New Build Will Transform the Phoenix Skyline
Aspirant Development has acquired a two-acre site in Downtown Phoenix with plans to develop the tallest building in Arizona.
The Phoenix skyline is getting an upgrade. Aspirant Development has acquired a two-acre land site in Downtown Phoenix with plans to develop the tallest building in Arizona. Aspirant Development purchased the property from Desert Troon for $9.2 million in an off-market deal.
Brent Moser and Mike Sutton, principals at Lee & Associates, brokered the land deal on behalf of the seller. Sutton described the deal as being the right time and the right place for Desert Troon. “Brent and I had a relationship with both the buyer and seller and connected the dots,” Sutton tells GlobeSt.com. “The attributes the property offered—including the size, allowed heights, allowed density and location—set the stage for an iconic project that we knew the buyer would find attractive.”
Aspirant plans to build two towers on the site, including an apartment building, office and a hotel. The property will total 1.8 million square feet with 390 units of class-A luxury apartments, a 254-room, four-star luxury hotel, 190,000 square feet
of class-A office space, 290 co-living units and 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
It seems unusual to see a hotel and office development of this caliber in a post-pandemic world. The property was in escrow a year prior to the pandemic, so the current market conditions didn’t not play a role in the buyers vision for the project. “The real estate market is ever changing and every good developer tries to plan for various possible market shifts,” adds Sutton. “Mixed use projects such as this are built in phases and typically not all sectors of real estate are affected in a market shift so you pivot and lead with the sectors that are thriving, in this case multifamily will pave the way. This project will also take a number of years to build so the sectors that are affected today could be the ones that are flourishing a couple years from now.”
Because the property traded hands prior to the pandemic, there was also no impact on pricing. In addition, the off-market nature of the deal meant there was little expectation on pricing. “We eventually landed at a value through the various offers and meetings we had with Desert Troon and Aspirant Partners,” says Sutton. “At the opening of escrow we feel the agreed upon price reflected the market. Land values in the area have continued to climb as new projects were brought to the sub-market.”