PHOENIX | Project Rundown

[soleri]

^If you don't see a crane by late January, you may well be right. But the company, Grace Communities, is legitimate, they have "sold" (meaning: reserved) about 75% of the units, and they're charging top-dollar for so-so units in an even less so-so downtown.

I have wondered why it's taking so long for these Phoenix projects to get done. Not just 44 W Monroe, but the Summit and Tapestry on Central (I call it Travesty on Central). Scottsdale and the Biltmore area are much faster. My hope is that once we get a couple of these things built, the market will "ground" itself and downtown will no longer be perceived as risky.

Real-estate cycles don't last forever. The one we're in is starting to get a little rickety (interest rates rising, values no longer skyrocketing). Downtown needs a couple of these before the cycle goes south.

[kaneui]

The latest word on 44 Monroe and Portland Place:

Phoenix, Scottsdale condo projects begin construction
Mike Padgett
The Business Journal
From the November 4, 2005 print edition
Real Estate

The developers that for months have been preparing and fine-tuning plans for new condominium projects in central Phoenix and in central Scottsdale are going to end the year in high gear.

Portland Place LLC, made up of principals John Hill and Tim Sprague, has its construction fence in place and preliminary infrastructure work is under way on the 54-unit first phase of Portland Place. The $22 million Phoenix development is located west of Central Avenue and on the south side of Deck Park.

The first phase features two brownstone buildings, each with two stories, a six-story condominium building and underground parking. The Zeleznak Group, headed by the father-son team of Don and Ryan Zeleznak, is the sales team for Portland Place.

Meanwhile, Grace Communities planned a November 3 groundbreaking in Scottsdale at its Portales Place development, a $120 million luxury community with 140 residences on 11 acres. The property is west of Scottsdale Road and on the north side of the curve in Goldwater Boulevard. The price range is $675,000 to $4.5 million.

Grace Communities consists of the Zeleznaks and Jonathon Vento. Reservations on 70 percent of the Portales residences have been received by Ryan Zeleznak.

Vento and the Zeleznaks also plan to start their tallest project this month. Crews plan to start trenches for underground utilities by mid-November for a 34-story high-rise condo building called 44 Monroe at First Avenue and Monroe Street.

A tower crane for the project is scheduled to be in place by late December.

The 44 Monroe project has been delayed by paperwork issues at city hall and most recently by the architect's resignation for personal health challenges. The new architect is Tucker Sadler Architects of San Diego.

[oliveurban]

^ Ah, I didn't see this post. Just posted this in a thread in the IW forum ...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...threadid=91030

[combusean]

Construction has officially started on this project, and on the heels of that we have more high rise news for the Phoenix area.

The largest suburb in the United States--Mesa, Arizona, population 480,000 with all of two high rises--is slated to get two more on the vacant parcel next to the 228 foot Bank of America Tower.



Fiesta Towers, comprised of two 20 - 25's and two 11's is slated to provide 540 - 850 luxury condo units in the Fiesta Mall area that's slowly being torn apart by new-ring retail development. This and the twin 15 story Chandler Elevation are the only major towers being built outside of the light rail area.





In an odd show of support in NIMBY Phoenix and particularly backward conservative Mesa, 69 residents showed up to hear details on the project, none in opposition. Everything should approved by the city in four months--gotta love local red tape.

The articles and discussion are available in Interior West through the link below.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com//sho...threadid=91299

[kaneui]

^I think Mesa officials would be grateful to land any project of this size for their cash-strapped city, even if it detracts from high-rise development in their traditional "mile-square" downtown to the northeast.

In any case, the Fiesta Towers would be adjacent to Mesa's current tallest building, so it wouldn't be a stand-alone high-rise project. (Also, prior articles mentioned that the project will require a rezoning from commercial to residential--thus the longer approval process.)

[Don B.]

I have revised and updated the skyscraper list for Phoenix. See the first post in this thread.

--don

[kaneui]

Thanks for the update, Don. Over half of the latest list is still only proposed, rumored, or unknown, but I suppose that's true of many cities.

A few additions:

I didn't see the Marriott Renaissance Hotel under construction at Westgate City Center in Glendale on the list (12 stories, scheduled for a 2006 completion).

Also, you might want to include the new Cardinals stadium, as I think it's as tall as a 17-story building (I noted that Chase Field/BOB is included in the current SSP Phoenix Buildings Diagram).

Yea, it's kinda odd to think of high-rises in the West Valley, but it's already happening.

Being optimistic, 2006 could see construction begin on seven (or more) new Valley high-rises: two downtown (Conv. Center Hilton, W Hotel), three in Tempe (Centerpoint tower 2, Bridgeview I, and Hayden Ferry Lakeside Tower 3), the Elevation in Chandler, and the wild card--Trump's Biltmore project.

[soleri]

Joe Pinsonneault, the San Diego investor, has updated his proposals.

His two warehouse district high-rises were 13 stories each. Now they're up to 18 and 19 floors:



The twin-tower project design will have 4 retail units and 387 residential units with an average size of 875 sq ft averaging $427/sf for an average price of $375,000. Prices will start in the high $100s to low $200s and the studios will be over 500 sq ft. The largest units should be over 1400 sq ft and priced in the $800s.



A total of 386 condos and 4 retail spaces will be built in the two towers of this 19 story project. The average residential unit size of 937 sf with pricing averaging approximately $420/sf equates to an average unit price under $400,000. Over 70% of the units will be priced between $280,000 and $450,000. Prices should start in the mid $200s for 600 square feet. The largest penthouse will be over 2300 square feet and will be priced at about $1.1 million.

[kaneui]

Interesting to see two residential high-rise proposals on the southern/southwest edge of downtown, and not that close to the future Metro rail line (esp. the one at 5th Ave. and Lincoln). Even though the prices are lower than more centrally located projects--at over $400/sf, it still seems rather steep. Who will be buying these units with relatively few urban amenities within close walking distance? It looks like the depth of downtown's newly emerging high-rise residential market will be tested fairly soon.

[Don B.]

^ Especially for a pretty marginal area south of downtown Phoenix. I'm not sure if these are real or not.

Buchanan is two blocks south of Jackson; Lincoln is yet one more block south. This is a funky, nasty area to be shelling out $400 to $500 a square foot for real estate, especially when one can buy similarly priced high-rise residential in much better areas for the same or a little more per square foot.

Good find, though.

--don

[combusean]

Projects like this seem more real than others, especially given that its outside the downtown core. I can't imagine the per acre price for land is that exorbitant, especially compared with other parcels in phx, and that to me bodes well for project success.

All in all, it's good to see Pinnonseault up to something since these projects were originally announced in addition to the "Phoenix Resort Towers" built in the Beadle building's stead on 3rd St and Earll thereabouts--that was 11 months ago!

Moreover, 5th ave and lincoln isn't that bad--it's directly across the tracks and Lincoln does curve around a bit to where it to me is a straight shot to the amenities in the core. If this were further from the tracks, that'd be one thing.

For reference, the old proposals are below.

Fifth and Lincoln


Central and Buchanan


I'm not sure about the first one--the old Central and Buchanan proposal fits better within the architecture of the area. Hope pinnonseault can fit his projects within the area and get NIMBY approval.

[soleri]

Are they real? I doubt it. Pinsonneault has never built ANYTHING, so it's hard to believe he's got all these projects on tap with huge number of units in untested markets. His company is the Security Asset Credit Corporation, which deals in investment, not development (much like KML, another company which also does investment, not development). Out of interest I did Google that company's name and found a SEC violation at the top of the list.

For the sake of reference, Pinsonneault is also revising the Phoenix Resort project on 3rd St and Earll: three condo towers of 24, 20, and 19 floors with 755 units, and 143 townhouses. Average size of 1020 sf with projected sales pricing averaging $425 sf leading to average unit cost of $435,000.

[combusean]

KML is a company that does some development, but nothing on the order of what they're proposing for Phoenix. Most of their redev's according to their website have mostly been historic and 1 - 4 story projects in smaller markets and very little urban residential.

I find it interesting that Pinnonseault is tripling the unit count with the latest incarnation of his project while significantly cutting down the height--what was once twin 25 stories is now 24, 20, and 19.

Can't wait to see a rendering.

[soleri]

^I think the tipoff about KML was putting up the acreage at Central and McDowell for sale and then priming the pump for the parcel at 3rd St and Roosevelt. This is what land speculators do: gin up interest, wait, and then sell. Clearly, the land at Central and McDowell was much more valuable and enticing for high-riise condos (not to mention, zoned). I had checked out KML's website but I must've missed the projects you mention. It seemed their business was primarily real-estate investment.

[PHX31]

What about the new proposed height limits downtown? I would expect these projects in the warehouse district would be over the proposed limit.

[combusean]

The new proposed height limits downtown are only for aviation purposes and set the theoretical maximum for the area.

Before you get to that, height limits downtown are found within all the various zoning districts. Where height is not limited by the district which you can get a variance past, you still have the aviation limit.

[oliveurban]

Essentially the highest new buildings we could see in the warehouse district would run between approximately 250-350', give or take, depending on it's exact location.

[Don B.]

^ Just the clarify the foregoing map (great find, BTW!), most of downtown Phoenix is at around 1,075 feet, so subtract that from the numbers above to get max building heights.

Theoretically, we could have some 600-plus-footers on the western side of downtown, near 7th Avenue.

--don

[PHX31]

The CENTER of downtown (Central & Washington) where those hideous parking lots are located could get 500+ footers! I didn't realize that before.

[oliveurban]

The recently updated design of the 34-story 44 Monroe, as posted in our regional forum (also check out: http://www.44monroe.com):