Global Technology Campus Revives South Scottsdale

By Scott Blair

Rising from the long-empty former site of Los Arcos Mall, SkySong will provide south Scottsdale with a vibrant 1.2 million-sq-ft mixed-use development focusing on global technology.

In a once-booming area of Scottsdale, the residents in the neighborhood surrounding the former site of Los Arcos Mall were anxious for a new development to provide economic vitality again. Various proposals came and went, including a new stadium for the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, which eventually relocated to Glendale.

The proposal that finally won over the city and neighborhood was SkySong, a 1.2 million-sq-ft mixed-use development to be built over a 10-year period.

“One of the goals for the city of Scottsdale was the revitalization of this area,” says Michele Irwin, spokesperson for the SkySong development team. “While not a mall, this project has already created the stability that the neighbors and other developers were looking for.”

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The $350 million project is being developed through a unique public-private partnership including ASU Foundation, Chicago-based Higgins Development Partners, Peoria, Ariz.-based The Plaza Cos. and USAA Real Estate Co.

The first building, SkySong 1, which broke ground in March 2006, was recently completed by construction manager-at-risk Sundt Construction Inc. of Phoenix. The four-story, 155,000-sq-ft office building will soon be joined by a second identical structure, SkySong 2, which Sundt broke ground on last month.

ASU will lease half of the first building, with the remaining space being occupied by various global high-tech firms.

“SkySong embraces ASU's vision in creating a New American University that is a center for innovation, creativity and an entrepreneurial culture,” says Michael Crow, ASU president. “It will be home to local and global businesses and ASU programs all committed to stimulating new forms of commerce, research, technology, art and education.”

In July 2001, the engineering division’s transportation expertise was put to the test after being selected to provide design and construction support services for the Hoover Bypass Project by the Federal Highway Administration. The $238 million project entails a 1,960-ft span across the Colorado River Gorge just south of Hoover Dam, with twin concrete cast-in-place arches rising more than 900 ft above the river. Supported by 15 vertical piers rising from each arch, the roadway will join Arizona and Nevada upon completion in late 2010.

The master plan for the 37-acre site was created by design architect Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York City along with the Phoenix office of DMJM, which was the architect-of-record on the project.

Paramount in the design criteria was a heavily-landscaped, pedestrian-friendly atmosphere with ample open space, even though the project is located on the major intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell roads. “The master plan is a very internally-focused project,” Irwin says.

Normally, a developer would begin on the most valuable corner first and then work their way back, she says. However, the first two office buildings at SkySong are near the center of the site, while the perimeter features open space. Eventually there will be four rectangular buildings which surround a plaza at the center, formed by the intersection of two streets bisecting the site into quadrants.

“We had always conceived of the buildings not as the focus but as making an appropriate background to the public space,” says Georgia Sarkin, project architect with Pei Cobb Freed. With retail planned for the ground floor, the upper stories were set back 15-ft to accentuate the retail component and make it more pedestrian-friendly. This allows the office space to recede from the public view, Sarkin says.

SkySong 1 and 2 are both steel-framed structures with EIFS exteriors. The ground floor will be skinned with Arizona sandstone, while the upper stories feature stucco.

Phoenix-based Schuff Steel provided approximately 800 tons of structural steel for the first building. “The schedule was a challenge as we required early mill order placement to secure the required steel,” says Robert Vanderhei, vice president of business development with Schuff.

The project team faced rising costs since pre-construction began in 2004. “Escalation has taken our industry and our stakeholders by surprise,” says Joseph Wheeler, senior project manager with Sundt. “The old rules of thumb that we all used to use - the cost per square foot and ratios - may need to be thrown out the window now, because they just no longer apply.”

Sundt self-performed the site work and infrastructure installation, and is also the CMAR for the streetscape environments and landscaping for the entire site.

One of the most striking features on the site will be a 125-ft tall tensile fabric structure that rings the central plaza. A series of steel A-frames will support fabricated steel 'banana' trusses, upon which the fabric will be draped, according to Wheeler.

“It is an iconic structure which defines the plaza, offers shade and provides a place for gathering and lively interaction of tenants, students, visitors and neighbors,” Sarkin says.

SkySong 1 was built to LEED certification standards. “We separate all of our construction waste streams and we separate fiber material, metals, cardboards and plastics on-site,” Wheeler says.

Despite the ample landscaping, plant selection has been focused on reducing the amount of irrigation, says Brion Boucher, associate vice president with DMJM. Even the condensate from air conditioners will be collected in a 3,600-gal storage tank to provide for a water feature in the plaza.

SkySong required the combined participation of the university, government and private development in order to succeed, says Irwin. “By combining the benefits, resources and expertise of all three, you get a very unique project where the sum is more than the whole of its parts.”

Key Players

Developers: Higgins Development Partners; The Plaza Cos.
Devel. Partners: ASU Foundation; USAA Real Estate Co.
Architect: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; DMJM Design
General Contractor: Sundt Construction
Subcontractors: Sundt Concrete; Schuff Steel; Pete King; DP Electric; HACI Mechanical Contractors; WJ Maloney Plumbing Co

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