By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Even though the pace of rent growth is cooling and some markets are expressing concern about overbuilding, the combination of rising interest rates and a rare degree of balance between deliveries and absorption is keeping the metro Phoenix multifamily market robust.
A recent article on GlobeSt.com reported single-family occupancy is at its highest rate in two decades. With accommodations similar to – and often indistinguishable from – a traditional owner-occupied home, SFR and BTR attractiveness remains high and may even increase as rising mortgage rates and price inflation keep many potential home buyers out of the purchasing market for the foreseeable future.
As the national launch site and home base for Build-to-Rent and other horizontal multifamily applications – which are expecting better results than other offerings even in the midst of the current economic downturn – developers in the Greater Phoenix market continue to expect good returns and high demand.
After decades of stop-and-start attempts, the Laveen area has experienced a particular boom in development since the announcement and completion of the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway opened another avenue in an out of southwest Phoenix. To date, the DATABEX project database shows 54 projects – including four master plans – in various stages of development. Of those 54, 17 have been completed and 14 are listed as Under Construction.
While a few of the projects – most notably the master plans – do not have valuation or build area estimates available, the ones that do show an impressive overall scale. All told, the total estimated development costs come in at just slightly more than $2B, with a total footprint of more than 18.3MSF.
Residential plays a major part in Laveen’s development growth. DATABEX lists 21 multifamily projects in the area since the database launched in 2016. Of those 21, nine are Build-to-Rent.
Two projects will go before Phoenix’s Laveen Village Planning Committee this week that reflect that ongoing drive to produce and need to deliver.
Matrix at Dobbins Mixed-Use
According to the City planning staff report, Matrix at Dobbins is seeking rezoning of 41.6 acres from existing ranch/farm residential with intermediate commercial in a planned community district to intermediate commercial with height and density waivers to develop a mixed-use development with commercial, build-to-rent and multifamily components.
The proposal divides the subject site at the SWC of 59th Avenue and Dobbins road into three lots. Lot 1 will be the commercial town center and retail plaza, which will be encircled by an interior circulation system for access by both vehicles and pedestrians. Open space and a pedestrian plaza will serve to connect the various buildings.
Lot 2 consists of a 207-unit apartment development featuring seven buildings. A community center on the west side of the development that will connect the units in the sector to each other and to the town center commercial area.
Lot 3 will be made up of 197 units in a one-story multifamily community with clusters of two four-unit buildings. Each building will have a one-car garage and one-car tandem driveway parking. The clusters will have individual open spaces and will connect to a paseo network. Lot 3 will have its own community center to the north of the development area that integrates into the commercial town center.
The proposal takes advantage of an often-underutilized function of project planning in Phoenix that comes from the City’s General Plan, itself. The guidelines recommend development, “Locate land uses with the greatest height and most intense uses within village cores, centers and corridors based on village character, land use needs and transportation system capacity.” However, planning under this model has generally only occurred in the two of Phoenix’s 15 Village Planning areas – Central City and Camelback East.
According to the staff report, “The subject site is in close proximity to the Loop 202 Freeway and Village Core and the proposed commercial corner is in close proximity to the interchange at Dobbins Road. The proximity to the freeway and interchange ensures that increased traffic and activity is concentrated along the transportation corridor.”
Prestige on Vineyard
In the second proposal, Beckshar Development, LLC, is requesting to rezone 11.08 vacant acres at the NEC of Vineyard Road and 39th Avenue from single family to multifamily for a 110-unit bungalow-style multifamily development to be known as Prestige on Vineyard. All the surrounding land uses are single-family.
Most of the units are planned around the perimeter of the site, with the interior occupied by parking, open space, and amenities, such as the leasing office, fitness center and pool. Various open space deployments make up 35.6% of the total area.
The proposal calls for 28 one-bedroom, 58 two-bedroom and 24 two-story/three-bedroom units.
According to comments from the Phoenix Street Department included with the staff report, the project site is located near several trails and bike lanes, including those along Baseline Road and in and around Cesar Chavez Park, which lies half-a-mile away. To make full use of the property’s potential for cycling, one of the stipulations attached to the recommendation for approval calls for a minimum of 28 bicycle parking spaces.
The Laveen Village Planning Committee will hear both projects this week, and both are scheduled to go before the Phoenix Planning Commission on August 4th.
