By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
Long-awaited plans for the Copper Sky Development have finally been revealed.
Maricopa Economic Development Director, Denise Airheart presented plans for the $146M, mixed-use development adjacent to the Copper Sky Regional Park at the City Council special meeting on Wednesday, January 9th, and again at the City Council regular meeting on Tuesday, January 15th.
According to Airheart, the 18.3-acre development will be comprised of five separate components, including:
- La Quinta Inn Hotel
- Senior Housing
- Mixed-Use Project One
- Mixed-Use Project Two
- Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Improvements
The first component, a $10M, four-story La Quinta Inn Hotel with approximately 89 rooms, is anticipated to be operational by 2020. The hotel is expected to have a $1M Annual Operating Cost and create 20 new jobs.
“We have already amended the existing zoning to allow for the hotel to develop, and we are underway and working with the hotelier. We’ve drafted a purchase-sale agreement and hopefully that will be before council at the next meeting,” said Airheart.
The developer for the hotel is Andy Bhakta.
The Senior housing component, being developed by Shea Connelly Development LLC, will consist of approximately 172 units, of which 82 units will be independent care, 56 will be assisted living and 34 will be memory care. The project is expected to be a $30M-$35M investment.
While the presentation submitted to council showed similarities between the new assisted living project and a MorningStar Assisted Living project, this one is not expected to have the MorningStar name.
According to an email from Michael Duffy with Shea Connelly Development LLC, the first mixed-use project component “is envisioned as having 16KSF of commercial space, 315 rental residential units and a parking garage.” The second mixed-use component will be very similar but will have 331 rental residential units.
The improvements to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, according to Duffy, “will include widening the Right of Way to include a large median that can accommodate community gatherings, with two one-way street and surface parking.”
According to Airheart, the entire development will be broken down into three phases. “Phase one is the hotel on the south end. Phase two is the assisted living and multifamily on the north parcel and phase three will be the multifamily with retail on the bottom.”
The architect for the La Quinta Inn Hotel is Suina Design. The architect for the senior housing and multifamily components is Landmark Design. Shea Connelly Development LLC will be the developer and the general contractor for the senior housing, both mixed-use and the Martin Luther King Blvd projects. All real estate transactions are being handled by development partner, Commercial Properties Inc.
According to Duffy, “The project will be going through a PAD rezoning that is anticipated to take 120 to 150 days.”
According to Airheart construction on the assisted living and multifamily components are expected to begin construction in late 2019 or early 2020.