Phoenix Development News

[Rhino]

I wish I lived in AZ

[Krasna Sreča]

I bet you do!

[Krasna Sreča]

WTH, I should take this forum over, there is so many projects and things that could be posted up on here for Metro Phoenix...man...

[tapico-regio]

i want to see photos of residents of phoenix

[Don B.]

^ There is a plan to move Maricopa Medical Center to downtown Phoenix, a $500 million project that may result in a high-rise taller than Good Samaritan, which is 12 stories tall. Good Sam isn't that far away, though (just 2-3 miles northeast of downtown) and St. Joe's is just a few miles further up Central Avenue.

Downtown Phoenix now has three tower cranes up (34-story 44 Monroe, 31-story Sheraton Convention Center hotel and 23-story Summit at Copper Square). If you include Tempe and uptown, we have about a dozen cranes total, piercing the skyline.

--don

[Krasna Sreča]

October 16, 2006

[Krasna Sreča]

[haux]

Originally Posted by arêteixion

October 16, 2006

What is this?

And about the control tower at the airport, I thought they were closer to finishing it. Emporis says it will be 335 feet tall, 8 feet taller than Denver International Airport's, which is the current tallest in the country.

[FLscraper]

^The tallest control tower is in Atlanta at some 400+ feet. I believe the first photo is of light rail construction along Central.

[FLscraper]

Here is a more up to date photo of the tower.

[FLscraper]

Here's a list of a few current projects under construction in DT Phoenix. Credit HX_Guy for the photos.

44 Monroe



Summit at Copper Square



Sheraton Downtown Phoenix Hotel



The proposed list is too long, maybe some other time.

[haux]

Originally Posted by FLscraper

^The tallest control tower is in Atlanta at some 400+ feet.

Ah. You're right. Emporis said Denver's was the tallest, but maybe that was when it was built. Atlanta's opened this year, and it's 398 feet tall.

Those buildings being built in Phoenix are great. Phoenix needs more high rises.

[HX_Guy]

Looks like I'll no longer need to drive by 44 Monroe for picture updates...they've added a webcam and construction pictures to their website...

http://www.44monroe.com/construction.html





They sure seem to be taking their sweet time, between last Friday and today...it doesn't seem they have done much...still working on floor #7.

The Summit at Copper Square has added another floor (up to #15) in less then a week...



And the Sheraton Downtown Hotel is moving what seems like the fastest, this time will probably end up surpasing 44 Monroe if they continue at their pace...

[HX_Guy]

Summit at Copper Square - 23 Floors 253'

Elevator core has reached the 23rd and final floor, the rest of the building is at floor #18.





44 Monroe - 34 Floors 380'

Concrete has been poured for the 8th floor.





Sheraton Downtown Hotel - 31 Floors 360'

Work is finishing up on the 3rd floor, 4th floor should be under construction shortly.

[hkskyline]

Sleepy Phoenix suburb gets ready for building boom
17 December 2006

BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) - It's been called the "Road to Nowhere" by locals, but the Sun Valley Parkway could become Main Street to nearly 1 million people as development booms in the metro area west of Phoenix.

More than a dozen huge developments are sprouting on both sides of the 30-mile-long parkway. In the next few decades, the surrounding town of Buckeye is expected to balloon into a giant suburb 40 miles west of downtown Phoenix.

In preparation, Buckeye, currently home to 30,000 people, has been annexing so much land it's about to rival Phoenix in sheer size. It already has more land than Tucson or Mesa.

"It's not if but when Sun Valley's growth takes off," said national housing analyst Tim Sullivan. "It's the logical place where metro Phoenix's growth will head in the next 10 to 20 years."

Like many of Phoenix's growing suburbs, Buckeye still has figure out whether it will have enough water, transportation and jobs.

"We are all taking about transportation, economic development and the environment," said Tom Hennessy with developer El Dorado Holdings. "Economic development is going to be the hardest. Jobs are competitive not only nationally but internationally now."

Environmental surveys show the surrounding aquifer holds enough for Buckeye's new developments to have water for the next 100 years, as required by the state, as long as builders recharge as much water as they pull from the ground.

But transportation will be a major issue. Interstate-10, the primary corridor to downtown Phoenix, already is jammed with commuters as well as big-rig trucks. Everyday, more than 100,000 vehicles pass through that part of the interstate.

State and federal transportation officials are studying how to fix the congestion.

"We want to show the nice lines on the map for new roads and work out a plan to pay for them," said Bob Hazelett, senior engineer with the Maricopa Association of Governments, which took on the study funded partly by Buckeye and Goodyear.

[Krasna Sreča]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

Sleepy Phoenix suburb gets ready for building boom
17 December 2006

BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) - It's been called the "Road to Nowhere" by locals, but the Sun Valley Parkway could become Main Street to nearly 1 million people as development booms in the metro area west of Phoenix.

More than a dozen huge developments are sprouting on both sides of the 30-mile-long parkway. In the next few decades, the surrounding town of Buckeye is expected to balloon into a giant suburb 40 miles west of downtown Phoenix.

In preparation, Buckeye, currently home to 30,000 people, has been annexing so much land it's about to rival Phoenix in sheer size. It already has more land than Tucson or Mesa.

"It's not if but when Sun Valley's growth takes off," said national housing analyst Tim Sullivan. "It's the logical place where metro Phoenix's growth will head in the next 10 to 20 years."

Like many of Phoenix's growing suburbs, Buckeye still has figure out whether it will have enough water, transportation and jobs.

"We are all taking about transportation, economic development and the environment," said Tom Hennessy with developer El Dorado Holdings. "Economic development is going to be the hardest. Jobs are competitive not only nationally but internationally now."

Environmental surveys show the surrounding aquifer holds enough for Buckeye's new developments to have water for the next 100 years, as required by the state, as long as builders recharge as much water as they pull from the ground.

But transportation will be a major issue. Interstate-10, the primary corridor to downtown Phoenix, already is jammed with commuters as well as big-rig trucks. Everyday, more than 100,000 vehicles pass through that part of the interstate.

State and federal transportation officials are studying how to fix the congestion.

"We want to show the nice lines on the map for new roads and work out a plan to pay for them," said Bob Hazelett, senior engineer with the Maricopa Association of Governments, which took on the study funded partly by Buckeye and Goodyear.

Hmm...

[IRepTucson]

I wish this thread was updated more often... Anyways, I always enjoy driving through Phoenix. It's always nice to see our water-guzzling neighbors prosper.

[hkskyline]

Light rail spurs rush of private development
24 December 2006

PHOENIX (AP) - Two years before the city's light-rail system opens, private investors are starting to pump more than $1 billion into new developments near the rail stations.

The investments promise to reshape key corners and neighborhoods along the 20-mile route, an infusion that is typical of light-rail systems but is occurring earlier in the Valley than in other cities.

"I don't think you've seen this level of public and private investment anywhere else in the country before a light-rail line even opens," said Bo Martinez, Phoenix's economic development manager for light rail.

Developers and lenders say the investment interest is tremendous. Last month, 6 acres next to a future rail station sold for $26 million, double what the seller paid a year earlier. The buyer, a partnership between Las Vegas-based AmLand Development LLC and Israeli BSR Group, hinted at building a mixed-use development.

Martinez says that about twice a month people ask him if they can have an unplanned station near their business site. It's not an off-the-wall idea. Tempe officials are talking to three firms -- Salt River Project, Trillium Residential and Chestnut Properties LLC -- to share the cost of building a $5 million station.

[RC14]

Originally Posted by Rhino

I wish I lived in AZ

I some times wish I lived in Arizona, especialy right now when it keeps geting below 0 degrees Farenhight during the night, in Salt Lake.

I love Salt Lake but I could probubly love it in Phoenix too. Maybe I'll move there some day.

[Woonsocket54]

From today's AZ Republic:

Governor pursues plan for commuter-rail lines
Target for Tucson, Phoenix link: 2012

Sean Holstege
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 20, 2007 12:00 AM

Arizona is moving to play a major role in bringing commuter rail to the Valley and between Phoenix and Tucson.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is days away from asking bidders to plan a passenger rail line connecting Phoenix and Tucson by Centennial Day, Feb. 14, 2012.

This comes after Gov. Janet Napolitano gave ADOT 90 days to list the best potential rail projects and detail the best ways to pay for them.

The arrival of commuter rail in Arizona is not a guarantee because some lawmakers oppose rail, saying it isn't worth the subsidy. But involvement by the state increases the chance that it could become a reality. The state's role was a deciding factor in bringing commuter rail to Utah and New Mexico.

"The governor clearly believes that we have to explore these options and implement some," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, Napolitano's spokeswoman. "She wants wide-open thinking on this subject. She's serious about these executive orders. She expects results and does not want these studies to be a book on the shelf."

Jim Dickey, ADOT Public Transit Division director, said no option is off the table. His team will be looking at a wide range of rail projects, from new or expedited local light-rail extensions around Phoenix to longer and faster commuter-rail lines to the West Valley and southeast Valley and a Phoenix-Tucson train. Other potential projects are connecting a people-mover system at Sky Harbor International Airport to conventional rail lines and local tracks in and around Tucson or Flagstaff.

What is less clear is what role the state would play in making any of these services happen. ADOT and the governor's staff are coy on the subject.

Options include:


• Advancing state funds to engineer a rail network.


• Using surplus state money or other funds as a down payment on construction or to acquire rights-of-way.


• Passing laws to create a statewide or multicounty rail agency.


• Passing laws to streamline design and construction bidding to speed up existing or future rail projects.


• Putting a statewide bond on the ballot, probably for over $1 billion, to build a system.

State's involvement?

"Everybody seems to be concluding that a major state role in Arizona will be necessary," said Kathryn Pett, an attorney who has been informally advising Napolitano's office and ADOT for about a year.

Pett, of the Phoenix-based firm Snell and Wilmer, brokered right-of-way and track-sharing deals in Utah and New Mexico between public agencies and rail-freight companies. Pett said involvement by the governors in those states was instrumental in persuading rail companies to negotiate seriously.

Any moves by ADOT or the governor will draw scrutiny, however.

"Passenger rail is a big loser," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Ron Gould, a Lake Havasu City Republican. Arguing that fares don't cover costs and that rail doesn't take enough people off freeways, Gould said, "For me, rail is a non-starter."

Senate Majority Whip John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said traffic congestion is deteriorating so badly that he wouldn't "be against anything," adding, "We need a new vision. The question is whether our leaders are up to it."

Long-overdue link

Rail advocate and freshman state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said connecting his city and Phoenix by rail should have happened 10 years ago.

"I haven't heard anybody of any political party or ideology who's opposed to this," Farley said. "It's real because everybody wants it so badly."

Commuter rail, which employs larger trains and fewer stops than light rail, would mean leasing tracks or rights-of-way from rail-freight companies.

In Arizona, the freight giants are Union Pacific and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroads.

Union Pacific officials said they have told the governor's staff in informal talks that starting passenger service in Arizona will be unusually challenging. Unlike other Western states, there is much less redundant track here.

A Burlington Northern spokeswoman said the company has not had talks with Arizona officials but is open to them.

ADOT is due to release a study by the end of the month detailing the amount, condition and capacity of existing freight lines.

The Maricopa Association of Governments just launched a $300,000, year-long study to determine the demand for commuter service around Phoenix and how best to link it to urban light-rail track now under construction.