Another Office Project Keeps Deer Valley Sizzling

Roth Development Corp., a Phoenix-based development company, plans to break ground by year-end on the Deer Valley Centre, a 145,000-sf, Class A office building near the soon-to-be-completed Loop 101 in north Phoenix. The speculative project is being built at the northeast corner of Loop 101 and 7th Avenue.

"On Loop 101 and between I-17 and the Squaw Peak Parkway, companies see the opportunity to attract employees from both the north Phoenix and Scottsdale areas because of the convenient location," says Ken Roth, president of the firm. Tenant demand, improved freeway accessibility and a growing labor pool are the three strongest factors driving development in the area, Roth says.

Del Webb's Anthem, a massive master-planned community that will have as many as 50,000 residents at buildout, is attracting additional residential development to the area, which will bring even more amenities to the area, Roth points out. Anthem is about 10 miles north of the Deer Valley Centre project site.

The two-story office project is expected to attract tenants in the insurance, financial services, communications and technology fields, Roth says. The Deer Valley Centre is scheduled for completion by mid-2002. The Phoenix office of Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the project.

The area along Interstate 17, north and south of the Loop 101, has attracted a number of office developments in the past two years, as the freeway project progressed. Completion of the loop, which will connect I-17 to the Squaw Peak Parkway and run into Scottsdale, is expected by 2002. Some major corporate clients that have leased or developed office space in the area include: Petsmart, Safeway, Chubb Insurance, Honeywell and USSA Insurance.

The Deer Valley office submarket began the year with a vacancy rate of 0.7%, pushed effectively to zero by more than 100,000 sf of absorption during 2000, according to Tim Whittemore, a broker with Cushman & Wakefield. The absorption rate is that much more impressive considering the submarket's total office inventory is less than one million sf.