By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX
CARVANA, the nationally recognized, online used car-retailer, is planning to expand their Tempe headquarters in order to hire more than 1,000 new employees.
Plans were recently submitted to the City of Tempe for the development of new office buildings and parking structures to be located on approximately 15.18 acres at the SEC of Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive. The applicant and architect on the project, Butler Design Group, is requesting a Planned Area Development Overlay and Development Plan Review approval.
According to the project documents, the site has been partially developed as a two-story office building, which CARVANA has occupied since 2019. The owner of the site, Verde Investments, Inc., is proposing to build, “two, three-story office buildings and two associated parking structures that will blend seamlessly with the existing office building.”
The existing building is located on the SEC of the property and the new buildings will be oriented along the north on Rio Salado Parkway.
The two new buildings will range in height from 49 feet to 67 feet tall and the design will include gray CMU block, decorative steel, metal paneling, black anodized aluminum and insulated glazing in clear, blue-green and gray. The upper floors will have shaded outdoor balconies.
“A large plaza divides the mirrored three-story buildings and has decorative pavers and artificial turf bands surrounding a water fountain and landscaped planters,” the documents state. “South of the building is a park-like turf lawn area is planned for games, seating, corporate events, outdoor dining and sports to encourage employee interaction and wellness and activate the outdoor space.”
Once completed, the whole site, including the existing office building, will total approximately 649KSF, with 300KSF of it being new, Class A office space. The two parking structures will include three and five levels and a total of 1,654 parking spaces.
The parking structures will be located on the east and west sides of the property and access will be from the south ends. A cul-de-sac roundabout will be added on the west end of First Street, which will provide another access route to the parking structure to the west of the existing office building.
The proposal also requests to relocate First Street to the eastern boundary of the site to promote pedestrian connectivity and help create at campus-style environment.
The project is expected to be heard at the City of Tempe’s June 22nd Development Review Commission meeting.