Glendale/West Valley Development Thread

[Carter]

Originally Posted by zoomingthe305

The Bella Villagio project has an official website up and running, though there is not much information.

www.bellavillagioaz.com

I just drove by the site the other day for Bella Villagio. All of the grading is done and looks like site construction should be starting up any time (I never thought this project was for real but I am glad to see it get off the ground).

I also went by Westgate and there is a lot of new places open (Puma Store, Quicksilver, The Body Shop, Fossil Store, Garduno's, Hell's Half Acre, Which Wich, Bar Louie, Shane's Rib Shack, Kabuki (opens Jan. 30), The Shout House (opens Jan. 31) and Saddle Ranch in well underway). I also noticed what I thought was a new shop that was about to open up that looked very contemporary. There was no signage to indicate what it was. While sitting in the smaller fountain park listening to the band playing, I noticed something interesting on the second floor of the larger buildings that is supposed to be for office space. Looking more closely, I noticed some guys doing some work and it looked like a condo. I then figured it all out, the shop going in is the sales office for the new condos (the Majestic) they are planning on building and that what looked like a condo was a model for people to walk through. Everything looks to be on track for the sales office to open on 2/2.

[zoomingthe305]

I also drove by the Bella Villagio site the other day too. I've always liked the sound of this project, but never thought it would get off the ground, seeing as how we hadn't heard anything for over a year.

I live right across from Westgate, so I'm there quite often. Its been great to see it finally come alive. The superbowl has really pushed the stores to open. I can't wait for more to come online. They should be breaking ground on more retail just west of the village this spring.

[Carter]

Westgate makes plans for retail, residential buildings

Carrie Watters
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 13, 2008 10:49 AM

Westgate's second phase of development with more shops, restaurants and office space is on trackas developer Steve Ellman also puts his focus on residential towers that should break ground this fall.

Record-breaking crowds piled into Westgate during the Super Bowl, as the mixed-use development has nearly filled the shops and restaurant space that opened in late 2006.

Westgate now boasts about a dozen retail shops and 17 open bars and restaurants with the 18th, Saddle Ranch, expected to open in the next month or so. Bice Bistro, an Italian eatery, also has signed on, Westgate spokesman Jeff Hecht said.

At full build-out, the $1.5billion Westgate project will occupy a half-square mile with 8million square feet of retail, residential and office space.

Marching toward that goal, the second phase of construction is expected to break ground this spring and be completed in 2009.

The 300,000 square feet of development will stretch westward toward 95th Avenue and include national stores, said Hecht, who declined to give exact retailers until the full deals are signed.

As the second phase is under way, Ellman plans to move forward with the third phase, which has a residential thrust with two residential towers.

The goal is to break ground in September on a 10-story tower of glass, brick and steel that will contain about 180 condos ranging in price from $400,000 to $2million. The units will range from 700 to 3,500 square feet.

The tower, called The Majestic, would be near the AMC Theater on the east side of Westgate and would be completed in 2009 or 2010.

A 15-story tower called Cameo also has been designed, although a construction timeline has not been nailed down.

Between the two towers, which will feature retail on the ground floor, would run a line of shops that includes a Barnes & Noble bookstore.

The bookstore is planned as one of the chain's flagship stores at 28,000 to 30,000 square feet, Hecht said.

A model of phase three's elaborate towers, penthouses, pools and garden apartments is showcased in an office east of Yard House. Sales staff can take prospective residents on tours through two model units that feature stainless steel kitchens, room-length balconies and state-of-the-art technology.

Sherry Sklar, director of residential marketing for Ellman Companies, said the condos provide smart living with amenities such as moveable walls.

Sklar called the "tricked out" condos a blend of art deco and Soho warehouse-styles.

"That type of product hasn't been on the west side of the Valley," she said.

The idea behind the apartments and Westgate as a whole has been to provide a place to live, work and play.

"They can have their office here, walk home and take clients to a Coyotes game," Sklar said.

Link: http://www.azcentral.com/community/g...te0213-ON.html

[zoomingthe305]

Bice Bistro should be a nice addition to the line up. It will be an AZ first, which is always good for a project like Westgate. The condos (which sound amazing) are a much needed component to Westgate. At those prices, Westgate has joined, and in most cases exceeded, other condo prices around the valley. For people who still doubt Westgate's grandeur and significance, maybe this will be the turning point. For someone who already lives in the area, I'm less excited about the condos and more excited about more retail and restaurants coming online.

[KEVINphx]

the grandeur! ha. what a joke, about as grand as the arizona center!


I am personally holding out till some of the other phases are built.

[Carter]

Zoom, if you get a chance go see the model in the window of the sales office for the condos at Westgate.

[xymox]

Article in the republic today about the Majestic 12 story tower for WestGate. Take your 400k and get in line for a reservation!

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...tgate0328.html

Has a picture of the model on the page too. Has anyone gone down there to try to snap a picture themselves?

Also - I wonder how this will fair in the market these days. With completion scheduled for 2 years from now, maybe the timing will be right. However, most of the office lofts and new office buildings in the area along the 101 are vacant.

[HooverDam]

^Hm, it says its going East of the AMC movie theater, thats quite good I think. I think the corridor of Glendale Ave from downtown Glendale to the Westgate/sports complex area could develop into something akin to the Biltmore/Camelback Corridor if done right.

I hope an eventually NW LRT route is run down Glendale ave that way (and not up the 101 or something equally lame) and that 4 or 5 mile stretch could be come pretty cool and a great place for TOD.

[JimInCal]

Originally Posted by xymox

... Has a picture of the model on the page too. Has anyone gone down there to try to snap a picture themselves?

Also - I wonder how this will fair in the market these days. With completion scheduled for 2 years from now, maybe the timing will be right. However, most of the office lofts and new office buildings in the area along the 101 are vacant.

I visited Westgate when I was in Phoenix over Christmas. I ate at the Japanese restaurant upstairs (they had bizarre angled walls in the mens room that made we walk on a tilt. It was a strange but fun trick on one's equalibrium). I also bought a cool watch at Fossil. I believe the condo sales center is right across the theater plaza, opposite the Fossil store. The model is huge and very detailed (Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me...for shame). One interesting point is that the sales woman there stated they had only built 7% of Westgate to-date. The place will be enormous. I asked her if they were concerned about the down condo market and she insisted that they were going forward with the first phase, being the Majestic tower. Also, I'm a sucker for nice architectural water features. The fountains are choreographed to classic rock songs and shoot up to the height of the huge date palms that surround it....pretty cool IMO.

[vwwolfe]

Here's the picture from AZCentral.com

[HX_Guy]

Council backs Bidwill project along Loop 101



The Arizona Republic

The Bidwill family's first private development, which received approval from the Glendale City Council this week, is a study in contrasts.

In a city that has matured from rural to suburban, plans for the mixed-use project are unapologetically urban, the highest density undertaking in the city's history and among the highest in the Valley.

A skyscraper should rise nearly 40 stories, but 10 acres is set aside for an organic farm, and environmentally friendly features are woven throughout the 77-acre project.

The commercial center is projected to create 23,000 jobs, yet its construction should preserve a nearby neighborhood where residents long feared encroachment from development along Loop 101.

In a Valley that loves to hate the family that owns the Arizona Cardinals, residents have offered only praise for the Bidwills' efforts to ease their fears.

cbd 101, which refers to a central business district, will run along the loop just south of Bethany Home Road and University of Phoenix Stadium.

At a council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Elaine Scruggs said that 60 percent of the Valley's residents would soon hail from the West Valley.

"They deserve and we deserve an employment center," she said.

Councilman David Goulet called the project visionary and precedent-setting.

"We want to reach beyond the normal," he said.

The Bidwills paid $55 million to buy the land for the project from the investment firm owned by computer magnate Michael Dell.

They retained prominent Phoenix-based architect Will Bruder to lead the design and spent close to a year fine-tuning cbd 101 with consultants, city planners and nearby residents.

This week's City Council action paves the way for work to begin, although various aspects of the mixed-use project still must go through the city's design-review process.

The first phase should open in fall 2010 with an organic farm, a hotel, an office building, a parking structure and some residential units.

The entire project is capped at a maximum of 850 residential units. The majority will be concentrated on nine acres with town homes, brownstones and six- to seven-story midrise buildings.

Some residential units should be included in the skyscraper, along with live/work units as part of the parking structure.

The farm is modeled after The Farm at South Mountain, a working farm with a restaurant and shops near 32nd Street in Phoenix.

The Bidwills' interpretation should include the working farm, a couple of small restaurants and a farmers market. The agricultural feature, with orchards on the property, pays tribute to Glendale's agricultural roots, Bruder said.

But the project will have a corporate thrust, from office buildings to aspirations of landing large corporations.

The high-density development hopes to create an employment center similar to those in Scottsdale, the Biltmore area and around Tempe Town Lake.

"Glendale has traditionally and to this day is still known as a bedroom community. This offers the hope that it will provide further employment base for the residents of Glendale," Councilwoman Joyce Clark said at a council meeting Tuesday.

Still, Clark expressed concerns over the project's density and a lack of open space for parks. But her fellow council members did not join her requests to scale back on the density, which is urban by design.

Clark also questioned plans for a skyscraper that, at 400 feet, would be twice the height of nearby University of Phoenix Stadium.

The tower would feature residences, offices and a hotel.

"It's very, very, very, very tall," Clark said.

Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix is Arizona's tallest building at 40 stories, or 486 feet.

Attorney Michael Curley, representing the Bidwills, said the height was appropriate because of proximity to Loop 101, the stadium, Westgate City Center and other denser development sprouting in the area.

"Height does not offend me," Curley said. "It's the opportunity for the city to have a signature building that is a beacon for the entire west side."

Resident Robert Riester, who lives near the site, said the tower and the larger sports and entertainment district off Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue is destined to become iconic.

"High-rise buildings represent success," he said.

Riester's wholehearted embrace came only after the Bidwills agreed to close off streets of his Pendergast Estates neighborhood.

Catherine Daye said she knew development would reach the county-island neighborhood, where she has lived since 1974. She said her biggest concern is the traffic it will bring.

Such concerns lit tempers nearly eight months ago at the first public meeting on the project, when residents overflowed a school and hammered architects and planners with questions.

The Bidwills purchased two homes in the neighborhood and are negotiating to buy land from another resident to create cul-de-sac-type enclosures on three streets to isolate the neighborhood from through traffic when 95th Avenue is extended.

"The Bidwills have been wonderful," Daye said. "They are going to pay for the closure, and it could have cost the (housing) development a lot of money."

I don't know what to think about this...it sounds interesting, although I hate that it would pull from downtown Phoenix, but I guess that is inevitable.

I wonder if they are planning to make this truely urban in design, or more along the lines of midtown Phoenix where the buildings are setback from the street and don't really have true pedestrian entrances like you find in downtown Phoenix. Basically I wonder if they will build a grid type system of streets.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

I wonder if they are planning to make this truely urban in design, or more along the lines of midtown Phoenix where the buildings are setback from the street and don't really have true pedestrian entrances like you find in downtown Phoenix. Basically I wonder if they will build a grid type system of streets.

I wonder this too, and I'd be pretty surprised if its sadly not the latter.

[TheFutureIsNow]

I usually really love many of the new developments going up in the Glendale area, but this one was just hilarious, how hard they are trying to make this boring, run-of-the mill condo development into an 'innovative', 'futuristic' one.

http://www.pillarcommunities.com/APT...e/westgate.php

[PHX31]

/\ HAHAHA, I didn't know Westgate had the best shopping, bars, restaurants and retail in the state. I wonder what Kierland, Desert Ridge, or Tempe Marketplace has to say, seeing as how they're all basically the same thing.

[zoomingthe305]

Those pictures are not of the condos at Westgate. Those pictures are of the condo project that just went in across the street from the Peoria Sports Complex. Pillar needs to get their website right.

[KEVINphx]

Originally Posted by PHX31

/\ HAHAHA, I didn't know Westgate had the best shopping, bars, restaurants and retail in the state. I wonder what Kierland, Desert Ridge, or Tempe Marketplace has to say, seeing as how they're all basically the same thing.

and the fact that the best RETAIL is in downtown scottsdale/fashion square mall.

[zoomingthe305]

Peoria gives Park West more time



by Cecilia Chan - Apr. 18, 2008 07:23 AM

The Arizona Republic

Peoria is giving a developer more time to complete Park West, a shopping and entertainment outdoor mall at Northern Avenue and Loop 101.

The City Council has given General Growth Partners of Chicago until March 2010 to finish building the upscale project, which was originally given an October deadline. The open-air mall debuted last November with one tenant, a 14-screen Harkins theater.

"These guys are a good partner," said Steve Prokopek, the city's economic-development director. "They stepped in when the project didn't seem to go anywhere."
City Manager Terry Ellis thanked the council members Tuesday for their patience and support of the project.

"I truly believe at this point we have one of the finest development on the west side," Ellis said.

The developer is leasing to quality tenants and has invested additional capital in the project, Prokopek added.

"We currently estimate the capital investment in the retail for Park West at $65 million for 260,000 square feet of retail buildings and close to $30 million for off-site infrastructure and land costs," he said.

Prokopek said the city would benefit financially from Park West to the tune of a $20 million net for the first 10 years in new sales tax revenue and $50 million in direct revenue over 20 years. The project also is expected to create 1,220 jobs.

The city, in return, will reimburse the developer, General Growth Partners of Chicago, up to $9.8 million in sales tax revenue over 10 years to offset infrastructure costs estimated at $12 million.

The city in 2005 approved an agreement to build Park West in two phases, with 150,000 square feet to be finished and occupied by March 2006 and a total of 360,000 square feet to be done by October 2008.

Since then, the city has given the project two extensions, including in October 2006 when GGP purchased the dormant project from DJN Eagle Mountain LLC. As the new owner, GGP was given until March 2009 to finish the project.

To date, GGP has built more than 180,000 square feet and has secured certificates of occupancy for 125,000 square feet.

"In total, we plan to have about 145,000 square feet of space open by the end of May and over 160,000 square feet open by the end of summer," Prokopek said.

The $250 million project on 56 acres includes 250 apartment units and plans for 322,000 square feet of office space and a hotel.

Prokopek said the city was still shopping for interested developers to build offices and a hotel.

Ellis said Park West would be a unique project and would not have paid off for the city had the council not stayed the course.

"This is just going to be a great place once it is completed and opens," said Councilman Carlo Leone, whose Pine District includes Park West.

"This is an area where we need all these stores and restaurants to open up. People will be well satisfied with it."

Current tenants at Park West

• Harkins Theatres

• Sand Bar

• Francesca's Collections

• Brighton Collectibles

• Chico's

• Sun Glass Hut

• Vans

• Christopher and Banks

• Portrait Innovations


Opening by end of May

• Children's Place

• Flemings

• Merle Norman

• Massage Envy

• Grimaldi's Pizza

• Icing by Claire's

• Sleep Number Select Comfort

• Victoria's Secret

• Red Brick Pizza

• Bath and Body Works

• New York and Company


Opening later in summer

• BJ Restaurant and Brewhouse

• Scottsdale Jean Company

• Fair Oaks Cigar

• Mystic Salon

• Auld Dubliner

[Lehm]

Originally Posted by Carter

The Majestic at Westgate:

http://www.westgate-living.com/

Not much info on the project but the website says a sales office is opening on 02.02.08.

Noticed this site was updated with renderings of the Majestic tower.

[zoomingthe305]

The Bella Villagio site has been updated with site zoning and renderings. It looks amazing. http://www.bellavillagioaz.com

[tempedude]

*bump* ....

(...continuation of discussion from Phoenix thread [post#6554, page328]. I thought that this topic would be better discussed here.)

Westgate is going to be a destination in itself when built out. It definitely will be a major entertainment district in the metro area...and gasp...dare I say...I think it probably will eclipse Tempe and Scottsdale as the place to be. However, Scottsdale will still cater to the truly exclusive crowd.

I also think that the light rail should be run to Westgate. Connecting Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, and Glendale via light rail would be awsome.