[colin]

Probably just another overpriced condo and chain store structure for Mill. I'd be surprised if the structure itself were above 7 stories, but it's funny that people get attached to little 30-year-old shop buildings as if they were going to destroy a turn-of-the-century home.

[MJLO]

Another demolition story about Tempe today. This time it's an old co-op building being torn down for a 21 story mid rise at University and Ash. It's got a little retail at the ground floor. I need to get to tempe and do developement updates there. I don't know the nature of the developement I reported on yesterday, but this is definately more urban in nature.

[MJLO]

Another Downtown Tempe story. I love this one because it gives a rundown of some of tower projects going up, or proposed downtown. Tempe is going thru an Explosion of growth and it's all infill which is even more amazing. I still moan that it's frustrating that these things arent happening ten miles west in downtown Phoenix. We really need a concentrated urban core, not one scattered between a few different cities. I wouldn't be suprised to see Mesa and Glendale get in on this action, and then we might as well get rid of Phoenix all together, turn it into the rest of the valley so that people can see us for who we are, an Identity-less blob of suburbs, supporting over 4million people.

I digress, here's a rundown on projects.

• Orchidhouse

First upscale condos in Tempe's core.

Highest point: About 100 feet, 7 stories.


• Centerpoint Condominiums

Four-tower condo complex in the heart of downtown.

Highest point: 343 feet, 30 stories.


• Hayden Ferry Lakeside

Four residential towers will be a part of a mixed-use project on Tempe Town Lake.

Highest point: 141 feet, 12 stories.


• University Square

Three-tower, city-block-size mixed-use development.

Highest point: 300 feet, 26 stories.


• Mosaic

Would replace the Gentle Strength Co-op with a Whole Foods Market, plus residential.

Highest point: 235 feet, 21 stories.


• The Armory

Two-tower rental and owner-occupied project south of Tempe Butte.

Highest point: 225 feet, 20 stories.


• Farmer Arts District

Plans to make a new home for Tempe Bicycle and the city's first branch library.

Highest potential point: Four stories.


• Centerpoint on Mill

Replaces existing retail buildings with taller structures with condos on top.

Highest potential point: eight stories.


• 7th and Mill

Mixed-use building proposed for the site once occupied by Long Wong's.

Highest potential point: 300 feet, 25 stories.


• Pier 202

Mixed-use project on Tempe Town Lake on site once occupied by Peabody Hotel.

Highest potential point: 20 stories.


• Onyx

Condo complex on the north shore of Tempe Town Lake.

Highest potential point: 26 stories or 271 feet.


• Tempe Union Station Lofts

Condo complex on Apache Boulevard.

Highest potential point: 10 stories.


• Campus Edge Condominiums

On the site once occupied by Taco Bell and Texaco Star Mart on Apache Boulevard.

Highest point: eight stories.


• 8th Street and Rural

A condo complex next to Tempe's historical Elias Rodriguez house.

Highest potential point: 12 stories.

[Manolos]

H&M's first Arizona location is going to be a Tempe Marketplace, and they are planning on opening several other stores simultaneously throughout the Valley. Republic says Fashion Square, San Tan Village are high possibilites as well.

[MJLO]

forgive my lack of recall, but what is H&M again?

[Manolos]

Its a very popular "hip and trendy" men and women European store. Its very cheap and sells designer clothing for almost nothing at all. Its huge because a lotta famous designers have collections through H&M, so you get the design and a decent quality for very cheap. When H&M open in SF and LA last year, it was a huge ordeal.

[MJLO]

does anyone have any recent Tempe pics? I want to get some construction updates but i've been overwhelmed at work and haven't gotten around to it.

[MJLO]

wow, and they just keep going up!

High Rise Condo/ Hotel to go up on site of old bar

Quote

Paragon, a Las Vegas-based developer, unveiled plans this week for a project that would become the fifth in downtown Tempe with buildings of 18 or more stories.

The hotel would feature a spa and fit- ness center on its second floor, allowing those in the facility to overlook Mill Avenue — and letting people on the street see people working out.

Paragon hopes the city will approve the project this year. If that happens, the company plans to start construction in July 2008 and open the project two years later.

The $225 million development would run along Seventh Street from Mill to Myrtle avenues, where it would back up to an equally tall tower at the University Square project that includes a hotel, offices and condos.

This is cool, If this kind of stuff keeps happening Tempe may have actual downtown density which is great!. I know that I take a stance that I want more stuff like this downtown, but I'd rather have it in Tempe than Scottsdale. (Don't ask)

[colin]

Quote

The hotel would feature a spa and fit- ness center on its second floor, allowing those in the facility to overlook Mill Avenue — and letting people on the street see people working out.

I hate that they do this at fitness centers. Do I really want to see sweaty people on treadmills and do they really want to see me, walking down the street, donut in one hand, beer in the other with a cigarette in my mouth? Is is just vanity? I don't get it.
Maybe too OT...

The hotel gets me really excited. Maybe too much, actually.
Tempe would be so cool if there were more hotels Downtown. I always direct people to the two that are there now with the addition of "if you can afford it". Giving those now-older (at least for Phoenix standards) chain places competition could only improve things. Right?

[MJLO]

lol,

yes, it's that whole Market concept. I'm ok with Tempe growing. I agree about the fitness thing. Save, that I don't mind watching surgically augmented "Scottsdale mom" bouncing up and down on a treadmill. But I really don't want to see business man in his 50's sweating away with his giagantic blue tshirt soaked in sweat.

[loftguy]

I love the 2nd floor gym concept- something other cities have that we don't here....
I do wonder how all of these projects are supposed to fly from a Sales standpoint- but this one in particular has a bunch of goodies so it's a possibility....

[convulso]

colin, on Feb 9 2007, 12:09 PM, said:

I hate that they do this at fitness centers. Do I really want to see sweaty people on treadmills and do they really want to see me, walking down the street, donut in one hand, beer in the other with a cigarette in my mouth?

even worse, to me, is the feeling that people are looking at you through a window while you are working out. i've intentionally not joined a couple of gyms close to me in the past because i don't want to be looked at by a bunch of people whom i can't see - but who can see me (when it's dark, for ex.) how is this good for business? do most people want to be ogled while they're looking their worst?

i don't mind being around other people when i'm working out - but i expect that they're inside the gym, working out as well.

i'm talking about this as if i've even had a gym membership in the past three years.......

[MJLO]

Well to be honest, I'd think it'd be more of a passing glance. I don't really think many people would pay much attention to what was going on inside, and looking out over the moving city would be more interesting for me as I was lifting or running. I tend to get bored when I work out.

but lets bring this back on track with Tempe

[loftguy]

MJLO, on Feb 9 2007, 01:06 PM, said:

Well to be honest, I'd think it'd be more of a passing glance. I don't really think many people would pay much attention to what was going on inside, and looking out over the moving city would be more interesting for me as I was lifting or running. I tend to get bored when I work out.

but lets bring this back on track with Tempe

It will be on the 2nd floor- I'm not sure people will be looking in- just allowed to look out at the passers by...

[loftguy]

http://www.eastvalle...;dest=STY-83995

Plan centers on Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe
Garin Groff, Tribune
The Hayden Flour Mill stood as one of Tempe’s most visible buildings for more than a century even as its thick concrete walls masked its inner workings from public view.

But the elaborate milling equipment that turned grain into flour will be on display in a glass structure next to the mill as part of a plan to restore and redevelop the site.

The proposal includes adding three stories of glass floors on top of the mill and new buildings for shops and restaurants. But most building space will be the new headquarters for the developer, Avenue Communities. That’s the same company behind the 30-story Centerpoint Condominiums a few blocks away.

Avenue is moving to buy the site from Tempe, which took ownership after another developer’s plan fizzled and the city received the property in the midst of an extended lawsuit. City and business leaders are hopeful the developer will finally bring life to the mill since its 1998 closure.

“They’ve done everything that the city has asked them to do and they’re doing it in a very high-quality way,” said Chris Salomone, Tempe’s community development manager.

Avenue will present its plans to the City Council Thursday. The company plans to demolish half-century old additions so the 1918 structure will stand as it did originally. Also, Avenue will build a trailhead to Hayden Butte, add parking and buildings along the street to give the area a more urban feel.

Many Tempeans have been anxious for something to happen on the site after it closed and transients set a fire that burned part of the building. The site has been a source of embarrassment, especially considering it was built by Tempe’s founder, Charles Trumbull Hayden, in 1872 and was one of the Valley’s most important businesses.

Avenue will likely take up all the office space at the project, company spokeswoman Margie D’Andrea said. The company hasn’t selected other tenants yet but is shunning chains in favor of chef-driven restaurants, D’Andrea said.

One potential tenant includes a Vancouver chef who would operate a bakery and cafe. The wine bar will have a tie to a winery that the developer is setting up at Centerpoint Condominiums.

The city is requiring Avenue Communities to have a permit in hand and to have “substantial” construction underway by Jan. 23, 2009, but D’Andrea said the company hopes to begin work late this year.

The first phase would roughly double the amount of building space to 60,000 square feet. Avenue plans to later replace parking areas with two more phases of development that would bring the project to 500,000 square feet of offices, stores, housing and more.

The mill was built for strength, not beauty. Still, the development plans should make the mill a proud entry feature for downtown, said Vic Linoff, a downtown merchant and history buff. Linoff has been critical of many redevelopment efforts and the destruction of historic structures, and he doesn’t like Avenue’s plan to add more floors on top of the mill. He’d prefer to keep the building as close to its original form as possible.

But Linoff said Avenue deserves credit for showing a strong interest in using historic equipment and elements in the design.

The development will include railroad tracks that once ran through the site and some remnants of a canal that brought water to power the mill in its early days.

“We’ve lost too many historic buildings in the name of redevelopment and this is such an expensive investment that even as a preservationist, you have to realize there’s going to be compromise to save those historic structures,” Linoff said.

Mayor Hugh Hallman said the glass addition is needed to make the project work financially and to service the dated structure with elevators and utilities.

The project is small compared to other downtown projects that will take up to 1 million square feet. Hallman said the project was meant to be smaller in scope in order to respect the mill’s history.

A recent $1.5 million archeological project funded by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community helped unearth history about Tempe’s first settlers and even discovered a Hohokam canal that’s perhaps 1,000 years old.

Hallman said the city might ask for some changes, but he’s eager to see a project move forward that revives Tempe’s history.

Hayden Flour Mill redevelopment

The first phase:

• Restores the 1918 mill building

• Attaches a building on the west side for shops

• Adds a building for a wine bar

• Builds a trailhead for Hayden Butte

• Adds surface parking

• Includes nearly 65,000 square feet of existing and new buildings

• Paints the 1950s silos, but leaves them empty

• Would transfer the land from Tempe to Avenue Communities, but only if work starts by January 2009

Two future phases would:

• Develop the silos, perhaps as housing or a hotel

• Replace the surface parking with more offices, shops and housing

• Eventually include about 500,000 square feet of buildings

• Be valued at about $500 million

• Be limited to the height of the silos, 168 feet.

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________

I personally don't want the additional glass stories but I guess it could be a lot worse.....
I'd like that structure to remain as is minus the windows being stamped and a Modernization of sorts...

[convulso]

we were up and down mill ave. this past weekend; it was the first time i had seen the mill structure since hearing about the development plans last year. i was surprised at how close to everything else it is - i always assumed it was further out from the other businesses (i guess i thought it was across town lake.) it's a challenging development to say the least, but if it can be done at all, it will be be interesting at worst...but possibly very cool as well. the fact that they're focusing on new construction and saving the actual development of the silos until the first stages are completed testifies to the challenges of converting a dedicated-use facility to mixed uses for which it was never intended. but that's part of the appeal.

wonder what they have in mind with painting the silos?

[colin]

Quote

the fact that they're focusing on new construction and saving the actual development of the silos until the first stages are completed testifies to the challenges of converting a dedicated-use facility to mixed uses for which it was never intended

Amen! It's all about reuse.
I think it's absolutely vital that they do this right architecturally. And by "right" I mean make it iconic and blend in with the rest of the area. The latter shouldn't be too hard because the buildings on Mill aren't really that interesting.

[MJLO]

I love the energy that Tempe has created on Mill though It's alot of fun. I love getting drunk there with all the coeds in tshirts running around.

[MJLO]

Tempe pushing to accelerate Broadway curve widening plan.

What they are calling for is an old style of freeway used in traffic supercenters like Detroit and Chicago. Express and local lanes. Which is a real good Idea it could help to greatly organize traffic. The problem on the Broadway curve is US-60 feeds on to it, and if the 60 is not the busiest freeway in the the valley it is damn near close. 300,000 cars a day travel the broadway curve. With that volume, i'm suprised it doesn't back up more!

[MJLO]

Hayden Mills Redevelopement to start soon!

Quote

Tempe city council has approved a companies plan to turn the old industrial flower mills in to a mixed use site.

Tempe approved the biggest transformation of the Hayden Flour Mill since the iconic building’s construction in the waning days of World War I.

A local developer, Avenue Communities, will restore the deteriorating industrial building while roughly doubling its size with a glass-and-steel addition.

Avenue will make the mill its corporate office and add a winery and an oyster bar. And in a throwback to the milling operation that began on the site in 1874, a cafe will mill grain into flour on the site.

The developer has until January 2009 to begin work, but Avenue executive Ken Losch said he expects construction to be in full swing by late spring.

Tempe approved the development Thursday night, following efforts that date back as far as 1990 to redevelop the site.

The concrete building is sturdy but needs extensive work to make it usable. Losch didn’t specify how much his company would spend.

“It’s probably going to be the most expensive building per square foot in Phoenix,” he said. “But it will be one of the coolest buildings, too.”

I'm excited to see what they can do with this. What this could do for the already exploding Tempe.