By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Earlier this month, the Avondale Planning Commission recommended City Council approve a rezoning request to create a 45-acre mixed use development known as The District at Crystal Springs at the SWC of Avondale Blvd. and McDowell Road.
The site is currently zoned Planned Area Development under the 90-acre Crystal Springs PAD from 1999. Half of that area has been developed with residences and a school. The updated PAD for the District at Crystal Springs will replace the easternmost 45 acres for “healthcare, commercial, residential and hospitality uses within a horizontal mixed-use environment,” according to the most recently updated project narrative. The hospitality and commercial uses may include a hotel in addition to restaurants.
Planned uses on The District site include both multifamily and active adult residential, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, hospitality providers and retail.
The site is divided into five parcels, with Parcel A (6.5 acres) being designated as multifamily apartments, Parcels B (3.2 acres) and C (4.1 acres) as commercial, Parcel D (7.8 acres) as an Encompass Health hospital, and Parcel E (23.3 acres) as multifamily townhomes.
Design standards for the commercial uses call for maximum building heights of 30 feet. The apartments will have heights of up to 52 feet, and the maximum height for the townhomes will be 45 feet.
The residential components will offer up to 216 apartments and 268 two-story townhome-style units in three-, four- and five-plex configurations. Townhomes will feature two-car garages, and the gated development will be designed to accommodate on-street visitor parking. The private streets will include pedestrian gates to allow connection to the development’s perimeter and to future commercial uses. Planned amenities include a clubhouse and pool.
The walkable, interconnected multifamily component is intended to serve as a residential base for the development’s healthcare component and to also provide a built-in customer base for the retail and commercial offerings.
The District at Crystal Springs will be platted and developed in multiple phases, with the residential and healthcare components coming first to establish a base for the commercial components, according to the narrative.
The narrative conclusion justifies its benefit to the community by saying, “The District at Crystal Springs PAD has been carefully designed to encourage the appropriate mix of uses that will be compatible with the existing residential and educational uses to the west as well as benefit from the Property’s adjacency to two (2) major transportation corridors and access to Interstate-10. This PAD furthers the goals and vision of the 1999 approved Crystal Springs PAD, while responding to modern needs and market conditions. This PAD is consistent with many of the goals and policies of the City of Avondale’s General Plan 2030 and the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan, as well as furthers the desires of McDowell Road as a healthcare-focused corridor.”
The development team held a neighborhood meeting Feb. 1. No residents or property owners attended.
The property owner is Stotz Farms, Inc. Sparrow Partners, Fifield Companies and Encompass Health are the development partners. Planning and landscape architecture are by Norris Design. Conceptual renderings for the townhome component were produced for Fifield Companies by ktgy Architecture + Planning. Renderings for the apartment development were created for Sparrow Partners by FK Architecture. Kimley-Horn is the civil engineer, and the project is represented by Bergin, Frakes, Smalley + Oberholtzer, PLLC.
