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More Info on Phoenix 50-story (new tallest)

5K views 36 replies 16 participants last post by  i.q.ninja 
#1 ·
Development team grows for 50-story condo tower
Mike Padgett
The Business Journal

The development team behind a 50-story luxury condo tower proposed on the site of the Ramada Inn-Downtown has added another player that already has one high-rise condo planned.

Grace Communities' Jonathon Vento and the father-son team of Don and Ryan Zeleznak signed a letter of intent May 3 with City Centre LLC, owner of the hotel site. Grace is developing the 34-story project at 44 Monroe, just blocks away.

The Phoenix City Council is expected to review the letter at its May 11 meeting.

Vento and the Zeleznaks were one of six development groups interviewed for the 50-story condo proposal, City Centre partner Mike Rakow said.

"We hope to have a contract in the next several days," Rakow said. "This will change the skyline of Phoenix, and we plan to bring in a significant architect who will be identified with the building."

The 50-story building with more than 900 condos is planned on the southern two-thirds of the block bordered by Polk, Taylor, First and Second streets. The northern third of the property is for Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

Vento said he plans to begin interviewing architects with national and international reputations in the next several weeks. The design will include strong input from Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and his planning staff, and from Duke Reiter, dean of ASU's College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

The proposal's 50-story height could change and may be higher, depending on design input from Phoenix and ASU, Vento said.

Don Zeleznak said the market for high-rise condos is deeper than many realize because of changes in the Valley's demographics. Key factors are the popularity of the region's climate, which is helping fuel population growth, and the increasing number of baby boomers who want to downsize from their larger homes or purchase a second or even a third vacation home.

"This adds to our ability to market our product locally as well as nationally," Zeleznak said.

Rakow said he and his partners have received calls about the condo tower from prospective buyers in the United States and other countries.

The proposal is a public-private partnership. The land, after the hotel is demolished, will be donated to the city in return for the right to develop the luxury condo building, said Nick Wood, the attorney from Snell & Wilmer who brought Grace Communities and City Centre together.

Downtown Development Office Director Patrick Grady said City Centre and Grace Communities each have experience in major developments.

"It is a team that apparently has access to capital, so now it's a question of going through negotiations on the development agreement and seeing how they can put their (50-story) project together," Grady said.

The development agreement will include construction schedules, the design process and other details.

Funding for the 50-story condo building right now is coming just from the two developers, Vento said, but he expects to make an announcement soon about other financial details.

Ryan Zeleznak said the company has about 110 reservations for the 176 condos in the 34-story 44 Monroe condo building at First Avenue and Monroe Street. The Weitz Co. expects to start construction in June after workers finish demolishing what was a 10-story office building on the site.

Grace Communities' other key residential projects in the Valley include:

- Portales Place, a Scottsdale project with 112 luxury condos on 10 acres west of the Finova building at Scottsdale Road and Goldwater Boulevard.

- Portland Place, a mix of brownstone-type and mid-rise buildings with 188 residences in central Phoenix between Central and Third avenues and north of Portland Street.

Grace Communities: 480-767-5245.
 
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#27 ·
Skyland said:
Urbanphx: Thats good news for Phoenix. It definitely needs a new landmark building. Do you have a map showing the location of the building? Will it be downtown? Thanks for the information.
Hey Skyland, sorry for any delay. Yes, this still-proposed building is planned to go Downtown, built on the lot which is currently occupied by the aging Ramada Inn at Polk and 1st Streets. Here's an aerial of the parcel:

 
#33 ·
Alright! Just what Phoenix really needs to improve the crappy heighted skyline. Just keep furture sprawl from leap frogging over the rocky hills and maybe PHX will add a few more. I wished it was at least 600 to 700 feet tall since Denver gets to have the Rocky Mountaqin regions tallest skyline.

Phoenix Ashes said:
Downtown Phoenix is now so forlorn that its one McDonalds closes on the weekend.
What the hell does a weekend closed down Mickey D's have to do with anything? I never heard of that so that's why I had to ask. If that's the case, I'll go to that drive thru and find nothing to eat on a Saturday morning because I don't hear nobody at the order box or see nobody at the drve thru windows. :jk:
Phoenix Ashas said:
Along with ASU, light rail MIGHT change downtown Phoenix for the better.
At least that ouughta revitalize North Central Avenue based on renderings I've seen months ago.
 
#34 · (Edited)
McDonalds serves as an example. Downtown is SO dead even the McDonalds closes on the weekend.

Any city's skyline is a reflection of several interrelated functions: urbanism, the overall economy, demand, and the galvanizing effect of corporate headquarters. In the case of Phoenix, the only positive is the economy, which is based on consumer spending and housing. These are low economic generators and the Phoenix skyline reflects that anemia.

Whether light-rail revitalizes Central Avenue remains to be seen. Most people are modestly hopeful, but there is only lukewarm demand for mass transit in this, the most car-oriented of major cities. Keeping my fingers crossed....
 
#36 ·
^
It's a very early proposal. I saw one rendering which was not inspiring. City officials wanted Donald Trump to get involved (in lieu of his Camelback Road project) but he doesn't appear interested. Getting ASU involved seems one way of giving the project a bit of credibility but the numbers still don't appear to crunch. Right now, downtown Phoenix is hoping for combustion from ASU, light-rail, and more downtown residential. We've been struggling for decades trying to find the key to a vibrant core. If this doesn't work, nothing will.
 
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