Tempe Development Thread

[PHX31]

Yeah, they already mention it being a "campus"... that's probably what they want to do, not what they are forced into doing by picking the Tempe Town Lake area. I doubt a real tower was ever in their thought process.

Great stuff either way.

[ASUSunDevil]

Will this cover all of Lot 59 east of the Oliver-McMillan project? Great news, but where the hell am I going to tailgate now?

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by ASUSunDevil

Will this cover all of Lot 59 east of the Oliver-McMillan project? Great news, but where the hell am I going to tailgate now?

Fantastic News!!!

The lot mentioned is a little over 460,000 sq. feet. So even though it will definitely be broken down into more than one building, I think that we will see some nice amount of density. It will be exciting what kind of proposal they put together.

This could also help jump start some of the residential projects that are on the shelf for Tempe Town Lake, since having such an important source of jobs will surely rise demand for nearby housing. I really hope this project gets the lake development going again.

[Spitfiredude]

Does this include the stadium district? Very exciting! US Airways leaving won't have a big impact on us I guess. I agree that this is going to snowball into a lot new projects here in Tempe. I agree that it would have been a lot better to see a 50+ story building in Phoenix rather than 10-25 story buildings in Tempe, but it is good news as far as for development. We will be seeing new apartment/condo complexes spur up and down the lake. Tempe is seeing its skyline begin to fill up

[SunDevil]

Great news! but I don't think it means 5k NEW jobs. I'm sure some people will relocate from other cities and some of their operations around the valley will be consolidated, but, there should still be a few hundred or so new jobs. Not to mention the construction jobs. Tempe really is ideally situated. it's surrounded by highways, is next door to the airport, home to a major university, and has the best transit system in the metro.

[Jjs5056]

If this extends from Rural to the site of the Lofts at Hayden, can anyone take a guess at what kind of heights or density we might be looking at?

Are we thinking 10+ story buildings, or 4-5. Sure, a tower would have been great, but if we end up with a 12-story building as an end-cap on Rio/Rural tapering down to 8-10-stories as it approaches HFL, I think that would ge a great setting against the lake, SDS and Tempe Butte.

4-5 sight generic blocks of concrete and acres of parking, OTOH, will be quite depressing.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by SunDevil

Great news! but I don't think it means 5k NEW jobs. I'm sure some people will relocate from other cities and some of their operations around the valley will be consolidated, but, there should still be a few hundred or so new jobs. Not to mention the construction jobs. Tempe really is ideally situated. it's surrounded by highways, is next door to the airport, home to a major university, and has the best transit system in the metro.

You have to talk about the addition of "new" jobs in context. Since a regional headquarters will be moving here, even if most of the jobs are transferred form a different city/state, those are "new" jobs for Tempe that adds to metro Phoenix' GDP. I don't think there will be much consolidation since State Farm doesn't really have any type of corporate presence in the area. I don't think they will be consolidating field offices and the 3 "operation centers" into this corporate development.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by dtnphx

State Farm to build Tempe regional headquarters, bring thousands of new jobs

Kristena Hansen, The Business Journal

Illinois-based State Farm Insurance is planning to build a massive regional headquarters along Tempe Town Lake that is slated to bring thousands of new jobs to Arizona.

I have spoken to multiple sources who confirmed this but wanted to remain anonymous. These sources told me that State Farm will build a roughly 1 million-square-foot regional headquarters campus on a site owned by Scottsdale-based Sunbelt Holdings Inc. where 5,000 to 7,000 employees will be housed.

The site, sources say, is located on the east side of the $50 million luxury apartment project planned by San Diego-based developer OliverMcMillan. It’s just east of the Hayden Ferry Lakeside project near Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue.

Ryan Cos. has been picked to build the State Farm project, sources told me. There was no information available as to how much the project would cost or when it would be built, but sources say all parties involved want to “move fast.”

State Farm has apparently been searching for a site in Arizona for the past several months and recently narrowed it down to the Sunbelt Holdings site in Tempe.

John Graham, president and CEO of Sunbelt Holdings, declined to comment Monday morning when I reached out to him.

John Strittmatter, president of the southwest region for Ryan, did not respond to my email and phone call Monday morning.

Hi guys,

I just got a job with State Farm in Tempe so I can shine some light on this. They are currently located in two locations in Tempe one near priest and southern the other at priest and Washington.

They recently announced the creation of regional hubs in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Tacoma. Yes there will be thousands of employees (so they say) but that is over the next five years, they are consolidating dozens of offices from around the US and Canada into the hubs so it wont be over night.

I work at the priest and Washington location and I know they have hired over 500 employees and have moved several dozen out of state managers in supervisors into the city over the last few months. And will continue into the summer.

The priest and southern location has a new lease that is going to last for the next 2.5-3 years (depending on whenever they did sign it) So they may yet still decide to move downtown instead of building a campus.

So far they seem like a great company and they officialy have said the hubs will have several thousand employee's so look forward to State Farm being a major phoenix employer!

One of their main desires is to be close to light rail, but they also want to draw from the ASU graduate pool which is why they are in Tempe.

But they have a ton of money so I will do everything I can to convince them to build a tower downtown. !!!!!

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by Jjs5056

If this extends from Rural to the site of the Lofts at Hayden, can anyone take a guess at what kind of heights or density we might be looking at?

Are we thinking 10+ story buildings, or 4-5. Sure, a tower would have been great, but if we end up with a 12-story building as an end-cap on Rio/Rural tapering down to 8-10-stories as it approaches HFL, I think that would ge a great setting against the lake, SDS and Tempe Butte.

4-5 sight generic blocks of concrete and acres of parking, OTOH, will be quite depressing.

No, the lot that the article sites does not go all the way to Rural, in fact, it doesn't even reach Packard. It starts about 200 feet east of Hayden Ferry (that is where the condo project is supposed to go up) and goes to about halfway to packard. It is a big lot, but not huge, which make me believe that they will probably have to do buildings over 10 stories if they are looking at a campus. The land east of that lot is all owner by ASU, and will be developed as part of the Rio Salado EcoDistrict.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

You have to talk about the addition of "new" jobs in context. Since a regional headquarters will be moving here, even if most of the jobs are transferred form a different city/state, those are "new" jobs for Tempe that adds to metro Phoenix' GDP. I don't think there will be much consolidation since State Farm doesn't really have any type of corporate presence in the area. I don't think they will be consolidating field offices and the 3 "operation centers" into this corporate development.

They are opening up corporate office space (franchise support for agents), operations center, call centers, and even their financial banking operations. According to the announcement Phoenix is the only place getting the banking operation outside of Bloomington il.

From the looks of it they are moving almost everything into these regional centers so it is great news for all of the four cities, bloomington is maxed out and wont be downsizing or changing. But they are closing many, many smaller offices across the south and Midwest and moving the higher level management and well performing supervisors too the hubs.

I've only been in a short while but this was all announced from the CEO in a memo last week so it is fresh.

They keep announcing more and more, but are kind of keeping these huge movements quite, I'll keep the page updates as I get them!

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I've only been in a short while but this was all announced from the CEO in a memo last week so it is fresh.
They keep announcing more and more, but are kind of keeping these huge movements quite, I'll keep the page updates as I get them!

Thanks for the insider info! Good stuff and I figured they would be moving many positions, and employees, to the regional hubs since State Farm is, well was, a large employer in the Midwest. Would be cool if a tower was built for this move; I know we had a thread about Colliers/Golub (???) looking for tenants to occupy towers they are planning to build in downtown Phoenix. That could be a good match if the Tempe site doesn't work out for some reason.

[HX_Guy]

According to the AZCentral article on this, State Farm currently has 1,271 full-time and 26 part-time employees in the Phoenix area, so it does sound like there will definitely be a lot of new jobs if they are looking to have a total of 5,000 - 7,000 people.

The AZCentral article is a bit more vague and says they are currently looking and have not settled on a specific location yet.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...enix-area.html

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

According to the AZCentral article on this, State Farm currently has 1,271 full-time and 26 part-time employees in the Phoenix area, so it does sound like there will definitely be a lot of new jobs if they are looking to have a total of 5,000 - 7,000 people.

The AZCentral article is a bit more vague and says they are currently looking and have not settled on a specific location yet.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...enix-area.html

It looks like we aren't alone in trying to figure out the employment picture:

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week that questions remained unanswered as to whether the expansion would mean new jobs or relocated jobs from other cities, including Johns Creek, Ga., which has about 2,000 employees."

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

According to the AZCentral article on this, State Farm currently has 1,271 full-time and 26 part-time employees in the Phoenix area, so it does sound like there will definitely be a lot of new jobs if they are looking to have a total of 5,000 - 7,000 people.

The AZCentral article is a bit more vague and says they are currently looking and have not settled on a specific location yet.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/t...enix-area.html

Old news, I know the training class with 50 part time employees and there are 100 more that come in for the morning session plus at least 40 who already work in the call center!

Finally after all these years lurking I can contribute to the community!

PS. Mods should move this discussion to the Phoenix news because there will be a few offices around the metro area not just tempe

[Jjs5056]

Originally Posted by Arquitect

No, the lot that the article sites does not go all the way to Rural, in fact, it doesn't even reach Packard. It starts about 200 feet east of Hayden Ferry (that is where the condo project is supposed to go up) and goes to about halfway to packard. It is a big lot, but not huge, which make me believe that they will probably have to do buildings over 10 stories if they are looking at a campus. The land east of that lot is all owner by ASU, and will be developed as part of the Rio Salado EcoDistrict.

Got it. This piece of land has always confused me a bit; it's changed hands quite a few times, no? I think HFL was supposed to go "bridge to bridge," then there was an ASU project/partnership ("Marina Heights," was it?).

Now, we have The Lofts at Hayden, ASU Athletics District and State Farm all with their own plans. Meanwhile, there's a sign directly on Rural and Rio to call Sunbelt for real estate info. So, was a little hard to envision just where this campus would go.

How would potential towers (or "towers," for AZ/Tempe purposes) impact views of the Tempe Butte?

[MegaBass]

Cactus Sports' second location is now open on Mill, between 5th Street and 6th Street.

On Rural I notice a lot of work underway. On the former Arco site I wonder if it's going to be a Safeway gas station? Possibly something going on at that vacant spot that used as a Spirits location? 1717 South Rural Road site and the 1324 South Rural Road aka revolving Korean restaurant site.

[azsunsurfer]

Seems there is a new proposal for additional senior housing just south of Encore on Farmer. It's smaller though, four stories with some more "faux" retail space on the ground floor.

[Spitfiredude]

"The city of Tempe has approved tougher restrictions on panhandling in a bid to reduce solicitations for money in the Mill Avenue District.
The new rules restrict panhandling within 15 feet of an ATM as well as taxi stands. It would also bar panhandlers from camping out in front of businesses and going up to restaurant and bar patrons on patios."

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/m...nhandling.html


I am beyond thankful for this. I've noticed over the last few months that more panhandlers are beginning to come here to Mill Ave to beg for money. I've seen two guys chase down people and continuously beg. It is becoming a problem and I'm glad the city council took the time to work a solution. Also, I believe the Salvation Army on University & Myrtle needs to be relocated to help curb this problem.

[ASUSunDevil]

Panhandling on Mill has definitely gotten out of control, nice to see the city doing something about it.

I spoke with the owner of Summit Builders, he said the Marriott is ahead of schedule and should be done around August. They have been painting the exterior lately - would have been nice to see more glass and less stucco like the airport Marriott.

Anyone know why it's taking so long for the Oliver McMillan project on the lake to get going ?

[nickw252]

I spoke with the owner of Summit Builders, he said the Marriott is ahead of schedule and should be done around August. They have been painting the exterior lately - would have been nice to see more glass and less stucco like the airport Marriott.

Got any pictures of the hotel? I haven't been to downtown Tempe in a while.