By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Gilbert Planning Commission/Design Review Board has unanimously approved a set of requests that will allow for the development of two hotels and three medical office buildings on a 9.45-acre site on the north side of Melrose Street between Val Vista Drive and Rome Street.
The requests associated with the Val Vista & Melrose Mixed-Use project, identified in the submitted documents as Val Vista and Melrose – New Development, sought approval for a set of findings of fact, as well as approval for a site plan, landscaping, grading and drainage, elevations, floor plans, and lighting. The requests were approved with staff’s recommended conditions.
The vacant site already had the correct zoning—Business Park with a Planned Area Development overlay—in place. Surrounding uses consist of the Ironwood Cancer Center & Mercy Center PAD to the north, OrthoArizona and single-family residential to the south, The Center at Val Vista Congregate Care Facility to the east, and commercial uses to the west.
Staff reported that no statements of opposition were received against the proposal.
The three MOBs and two hotel buildings break down as follows, with each building constituting its own construction phase:
- MOB 1: Two floors, 17.2KSF;
- MOB 2: Two floors, 40KSF;
- MOB 3: One floor, 10KSF;
- Hotel 1: 122 rooms, four floors, 60.7KSF, and
- Hotel 2: 80 rooms, four floors; 49KSF.
The proposal calls for four vehicular access points, with primary access provided via two drives coming in from Melrose Street.
The project calls for an unusual, shared approach to parking between the MOBs and the hotels. Specifically, the staff report says, “A total of 387 parking spaces are proposed, compared to the 650 spaces required by code. The applicant has requested an Administrative Use Permit to allow for shared and reduced parking between the medical offices and two hotels, which have differing peak parking demand periods. Specifically, a 25% reduction in the parking requirement for the medical office portion of the development has been proposed. When factoring in shared parking across the two hotel sites within the master site plan, the total reduction of the code-required parking amounts to 40.5%. As identified in the parking study this results in 321 spaces being utilized during peak medical office hours and 222 spaces during the hotels’ peak usage. In summary, the site provides sufficient parking to accommodate both uses during their respective peak demand periods.”
Vice Chair William Fay voiced concerns about the AUP request and the parking proposal during the Dec. 4 meeting. “I think (planning staff) has been led down a path on the AUP. I think the parking is going to be a bigger mess,” he said, adding, “but that’s not the item that’s before us. It’s really just the review here.” He then moved to approve the requests as written, which was seconded by Commissioner Brian Andersen. The vote was 7-0 in favor.
The developer is Phoenix Prospers, LLC. Associated Architects is the design firm and landscape planner. Bowman is the civil engineer. The project is represented by Pew & Lake, PLC.
