Phoenix Development News (3)

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Imagine every dirt lot and surface lot in Midtown filled with 100-200' towers of varying uses. Would it make for an award winning skyline? No. Would it make for a dynamic urban place? Yes.

Yup. Look at most of Los Angeles. Many walkable urban areas full of character with nothing over 75-100'

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by plinko

What's in that little strip mall still? 10 years ago it was like Domino's, Kinko's and I think a liquor store. My memory is a bit hazy on it though...

The little strip mall on the SEC of Central & Thomas is mostly vacant. There are two restaurants, Ichiban for sushi and Lenny's Burgers, and maybe a tax prep service or something like that. The anchor spaces at the north & south ends are empty.

This development, if built as shown here, would seem like a Las Vegas condo tower -- set back from the street and designed to be reached mostly via car. Tall, but not really urban.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

How many units did 44monroe and Summit sell? How about Chateau? One Lexington isn't exactly selling well, even at a much lower price point. All indications are that this Toll Brothers project is "to be" sales. will not finance.

As for Regency House, have you been inside that building or some of those units that are remodeled? omg....

Although units in One Lexington aren't being snapped up like hotcakes it appears that about 70 - 75% are sold. I'm certainly not an expert in real estate but that sounds decent to me.

http://urbanconnectionrealty.com/tag/one-lexington/

http://www.hauteliving.com/2011/05/g...ntown-phoenix/

http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/d...g-central.html

As far as Regency House goes - I've looked at some online and many of the interiors look amazing (and a good prices).

Is anything going on at the Summit at Copper Square? Are those units selling?

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Although units in One Lexington aren't being snapped up like hotcakes it appears that about 70 - 75% are sold. I'm certainly not an expert in real estate but that sounds decent to me.

http://urbanconnectionrealty.com/tag/one-lexington/

http://www.hauteliving.com/2011/05/g...ntown-phoenix/

http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/d...g-central.html

As far as Regency House goes - I've looked at some online and many of the interiors look amazing (and a good prices).

Is anything going on at the Summit at Copper Square? Are those units selling?

How long has Lexington been selling? anyone?

yeah, exactly.....

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

In a fantasy land Im all for 1000' towers built all up and down Central Ave. The problem is, its not an even somewhat realistic fantasy land, thus not a terribly entertaining thought. I'd much rather see a system of height limits that promotes things actually getting built instead of sitting as dirt lots or surface parking.

There's just no demand in the foreseeable future for 500'+ towers in Midtown, but developers will hold onto their lots in perpetuity (because there's no incentive not to) in hopes of some super project coming along. Imagine every dirt lot and surface lot in Midtown filled with 100-200' towers of varying uses. Would it make for an award winning skyline? No. Would it make for a dynamic urban place? Yes.

Which is why I am more concerned with real density downtown as opposed to just high-rise office buildings or apartment/loft towers. Real density, tremendous density can occur with 6-12 story buildings and if this occurs downtown it could set up, in the future, a market for more employment in Midtown; requiring taller office buildings.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Is anything going on at the Summit at Copper Square? Are those units selling?

I don't know how much they've sold but holy crap can you get a unit for cheap there now, at least compared to what they once were.

There are 6 units showing on Ziprealty.com, the lowest being $115k for 996 sq ft....isn't that about 1/3 of what they were originally? For $170k you can get a 2 bed/3 bath 1,520 sq ft unit.

44 Monroe shows one unit for $263,200 2 bed/2 bath 1,394 sq ft and Orpheum Lofts shows one unit for $75k 751 sq ft.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

How long has Lexington been selling? anyone?

yeah, exactly.....

EDIT: according to One Lexington's site, they are now over 80% sold. http://www.onelexington.com/
They have been on the market since April 2010.

As for the Regency House, yes I've been to many of the units and they are gorgeous. Unfortunately curb appeal is a huge selling point and one that this place is sorely lacking. It looks like Stalingrad and should be next to Phoenix Symphony Hall/old Convention Center buildings. From what I've heard about Summit, that building has a plethora of construction issues and maintenance woes; until they are rectified they won't be selling well. Chateau on Central is in a league of its own, an interesting project and with only one unit sold; to the Mayor...however, unless the Toll Bro's plan on giving all the tenants in their buildings private elevators, three floors of living space, and other uber-luxurious amenities then it is hard to compare these two developments. It would be much more sensible for these Toll Bro's towers (if they get built) to be at least half apartment/half condo in my view.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

I don't know how much they've sold but holy crap can you get a unit for cheap there now, at least compared to what they once were.

There are 6 units showing on Ziprealty.com, the lowest being $115k for 996 sq ft....isn't that about 1/3 of what they were originally? For $170k you can get a 2 bed/3 bath 1,520 sq ft unit.

44 Monroe shows one unit for $263,200 2 bed/2 bath 1,394 sq ft and Orpheum Lofts shows one unit for $75k 751 sq ft.

Isn't 44 Monroe now an apartment building? Are they prospectively marketing/selling "condos"?

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

Isn't 44 Monroe now an apartment building? Are they prospectively marketing/selling "condos"?

There are still some people who bought before they turned them into apartments and still own those units...this particular one is in foreclosure.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by combusean

They have the zoning for the project as it stands. If they are seeking to flip the land, they probably would have done so already.

They may have zoning but they are about to lose some entitlements ( height waver).

[bwonger06]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

EDIT: according to One Lexington's site, they are now over 80% sold. http://www.onelexington.com/
They have been on the market since April 2010.

One Lex has been a success. As phxSuns posted, theyve only been on the market for a little over a year. To be 75%+ sold is excellent and they have been out of one bedrooms for half a year now.

[westbev93]

Last time I met with City Staff, they told me (and my client seeking a very pie-in-the-sky project that has been mocked on this site) that they were enforcing an unwritten cap on height as you move north on Central. They want tallest downtown with the skyline tapering as you head toward Camelback. I got the sense that they don't even want buildings as tall as Landmark up near Camelback. I would therefore think it unlikely that they would extend the entitlements to build such a large building at Thomas. Although there is often little rhyme or reason to what Staff does, so who knows.

You should ask the original developer if One Lexington was a success. One Lexington was only a "success" because the current owner was able to buy it out of foreclosure for a song. As a result, the current owner was able to sell those units for extremely low numbers. The original numbers on that project were terrible. After the developers defaulted, One Lexington and 44 Monroe became "successes," but that's only because the market corrected itself and those buildings were actually put to a use that people want.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

There are 6 units showing on Ziprealty.com, the lowest being $115k for 996 sq ft....isn't that about 1/3 of what they were originally? For $170k you can get a 2 bed/3 bath 1,520 sq ft unit.

44 Monroe shows one unit for $263,200 2 bed/2 bath 1,394 sq ft and Orpheum Lofts shows one unit for $75k 751 sq ft.

Ziprealty.com is a great site. I subscribed and get 3-6 emails/day on new listings.

I can't believe those condos haven't been bought at those prices! 1520 sq ft is huge!

[shawneriksmith]

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...a-project.html

Some good news:

"The renovation of the Barrister Place Building at Central Avenue and Jefferson Street is expected to be completed much sooner and is expected to be the Phoenix headquarters for the Institute of Advanced Health."

[Vicelord John]

Thank you westbev.

Seems like some people have selective memory.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by shawneriksmith

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...a-project.html

Some good news:

"The renovation of the Barrister Place Building at Central Avenue and Jefferson Street is expected to be completed much sooner and is expected to be the Phoenix headquarters for the Institute of Advanced Health."

This is pretty awesome, I just hope they make th ground floor street friendly and not wall it off like the other data center downtown. Or is this a different kind of use?

[shawneriksmith]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

This is pretty awesome, I just hope they make th ground floor street friendly and not wall it off like the other data center downtown. Or is this a different kind of use?

I think the data center is going to be built near Sky Harbor at 16th street and Buckeye. I think the Barrister Place Bldg will be the Phoenix headquarters for this Institute of Advanced Health.

[HX_Guy]

Even better then! Wonder if there's any chance we'll get some ground floor retail?

[combusean]

One thing to note is that Toll has been gobbling up land lately instead of selling it:

their CEO called it "gold", and they bought a lot in manhattan for $35 million just yesterday, and they have a site called landwanted.net.

The demand is there for units under $200-$300 a square foot, depending on the view premium. I would very much like to think that a publicly traded developer will be able to pull something like this off here, especially with the economies of scale at their advantage--I doubt it's a phased project given how tightly the towers are placed.

It's not your usual entitle and flip case because Toll isn't exactly like a Peloquin or Pinnsoneault or any of the other bygone investors. They are a real developer with a track record. Their City Living division is their best performer.

As a more practical matter, despite the height, the site is not that well entitled. It's C-1, which allows them to build very limited commercial uses and they actually downzoned from C-2. They are not seeking to modify conformance to the siteplan, a mere $1000 gamble as far as the application fee is considered. The site is of very limited value to any other developer besides a developer like Toll because the entitlements only allow what is proposed, and I doubt Toll is going to bail out to an exact competitor.

My guess is that it will be the first to market in 5 - 10 years and then nothing else like it will be built for a generation.

[combusean]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Even better then! Wonder if there's any chance we'll get some ground floor retail?

The Phoenix Police Museum presently occupies the ground floor of the Barrister Building. I'm curious what will happen to them.