HX_Guy

It's not really up to the city. The height limit is imposed by the FAA and with Sky Harbor's runway being only about 3 miles east of downtown, I don't see they raising it in the core. In midtown and even as close to downtown as north of Fillmore, they can build without limit I believe. I think there are city limit of about 700', but if someone seriously wanted to build taller I'm sure the city would give a variance...that is, if the NIMBYS would shut the hell up. Either way, the lack of height isn't the least bit of a problem with Phoenix's downtown. We don't really need 700'+ tall towers. I would rather see 10 400' towers then 5 800' towers.

It wont' happen due to the airport. The height that will be allowed in the downtown core is probably no higher then 525'.

Speaking of proposals...here are two more. Very preliminary right now with not very many details, but it appears to be a condo/hotel tower at 43 stories tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in Phoenix. The Art Deco building immediately to the right of the tower is the 1931 Valley National Bank building which is currently being renovated into a boutique hotel by the same developer who wants to put up the Momentum tower. The same developer is also currently topping out a 34 story condo tower, 44 Monroe, just down the street from this project. Bottom line, they definitely already have a strong presence in Phoenix's downtown. I love the architecture of this one, something new and striking for Phoenix. 32 Stories / 375' Client: W Developments, Inc. Core and Shell Architect: HKS Contractor: The Weitz Company Residential: 204 Units Retail: 8,000 sf Parking: 299 Cars Currently in the permitting process. I understand that W Developments is a big condo developer in Chicago? They are also behind the 23 story high rise condo, Summit at Copper Square, which is getting ready for it's first residents to move in. Another rumor is that they never announce a project that they don't follow through on...so I guess we'll see how this one plays out.

Downdown Construction Updates: April 13th, 2007 44 Monroe now at 22 physical floors built. Summit at Copper Square. Sheraton Hotel, at 17 physical floors, with 215. McKinley in the foreground. 215. E McKinley Condos. Phoenix Convention Center. Alta Phoenix site undergoing some sort of work. Central Park East. Light Rail Station at Van Buren and Central. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism site undergoing preperation work. Light Rail power lines on Washington at 52nd St.

...and for some more renderings...here is the new Central Park East office tower which is supposed to be 26 floors at around 383'.

32-story condo tower proposed for downtown Phoenix Ginger D. Richardson The Arizona Republic Mar. 13, 2007 06:17 PM A developer who has already made his mark in downtown Phoenix with one condominium tower is now proposing a second, 32-story residential project in the heart of the city. The $100 million development, called Omega, would be located at Second Avenue and Adams Street, behind the Orpheum Lofts. Once built, it would be the third urban housing high-rise downtown. It is the brainchild of Chicago native turned Phoenix resident David Wallach, who is taking an increasingly active role in the redevelopment of Phoenix's core. Wallach, principal of W Developments LLC, was the first to take a chance on downtown's urban living appeal when he announced plans to build the 165-unit Summit at Copper Square condominium tower in 2004. Today, that project, located next to Chase Field, is 85 percent sold, and its first residents won't even move in until this summer. And Wallach is also one of a consortium of local businessmen who recently announced plans to create a blocks-long entertainment district along Jackson Street, on downtown Phoenix's southern edge. Maybe that explains why Wallach is bullish on the need for residential housing in the heart of the city, despite lingering concerns about the health Phoenix's real estate market. "The premise that the housing market is soft in downtown is not the right place to start," Wallach said Tuesday. "The right product, in the right neighborhood, has a really good chance of succeeding." Wallach said he hopes to break ground on Omega later this year, and said the tower could open in 2009. It features one-, two- and three-bedroom units, starting at about $400-plus a square foot. That would put the smallest, 750 square-foot residences in the $300,000 price range. Penthouse dwellings are as large as 2400 square feet, meaning that they would likely be offered at close to $1 million. Each of the 214 units will contain amenities like marble baths, granite countertops, and all-wood cabinetry. The tower itself will boast a 12th floor pool, a rooftop party and meeting rooms, workout facilities, six floors of parking and ground floor retail. Wallach hopes to fill that space with an upscale restaurant. But he believes one of the project's biggest selling points will be its location. The tower is located across the street from the Orpheum Theatre, and close to Phoenix City Hall. It is also within walking distance to many of downtown's biggest draws, including the Dodge Theatre, US Airways Center and Chase Field. "It's all about location, location, location," Wallach said. "The sightlines from every part of the building are spectacular." The plans for the Omega tower come only six months after money constraints and the Valley's flagging real estate market helped kill a mixed-use development known as Central Park East. That project, which would have combined an office tower with high-rise condominiums and academic space for the Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus, has since been retooled into a plan for high-end commercial office space. Wallach quickly douses any suggestion that his development might meet a similar fate. "Projects don't get built for a variety of reasons," he said. "But I have never announced a project that I didn't actually build."

Off the top of my head, the new dorms will be between 15-17 stories each...or maybe it was one at 15 stories and the other at 17. I just recall those figures from an article I read a while back.

Developmental Plan There are two phases in the development process: Phase 1: Build New Meeting Facility on Terrace Site (West Building) 62,000+ s.f. Exhibition Hall 45,000+ s.f. Ballroom 48,000 s.f. Meeting Space Height: 110' Above Ground Parking: 200 Cars Open! Phase 2: Replace North Building 310,000 s.f. total Exhibition Hall 100,000 s.f. Meeting Space 50,000 s.f. Ballroom Height: 100' Above Ground Parking: Up to 400 Cars Open Fall 2008 Accepting groups in January 2009

26-story office tower planned Downtown Phoenix building would help fill void for Class A space Ginger D. Richardson and Yvette Armendariz The Arizona Republic Feb. 27, 2007 12:00 AM http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...ffice0227.html A group of developers is moving forward with plans to bring downtown Phoenix what could be its first high-end commercial office tower in eight years. The $160 million project, if it comes to fruition, would help address a critical need in the city core, where vacancy rates have dropped to about 5.5 percent in recent years. That's about half of the citywide average. "Right now, downtown cannot offer Class A space to large office users," said Charles Miscio, a first vice president at CB Richard Ellis, adding that the low vacancies also were pushing up downtown rents. Class A space, like the kind in the proposed project, is generally defined as newer space in premier locations with upgraded amenities. Plans call for the 700,000-square-foot structure, known as One Central Park East, to be open by mid-2009. It would be near the northwestern corner of Van Buren and First streets and contain 475,000 square feet of office space, plus parking for 600 cars and ground-floor retail. Downtown's most recent high-rise office buildings, the Collier Center and the Phelps Dodge Tower, opened in 2001. "This is a major addition to the downtown skyline," Mike Szkatulski, senior managing director of Mesirow Financial Real Estate Inc., said of the proposed development. "It will be, without qualification, the best office space available in this market." Mesirow Financial is one of three partners in the Central Park East joint venture. The others are A & L Investments LLC, a Virginia-based real estate investment firm, and the National Electric Benefit Fund, which invests on behalf of the country's electrical workers. This is the second incarnation of the Central Park East project. An earlier plan that would have combined the office tower with high-rise condominiums and academic space for Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus was scrapped last year because of money constraints and the Valley's flagging real estate market. The project's demise forced developers to redesign the building so they could move forward on the most-needed component, the office tower, while still leaving room on the site to develop ASU space and residential housing should either be needed in the future. Plans call for the proposed tower to be 26 stories, or about 383 feet. By comparison, downtown's tallest building, Chase Tower, is 40 stories, about 486 feet. Rents in the building likely will be $35 to $40 a square foot, and Szkatulski said that developers plan to start meeting with potential tenants as early as next week. One Central Park East is one of two high-end commercial office buildings scheduled to open in Phoenix in 2009. The other will be part of CityScape, a $900 million mixed-use project that also includes shopping, hotel rooms and condominiums. Plans call for CityScape to cover three city blocks just south of Washington Street and include Patriots Square Park. Its office tower would contain roughly 550,000 square feet of space. A second, similar-size high-rise could provide office space, residences or a combination of the two. Even if all the towers were built, they probably still wouldn't meet the demand for high-end office space downtown, officials say. "It's a great start, but it doesn't fill the entire need over the next 10 years or so," Brian Kearney, president and CEO of the partnership, said of the proposed projects. The Downtown Phoenix Partnership commissioned a study about 18 months ago that found demand for Class A space to be 2.5 million or 3 million square feet through 2015.

The redesign of Patriots Park and the conceptual master plan presented by the developers were approved 5-2 tonight. There were some small changes made since the original plan, I photoshopped the original picture to show the changes. Original plan: New plan:

I got a reply back to my email request for the site plan that was presented. Here is the PDF and also screen shots. http://www.nitnelav.com/patriotsplan.pdf It looks like varying heights of 30 stories, two towers at 37 stories and one at 44 (or 41, it's hard to make out). The buildings on Patriot's Square block will vary from 2-6 stories it seems. Now the 44 story tower makes me wonder about the height. When I asked Mike about the height, it was immediately after I asked if they are still doing two residential towers, which he said one will be mixed with a hotel...then I asked about the height, which he said around 425'. Was he possibly referring to the height of the residential/hotel towers? At 37 stories, that seems about right for 425'. The 44 story should easily be at least 450 on the low end, if not much taller seeing how Chase is 40 stories and 487'. In the email, they also stated "Our plans are to have retail facing out to Washington & Jefferson, as well as towards the internal public areas. Part of it will depend on the tenants and space needs."

They presented the master plan for all three blocks at the public CityScape meeting tonight. I got a shot of one of the slides but not the other showing the side profile, so I drew it up as best as I could remember. Mike Ebert, president of RED development, told me that both the inside and outsides (facing the streets) would have retail and they are planning of building heights of "over 400', around 425' ". The plan is being presented to the city council on Feb. 22nd and hopefully they will vote on it and the vote will be yes so this can start moving forward.

Ok...then you should love this news, thanks to ArtDecoFan on another forum... This past Wednesday night David Wallach of W Developments (Summit at Copper Square) attended our Orpheum Lofts HOA meeting to fill us in on the Orpheum Phase II development plans. Originally Norm Sheldon/TASB, the developer of Orpheum Lofts, was also planning to develop a new residential high-rise on the current parking lot directly west of our building. However when the market started slowing down, he had to put his plans on hold. We residents then heard around October/November of last year that Norm was in talks to team up David Wallach for the development. The new high-rise is named Omega. It will be 32 stories with 200 condos, five levels of parking, a 1st floor bistro cafe, 7th floor outdoor pool and spa, and top floor club house. The condos will range from roughly 725 sq.ft. to 1400 sq.ft. and start at $450/sq.ft. David Wallach passed the architectural renderings around the room, but unfortunately I wasn't able to snag any copies to share at this time. I can assure you the renderings I saw portrayed a very contemporary and sleek high-rise with sandy brown colors at the base and gorgeous light greenish glass panes. It does not look at all similar to the Summit at Copper Square. Where that building is nice and fits well with the warehouse district surroundings, this new building looks much more sophisticated and cosmopolitan. The entrance to the building is on the SW corner at a 45 degree angle to 2nd Ave and Adams, mirroring the 45 degree angle of the Orpheum Theatre entrance. David Wallach was very clear that he fully hopes to have the next crane joining the downtown Phoenix skyline to be that of Omega. He described himself as solely an urban developer who always strives for landmark ultra-cool projects. He likes the infill nature of this particular site and the dynamics of the different sight lines this location affords. He is currently in meetings with the city on pre-development issues and the public report process. Once construction has begun (planning for 3Q '07), the plans are for a 24-26 mo. build-out with the actual structure taking 15-16 mos. The PM will be the same gentleman who is in charge at the Summit (who is a former Army Sergeant who is always on the ball). Look for the model/sales office in around 60-90 days. It will be located at the Orpheum Lofts in the SE corner retail space.

Construction Updates February 05, 2007 44 Monroe: 34 Stories - 411' Sheraton Downtown Hotel: 31 stories - 360' Summit at Copper Square: 23 stories - 253' Topped Off 215 E McKinley

First Data revs up technology, sponsorship for Champ Car race The Business Journal of Phoenix - 6:45 PM MST Wednesday by Chris Casacchia The Business Journal A national credit card processor has signed a three-year deal to be the title sponsor of November's champ car race in downtown Phoenix. Officials from the company -- First Data Independent Sales Fresno by Cardservice International -- announced the deal at a launch party Wednesday evening at the Hyatt Regency. As part of the agreement, the California-based credit card processor also will be the title sponsor of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and gain partnership opportunities with subsidiaries of event owner DDB Ventures. Through the agreement, First Data will bring a new technology featuring prepaid or stored value cards to the First Data Grand Prix Arizona -- a first for a ticketing and vending for this type of event. "This is a relationship that is bringing cutting-edge technology to the entertainment business, and we're excited to be at the forefront of this trend," said Bradley Yonover, co-owner of the First Data Grand Prix Arizona and the Vegas Grand Prix Fueled by Visa. Prepaid Visa cards also can be purchased at the event, where more than 200 VeriFone Vx 610 wireless payment systems will be deployed. "At the First Data Grand Prix Arizona, we're able to offer consumers and vendors the ability to process a transaction instantaneously and wirelessly, and demonstrate that First Data is at the forefront of consumer transactions in the next five years," said First Data President and Chief Executive Richard Ramirez. Point-of-sale systems such as VeriFone's Vx 610 enable vendors to use wireless wide-area networking and wireless local-area networking to send card transactions. Another feature of the motorsports event, Earthshift '07, the "green" portion of the festival weekend, will include the first major race to feature methanol rather than gasoline, eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. "We're hoping through our 'green' Earthshift '07 efforts that we begin to contribute to a shift in attitude about the environment and the use of resources," said Dale Jensen, who is a co-owner with Yonover in DDB Ventures. The entertainment, motorsports and real estate development company was founded in 2005 by Yonover, an entertainment entrepreneur and real estate developer, and Jensen, a financial software visionary and largest single stakeholder of the Arizona Diamondbacks and part owner of the Phoenix Suns. Earthshift '07 at Chase Field will showcase eco-shopping; eco-conscious musical talent; eco-fashion; organic food and drink; eco-makeovers; interactive renewable energy; solar, biodiesel and alternative transportation displays; soy finger-painting; science museum-caliber exhibits; and recycled crafts. The race weekend, set for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, will include rock concerts, a Taste of Phoenix and other attractions. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale May 1. For more: www.grandprixarizona.com. I am hyped as hell about this event! Seems tickets will go on sale May 1st and I definately plan on buying a couple. The race course is awesome...imagine seeing this from a highrise downtown condo? Downtown's appeal definately just went up a notch. WHERE WILL THE GRAND PRIX ARIZONA TAKE PLACE? The downtown Phoenix circuit will be 2.11 miles long and will encompass Chase Field and the US Airways Center, as well as a good portion of the "Downtown Warehouse District." The circuit will begin on Jefferson Street, go south on 7th Street, head east on Lincoln Street (with some turns), and head north on 1st Avenue, go east across Madison Street and head north up 1st Street back to Jefferson Street

January 08, 2007 Updates 44 Monroe - 34 Stories - 411 ft. Sheraton Downtown Hotel - 31 Stories - 360 ft. January 08, 2007 Summit at Copper Square - 23 Stories - 253 ft.