$250M Scottsdale Waterfront Plan Advances

Chicago, IL-based Golub & Co., Starwood Capital Group of Greenwich, CT and International Development Management of Austin, TX won unanimous city council approval last month to begin construction on the Scottsdale Waterfront, a long-anticipated project that will forge a commercial link between the high-end Fashion Square Mall and Downtown's existing restaurants and Old West shops. The city will contribute approximately $10 million to the project for canal bank improvements, including the creation of bridges, landscaping, sidewalks and public art displays designed to attract both tourists and residents to the Camelback and Scottsdale Road site.

"It's a very significant project and one that we're looking forward to," Michael Newman, president and CEO of Golub & Co., tells GlobeSt.com. "This property needed to be developed for a long time, not only from a real estate standpoint but from what the city is trying to do with the retail downtown component."

The city is hoping the Scottsdale Waterfront will draw more people into Downtown to boost sales for area merchants. The joint venture project, which will be built in phases, will add 11 buildings to the CBD landscape, including two 13-story and one eight-story luxury residential condominium mid-rises.

Newman, whose firm will undertake its first Arizona venture with the development, says the project's first phase will begin in the spring with the construction of a two-story building comprised of 100,000 sf of ground- and second-floor retail space, 100,000 sf of office condominiums occupying the balance of the second floor and 650 underground and 100 grade-level parking spaces. That phase is expected to be completed by the fall.

Several retailers, including Borders book store and PF Chang's Chinese Bistro, have already signed leases on the upcoming space, with full lease-up anticipated by the building's completion late next year, Newman says. The Fiesta Bowl also will relocate its offices from Tempe into approximately 15,000 sf of office space at the site, where it will also establish a 4,000-sf retail and museum facility.

The development's second phase will include a 13-story building with 116 residential condos, ranging from 1,800 sf to 2,000 sf. Occupancy is anticipated for early to mid-2006. Subsequent phases will include additional residential condominium buildings and shop space with full build-out slated for 2010.