How the Watermark Is “Reshaping” the Tempe Skyline

Fenix Development is aiming to transform the Tempe skyline with its latest project, The Watermark. The Los Angeles-based developer is building a 1.9 million-square-live-work-play complex sprawling over 15 acres in Tempe Town Lake. Construction started last year, and the includes a 265,000-square-foot, eight-story class-A, spec office tower above a seven-story parking garage, a 360-unit luxury apartment complex, 44,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a 250-room on-site hotel. The office tower and a potion of the retail space is the first phase of the project, and will deliver in 2019.

“As one of the fastest growing regions in the country, the greater Phoenix metro is continually evolving—from its people to its culture to its buildings. In Tempe, home to Arizona State University and a budding tech hub located just minutes from downtown Phoenix, a new kind of suburban office destination is being led by developers with an eye on the future,” Mike Loretz, project manager with Fenix

Development, tells GlobeSt.com. “Tempe has all the right metrics to become its own metropolitan city, just like Phoenix. Rental rate growth is the highest in the state, job growth figures are over double the national average, and population growth is astonishing. Big cities are built vertically, and this municipality truly gets that. In the next 5-10 years, we see Tempe growing to be the next Austin.”

The market is poised for major growth in the coming years, and Fenix wanted this project to serve as an example of the future. The office tower will be the beginning, bringing a new style of quality office space to the market, along with amenities like an eighth floor sky deck, offering 360-degre views, and restaurant and retail space. This could be the beginning of more high-rise development. “The vision behind Watermark was to create an environment that would redefine the term mixed-use development, and while we felt that while Tempe had so many successful office projects, none of those truly incorporated that mixed-use synergy that our current and future generations expect and want to experience,” says Loretz. “An office should be more than a ‘space’ – it should inspire, connect and bring people together as a home away from home.”

Fenix isn’t only designing the property for the future of the market but also a future with fewer cars. It worked with design firm Nelsen Partners to create a parking structure that can be incorporated into the building’s square footage in the future. For example, the parking garage’s ventilation screens can be replaces windows. “While it would have been less cost prohibitive to locate the parking elsewhere, we knew we wanted to place the parking and office space in one setting to create a constant sense of energy and life throughout the project that couldn’t be replicated otherwise,” explains Loretz. “This is a legacy project for Fenix and has been meticulously crafted to the highest of standards. This is what the future of Tempe looks like.”