Under the proposed plan, the Los Arcos Mall project would shrink from 2.3 million sf to 1.5 million sf, would have fewer parking spaces and include a charge for event parking. The plan also calls for the city to condemn more than 20 acres to the east of the former mall, rather homes to the south, which was proposed by developer Steve Ellman.

The proposal was created to address many of the concerns the city has with Ellman's plan, including density, the need for public facilities like police substations and the condemnation of residential property.The new plan calls for building a neighborhood retail center on a 20-acre parcel to the east of the main 40-acre parcel. Also, the number of parking spaces would be reduced from 10,000 to 9,200 and could go as low as 8,000. The consultant also suggested adding a $5 event parking fee.

With this plan, the city could see an 8.5%return on its investment, up from a projected of 2.8% based on the original plan.The city of Scottsdale will be contributing as much as $100 million to the project, in terms of tax abatement and other incentives.

Ellman, along with partner Wayne Gretzky, is the process of closing on the $87-million purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. It had been expected that Ellman would have closed on the purchase by now, but he ran into financing trouble with a Japanese bank and had to seek additional financing. He has until Feb. 15 to close the deal. The purchase of the team is the first step in the redevelopment of the site.

The project is at the southeast corner of Scottsdale and McDowell roads and includes more than 200,000 sf of retail and office space, condominiums and movie theaters.

Scottsdale will consider zoning issues on the site at tonight's council meeting, and is expected to confirm it's earlier decision to extend the life of the Los Arcos Stadium District, which will provide the public funds to Ellman.

Instant Insights /

Scaled-down Version of $57-Mil Project Proposed

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