By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Two recent land auctions are bringing major new developments to the North Loop 101 area of Phoenix and Scottsdale.
In October, Garden Communities was the sole bidder for a roughly 41-acre property at the NEC of Deer Valley Drive and Tatum Blvd. just north of Desert Ridge Marketplace in north Phoenix. The land sold for the minimum bid of $44.1M, and the developer recently submitted the initial paperwork for an 882-unit multifamily development.
A few miles to the east, Mack Real Estate Group paid $125M last March in a competitive bid for 124 acres at Loop 101 and Bell Road in north Scottsdale, beating out Baker Development Group, Verde Investment Group and two other bidders. MREG said it intended to build a mixed-use development on the site with an industrial component that could synergize with its Mack Innovation Park in the Deer Valley area of Phoenix near the TSMC plant.
MREG recently submitted a proposal to the City of Scottsdale to develop a five-building, 494KSF industrial project on 38.7 acres within the master plan area.
Garden Communities at Desert Ridge
In late December, Garden Communities submitted site plans, elevations and other documents to the City of Phoenix Planning Officer disclosing its intent to build 882 units on its Desert Ridge site. The development will consist of 504 units on an eastern parcel and 378 on the western side.
The site has been zoned R-4 (Multifamily Residence District) under the Desert Ridge Specific Plan for multifamily development since 2006 for a multi-part Gray Development Group plan that was never built. Gray had originally requested approval for up to 1,162 units. The Deer Valley Village Planning Committee recommended approval with a cap of 882, which was subsequently approved by the City Council. The project had been expected to have a three-to-five-year buildout and consist of a 50-50 mix of condominium and apartment units, according to documents for the original 2006 approval.
Through project representative firm Burch & Cracchiolo, Garden Communities is requesting 10 stipulation amendments to the original zoning to permit the project to continue in its new form and to be built to modern standards.
According to the submitted site plans, the unit mix for the east parcel calls for 12 studios, 216 one-bedroom, 206 two-bedroom and 70 three-bedroom apartments. The west side unit mix seeks 32 studios, 94 one-bedroom, 185 two-bedroom and 67 three-bedroom units.
The original zoning approval contained several stipulations that would not apply to Garden Communities’ plan. The requested changes cover:
- Removing conformance requirements to the original 2005 site plan and elevations presented by Gray,
- Changes to the development sections’ names and layouts,
- Changes to the originally planned landscaping to allow modern low water use plants,
- Elimination of planned pedestrian trails in the Clean Water Act Section 404-governed wash corridor, and
- Elimination of a signalized crossing at Deer Valley Drive and the 404 wash corridor.
The original request encountered significant and vocal opposition, primarily due to density concerns and the anticipated traffic impacts on Tatum Blvd. At the time, it was noted that infrastructure had not kept pace with development in the area, but that planned improvements to 56th and 64th streets were expected to alleviate some of the pressure.
Some of those improvements have been implemented in the intervening time. Tatum, however, still bears the lion’s share of north-south traffic, and Deer Valley ends at 56th Street.
2022 traffic volume maps from the City of Phoenix show 30,915 northbound and 27,679 southbound trips/day on Tatum between Loop 101 and Deer Valley Drive. The latest count was conducted in Nov. 2021. The most recent data for Deer Valley Drive comes from April 2015 and shows 9,614 eastbound and 9,992 westbound trips between 56th Street and Tatum. An updated count would certainly show an increase, given the new multifamily development and increased volumes from the High Street and City North developments.
While neighborhood opposition and other NIMBY groups tend to voice their displeasure during the zoning/rezoning process, Garden Communities has the appropriate zoning already in place. It is a safe bet, however, there will be extensive commentary and feedback provided during the other aspects of the plan approval process.
The need for additional housing—particularly given the expansions at American Express and the Mayo Clinic, the upcoming Discount Tire headquarters relocation and the Mayo Clinic Discovery Oasis master plan—is indisputable, as is the fact that Tatum cannot be expanded in that stretch.
The ensuing discussions around development and infrastructure promise to be worth watching. The Planning Officer hearing is scheduled for Feb. 15. Garden Communities is the developer and general contractor. The design firm is ORB Architecture, LLC, and the project is represented by Burch & Cracchiolo.
According to project representatives with Garden Communities, no construction start date or overall timeline has been finalized yet.
Mack Innovation Park Scottsdale
Mack Real Estate Group’s plan for Phase I of the Mack Innovation Park Scottsdale lies 5.8 miles to the east along Loop 101.
The DATABEX project database’s detailed description for MREG’s master plan at Loop 101 and Bell Road in Scottsdale says: “The master-planned area can accommodate up to 4.3MSF of new development. Exact plans have not been finalized, but the site may be used for a variety of uses, including industrial, flex space, and residential. It is likely that individual lots will be sold to third-party developers.”
On Jan. 5, project representative Withey Morris PLC filed pre-application documents for development review with the City of Scottsdale. A description of the property in the submitted narrative states: “The Property is currently vacant unimproved. The majority of the site (+/-95-acres) is zoned Industrial Park, Planned Community District (I-1, PCD), a small portion of which also has an Environmentally Sensitive Lands overlay (I-1, PCD, ESL). A smaller, roughly 29-acre portion near the southeast corner of the overall auctioned site is zoned Planned Regional Center (PRC, PCD), but is not subject to this Development Review application and there are no plans to develop that section of the Property at this time.”
According to the overall design concept presented in the narrative: “The proposed MACK Innovation Park (consists) of roughly 1.2MSF of industrial and office space spread across an 11-building campus. Along with the high-quality building design and layout, the project will also include a substantial amount of infrastructure for the overall site including the completion of 91st Street, internal circulation drives, drainage channels and perimeter improvements.”
The property sits adjacent to a significant power line corridor of more than 240 feet in width. Since no buildings can be constructed under the corridor, there is an inherent setback of more than 80 yards separating MREG’s planned development from the nearby residential neighborhood.
The overall plan calls for a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design approach incorporating native desert elements and incorporating native desert plants and landscape design to integrate the industrial development into the surrounding area. The natural washes on site will be recaptured into a landscaped channel that integrates with a multi-use path for outdoor activities.
The Phase I site plan identifies five industrial buildings totaling 493,895SF. The individual building breakdown is:
Building E: 129,395SF,
Building F: 122,975SF,
Building G: 90,235SF,
Building H: 105,915SF, and
Building I: 45,375SF.
Mack Real Estate Group is the developer. Butler Design Group Architects is the design firm. Kimley-Horn is the engineer, and landscape design is through Laskin & Associates, Inc. Withey Morris PLC is the project representative.
As of press time, no construction timeline or general contractor information was available, and no Development Review Board meetings have been scheduled.
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