An ambitious plan to build a $200 million, 1 million-square-foot mixed-use convention center and hotel in
The property where the
Lender Stearns Bank filed the notice of trustee sale with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office last month on several parcels north of
The borrower, University Square Investors LLC, is headed by veteran Valley developer Jim Riggs, president of
Riggs declined to comment about the pending foreclosure on the original acquisition loan of $22.1 million. The auction is scheduled for Oct. 23.
“I am not permitted to comment on the record regarding this deal at this time,” Riggs said in an e-mail to the Phoenix Business Journal.
Chris Salomone,
“I can’t predict what will happen, but there is the possibility that a new buyer will purchase it at auction and build it. The project is entitled,” Salomone said.
At a standstill
Just west of
Centerpoint has been at a standstill for more than a year after negotiations proved unsuccessful with primary lender
A statement issued by
But Mark Winkleman, who heads up ML Manager LLC and is attempting to rework existing Mortgages Ltd. real estate loans with numerous developers in town, said
“There’s no way that property is worth anywhere close to $135 million,” Winkleman said.
Nevertheless, Salomone said
That’s also what Mary Ann Miller, president and CEO of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, heard. She expects the project to be finished eventually.
“I was with the Esplanade when it was just two buildings. That took more time than expected,” she said. “Centerpoint will take longer before they’re successful.”
Still, a judge needs to approve the conversion to Chapter 7 and any subsequent deals.
A mixed bag
The eight-story Tempe Gateway office project on
The court-appointed receiver, Sam Womer of
As for developments that had been planned for the rest of downtown
• Tempe Land Co. had an agreement with the city to preserve and redevelop the historic Hayden Flour Mill at the southeast corner of
“We own the land, the flour mill. We have total control,” Salomone said.
• To maintain the validity of a permit it pulled last year to build a third office tower at Hayden Ferry Lakeside, at the northeast corner of
“The building is ready to go when the market and the economy are ready to support preleasing and construction of a 250,000-square-foot, 10-story, Class A office building,” said SunCor President and CEO Steve Betts.
A potential hotel across the street, part of the master plan, is still in the works, Salomone said.
“They’ve brought in some other partners, and they fully expect the hotel market to come back. They are reworking the deal,” Salomone said.
• The redevelopment of Centerpoint on Mill at the northwest corner of
• The city has no current information regarding the Lumina Tempe high-rise condominium project that had been proposed at Veterans Drive and College Avenue; the 100 Mill Avenue mixed-use project, proposed for the site surrounding Monti’s La Casa Vieja at the northwest corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway; nor the Mosaic project, which was to have included a Whole Foods grocery store, at the northwest corner of University Drive and Ash Avenue.
Salomone said he has not heard from anyone associated with those three projects in months.
