Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate Blog

by Peter Corbett – Dec. 24, 2009 12:00 AM
Arizona Business Gazette

The first of a wave of luxury-retirement communities in the northeast Valley is nearly complete.

Arté, a Scottsdale rental community with independent and assisted-living units, expects its first residents in little more than a week. The three-story complex with 170 units is northeast of 114th Street and Via Linda near the Ancala Country Club.

“We’re signing leases now,” said Jason Craik, Avenir Group vice president. “The demand is fantastic.”

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Avenir has developed five retirement communities in British Columbia that it also manages.

Arté is competing against two large retirement communities that will open in the northeast Valley early next year. That includes the 270-unit Classic Residence at Silverstone southeast of Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale roads, and Sagewood, 342 units at Tatum and Mayo boulevards.

Silverstone and Sagewood are “buy-in” communities, where residents pay a six-figure fee upfront along with monthly charges. Most of the upfront fee is refunded to the family estate when a resident dies.

Arté’s upfront fee is $5,000, and the community’s monthly rent ranges from $2,995 to $6,995.

One-bedroom apartments are 602 to 830 square feet, and the two-bedroom units are 1,272 to 1,337 square feet.

Craik said Arté is getting interest from seniors who had made refundable deposits to the buy-in retirement communities and now are reluctant to pay their entrance fees of $250,000 to $400,000 now that those facilities are nearing completion.

Arté is designed to resemble resort living.

Residents are served lunch and dinner in a formal dining room. The chef is Pedro Toledo, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in Napa, Calif.

He worked for Hyatt Hotels and most recently was executive chef at Classic Residence by Hyatt in Dallas.

Arté amenities include a heated pool and spa, fitness center, library, lounge, pool table, card room, beauty salon, valet parking and a 35-seat theater. Utilities and 150 channels of DirecTV are included.

Arté features an art deco design theme that stands out in the dining room with a chandelier and marble fireplace and dark wood framing a grand staircase in the lobby.

There is a new limo bus to take residents shopping or to appointments.

Arté has 152 units for independent living residents.

 The community also has 18 assisted living suites of 413 to 546 square feet. Prices are $3,700 to $4,400 per month plus two levels of care for $750 or $950 per month.

Other planned retirement communities include Maravilla Scottsdale, 440 units at Scottsdale Road and Princess Drive, and the 370-unit Reyerson project at One Scottsdale northeast of Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road.

www.theholmgroupaz.com

by Peter Corbett – Dec. 21, 2009 10:03 AM
The Arizona Republic

The developer of Optima Camelview Village, with its greenery and contemporary design, unveiled plans this week for a similar seven-story condominium complex at 68th Street and Camelback Road.

Architect David Hovey will seek city approval for 500 condos on 9.8 acres that would replace the vacant Orchidtree Apartments.

“We specifically waited for this site,” which is ideal for a residential, infill project in the central business district, said Hovey, Optima Inc. president.

Optima Camelview has been generally well received in Scottsdale and has won architectural design awards despite strong local opposition to the project in 2004.

Critics said it was too big and would aggravate traffic bottlenecks on the northern edge of downtown.

Similar opposition is anticipated because of the 65-foot height of some of the condo buildings, which would be built just north of the Whitwood neighborhood of one-story ranch homes.

Hovey and his son, David Hovey Jr., also an award-winning architect, have employed zoning attorney John Berry and neighborhood-outreach consultant Susan Bitter Smith to foster the project.

They have been meeting with Scottsdale City Council members to unveil and refine their plans for Optima Sonoran Village.

New plan steps it up

Sonoran Village’s basic structure will be similar to Camelview, but Optima will try to improve on the design as it does with each project it has done over the past 33 years, Hovey said. The company built the Optima Biltmore Towers in Phoenix and has been building condo projects in Chicago for decades.

The proposed project, with underground parking, would leave about four acres of open space on the perimeter of the property and within the building courtyards. The tallest buildings would be in the middle of the site, stepping down toward the edges.

Located at a downtown gateway, the condos would be configured to draw the interest of passersby into the open space, Hovey said.

Sonoran Village would feature the landscaped rooftops and hanging gardens that have distinguished Camelview along with its floor-to-ceiling glass walls and cantilevered balconies.

Condo prices would allow a mix of tenants from young professionals to wealthy retirees, Hovey said.

“It’s not like we’re doing penthouses in Manhattan that only a few people can afford,” he said.

Optima is completing the final phase of Camelview with units priced from $375,000 to $2 million.

Neighborhood opposition

Tom Giller, who lives in the Whitwood neighborhood to the south of the proposed site, said Camelview is OK next to an office building and Scottsdale Fashion Square, but a condo complex does not belong towering over his neighborhood.

“I will plan to oppose it,” said Giller, a frequent critic of taller buildings who ran unsuccessfully for City Council last year.

“Once again, the city Planning Department is in bed with developers and they’re not looking out for the interests of neighbors,” he said.

Activist John Washington said Camelview is an attractive design, but as predicted, it did add to traffic problems on Chaparral Road.

“My answer is the same as it always is: Having seven-story buildings next to a single-family neighborhood is a mistake,” said Washington, adding that Optima is trying to crowd too many people onto the site.

“I would like to see something happen to the site,” he said. “It’s been a nuisance.”

In 2007, a previous condo developer forced out Orchidtree residents and closed the apartments. Those and other development plans for the site collapsed with the housing-market crash.

Optima intends to submit its plans to Scottsdale within a month and hopes the City Council will consider the project by mid-summer.

If approved, construction could start in mid-2011 and phased development would take up to two years, Hovey said.

If you are looking for a condo/loft in the old town area click here:

http://www.theholmgroupaz.com/lofts.htm

by Erin Zlomek – Dec. 11, 2009 01:25 PM
The Arizona Republic

Phoenix-area resorts won’t make as many hires this vacation season due to weak winter travel. But the spring opening of a new casino could be a promising alternative for hundreds of prospective hospitality workers.

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community plans to hire 650 people for its Talking Stick Resort, a $400 million hotel and casino going up at Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road.

The community, which also owns Casino Arizona, will host 12 job fairs through the end of January. Most of the recruited positions are in customer service or vocational fields, though one managerial spot at the spa is still open.  

“We’re looking for that great smile,” said Susan Gerome, the resort’s director of human resources. “Somebody who is not afraid to be noticed. Somebody that is not afraid to approach us . . . It certainly helps if we find individuals who have previously worked in four-diamond properties.”

The job fairs are organized by position.

Here’s what to expect:

• Tuesday and Thursday: Recruiting will begin for housekeepers, security and maintenance positions. This category also includes emergency-medical technicians and security bike patrol.

• Jan. 5 and 7: The community will look to fill all gaming-related positions. These staffers often cash-out tickets and count money.

• Jan. 12, 14 and 16: Hiring will begin for other hotel and spa positions.

• Jan. 19, 21, 26, 28 and 30: All other positions and anything left over from the previous fairs.

The fairs will take place at the Scottsdale Pavilions shopping center near Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road.

by Dawn Gilbertson – Dec. 11, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The Mondrian Scottsdale, one of a dozen hip hotels owned by publicly traded Morgans Hotel Group, is headed for foreclosure.

New York-based Morgans was unable to restructure $40 million in delinquent loans on the 194-room hotel in the Scottsdale Civic Center complex in downtown Scottsdale. It had previously warned that it was unwilling to put any significant amount of money toward a restructuring or to fund the hotel’s operating losses.

A notice of trustee’s sale was filed this week, with an initial auction date of March 10.

The Mondrian, which remains open at 7353 E. Indian School Road, is the latest victim of one of the worst-performing hotel markets in the country.

The W Scottsdale Hotel, a fierce new rival, was threatened with foreclosure but was able to restructure its debt. The InterContinental Montelucia Resort in Paradise Valley faces a foreclosure auction next week. The Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park was sold earlier this week in a bankruptcy auction for a fraction of its previous value.

Phoenix-area hotels and resorts saw occupancy and rates start to fall ahead of the recession in early 2008 and continue to post some of the biggest declines due to a spike in new hotels and a sharp falloff in group meetings.

The local nightlife business, a big part of Mondrian’s business mix with popular bars and the Asia de Cuba restaurant, also is down.

“It’s just a tough economic environment, and we’re doing the best we can do to compete,” said David Morgan, the Mondrian’s general manager.

The Mondrian Scottsdale had a loss, on a cash-flow basis, of about $1.4 million in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, according to a securities filing by Morgans. That excluded $1.8 million in interest expense in the period.

Morgan said Morgans wants to continue managing the hotel because the Mondrian brand is a good fit.

Morgans bought the former James Hotel in mid-2006 for $46.5 million. Earlier, it was a Holiday Inn, among other brands.

Morgans did an extensive remodeling, led by a celebrity designer who billed the new look the “Garden of Eden,” with a stark white exterior and billowing white drapes at the entrance. The renovation was finished in early 2007.

“They’ve done what they can do, but the property itself has got some birth defects,” said Bill Murney, senior vice president in the Phoenix office of hotel investment advisory firm HREC Investment Advisors.

Murney said if the Mondrian name and its trademark bars and restaurants go away, the hotel likely would be at a competitive disadvantage.

www.theholmgroupaz.com