Posted Jun 8, 2012, 2:59 PM
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Join Date: May 2006
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Lots of info on a few downtown projects here. The first, on the office tower on the empty block between Collier's and Cityscape, talks about a new 400,000 sq ft office tower with maybe a small residential or retail component. A bit underwhelming at only 400,000 sq ft seeing how the Cityscape tower is 568,000 sq ft, so this would be roughtly 2/3 of the size.
They also want to have a big portion of it leased before they even start construction so who knows what the timing on this is.
Second part is a bit confusing...says Luhrs had plans for an office tower on the side "just west of US Airways Center"...do they mean the empty parking lot? Then it says they are moving forward with plans for a Courtyard by Marriott on the same site...so they are no longer demolishing the Luhrs Central Building to build it on that block? Plans for the office tower have been cancelled it seems (the cool new tallest that was to go between the Luhrs Building and Luhrs Tower).
Quote:
Developers plan downtown Phoenix office building
Premium content from Phoenix Business Journal by Mike Sunnucks, Senior Reporter
Date: Friday, June 8, 2012, 3:00am MST
Owners of the Collier Center in downtown Phoenix want to develop a 400,000-square-foot office project on the undeveloped parking lot just north of US Airways Center.
Mike Sunnucks
Senior Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal
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Developers have pondered a big hotel, condos, apartments and even an urban-style Target store for the parking lot nestled in between Collier Center and CityScape in downtown Phoenix.
Now, the owners of the Collier Center and Bank of America office tower in downtown Phoenix want to build a 400,000-square-foot office building on the long-undeveloped parking lot just north of US Airways Center.
The commercial projects show market optimism toward downtown Phoenix even as other parts of the Valley’s real estate landscape struggle to rebound from the recession. Developers involved with the new projects also expect to go after city tax breaks to help get construction going.
In the latest incarnation of the plan, Naples, Fla.-based Barron Collier Co. would team with Ryan Cos. on a commercial office building. CBRE Commercial Real Estate Services will handle leasing on the proposed development, according to CBRE broker Jerry Roberts, who handles leasing at the Collier building a block west of the site.
Downtown Phoenix had a much lower vacancy rate (16 percent) in the first quarter than the Valley as a whole (27 percent), according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
Other developers also are considering hotel and commercial projects downtown, while outlying cities tend to be struggling. In addition, RED Development’s CityScape has performed well on the leasing front despite the down market.
Looking for a break
Collier developers also are expected to seek property tax breaks from the city of Phoenix and want to have a high percentage of the project preleased before construction.
This would be the first of a new round of commercial and residential developers seeking property tax breaks in the form of government property excise lease taxes, or GPLETs, or possibly other incentives to help them ensure a successful project is built even in a tough financing environment.
CityScape received tax breaks from the city of Phoenix to help get it built and worked with the developer to offer competitive leases to tenants.
There could be some small retail or residential components to the proposed Collier/Ryan office project, though economic development sources familiar with the plan say the primary space will be offices.
Representatives of Barron Collier and Ryan Cos. declined to comment on their downtown plans.
Luhrs plan moving ahead
The Irvine, Calif., company that is redeveloping the Luhrs properties at Central Avenue and Jefferson Street also had been considering a new office project just west of US Airways Center, but instead is cautiously moving forward with plans for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel at the site, said Raj Hansji, president of Hansji Urban and owner of the Luhrs buildings.
“We’re starting to look at it again,” he said.
Hansji also owns an office building on the site that was built in 1914, as well as hotels in Southern California and Las Vegas.
Hansji said his company is looking at market conditions and construction costs of developing the hotel. They could apply for city tax and incentive help. Construction could start next year, he said, and an office development was considered, but there are no plans to move forward on that front.
Also downtown, a San Francisco investment firm recently acquired foreclosed properties next to Chase Field for $4.75 million that were previously slated by developer Dale Jensen to become the Jackson Street Entertainment District. In addition, Evergreen Devco Inc. and Westroc Hotels and Resorts are deciding whether to redevelop the weather-beaten Hotel Monroe into a 150-room boutique hotel.
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