness center and ground level retail along Apache Boulevard.

[nickkoto]

That lot won't be missed.

Between those 900+ beds, the expansion to Vista Del Sol, and the larger W. 6th tower opening up soon, I wonder if ASU has/will grow enough to fill everything. Those 2yr-old apartments further east on Apache (Domain and Grigio Metro) have always appeared kind of empty to me, though their locations aren't all that desirable.

[combusean]

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't get filled given ASU's serious lack of quality on-campus housing. I just googled Grigio Metro and it *appears* it's at near full occupancy, but it also looks like every result has moved since Google crawled it last. So who knows.

I think the greater issue is the fact that north Tempe won't become any less useless and dead in summer and holidays with so much student housing and a large, prime lot dedicated just for that.

[hrivas]

That's a really good point.

There's often talk about the problems of a concentration of poverty and concentrations of public housing but what about the problems of a concentration of student housing. I'm not trying to point to typical concerns like noise and rowdiness, but the issue you've brought up. Who will walk that street during the summer or even in the short two or three weeks of winter break? I think the addition of the senior housing project on Farmer, Gracie's Thrift Store housing project, and the other housing project for the deaf are steps to good steps to add diversity to the area but its going to take more than those few projects to truly diversify the area.

[PHX31]

Fire in downtown Tempe: 7th & Mill.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...ding-fire.html

Anyone know which building this is? Hopefully nothing too historic.

[DaveInTHX]

It's been boarded up for years now, and I can't imagine it has any historical value. It's three doors East of the old Ejoy Internet Cafe (now Fixx Coffee Shop). And two doors East from an empty lot that used to hold another boarded up building, that also burned down in the past couple years.

[MegaBass]

Originally Posted by PHX31

Fire in downtown Tempe: 7th & Mill.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...ding-fire.html

Anyone know which building this is? Hopefully nothing too historic.

Building north of Salvation Army where the M7 was proposed.

[MegaBass]

Was scrolling through Flickr image search of Mill Avenue and stumble upon this.



Posted mid-October under the title Four Elements by Proteus West? Would be on the SE corner of Mill & University in Tempe, Arizona.

[Butta]

Originally Posted by MegaBass

Was scrolling through Flickr image search of Mill Avenue and stumble upon this.



Posted mid-October under the title Four Elements by Proteus West? Would be on the SE corner of Mill & University in Tempe, Arizona.

I believe this is where I read the new grocery store will go. All I know is I want to move back to the area, from Ahwatukee, because once this grocery store goes in, it will be urban heaven.

[Jsmscaleros]

ASU finishes up another impressive solar installation and shade structure near Sun Devil Stadium: http://www.sofa-connect.org/connecte...?f=3&t=47#p187

[combusean]

^ The photos posted don't do it justice. I drove by it the other evening and it all looks rather surreal in its enormity.