High Style

Centerpoint Condos Have Tempe Looking Up

By David M. Brown

This $149 million condo project is rising up to 30 stories above downtown Tempe. Wedged into a tight site surrounded by other structures, construction crews have literally risen to the challenge.

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Centerpoint Condominiums are taking Tempe to a new level.

The first phase of the $149 million project - one of the largest urban residential development currently under construction in the Valley - comprises 22- and 30-story residential towers. Two additional towers will follow in the two-year second phase. All four towers are post-tension concrete.

The project is being developed by Tempe-based Avenue Communities, a firm established by principals Ken Losch, David Dewar and Jamie Dawson that also has developed Third Avenue Lofts in downtown Scottsdale as well as VENU and EDGE at Grayhawk in north Scottsdale. It also is redeveloping the historic Hayden Flour Mill a few blocks from the Centerpoint project.

The 1.6-million-sq-ft, mixed-use Centerpoint project is on approximately five acres bordered by Ash Avenue to the west, Maple Avenue to the east, Fifth Street to the north and Centerpoint Plaza to the south. It is intended to be a center point of the downtown Tempe Mill Avenue District.

Construction on the first and second towers began in September 2005. One tower will include 176 condominiums and the other 188, with floor plans from approximately 500-sq-ft studios to 2,800-sq-ft-plus, three-bedroom, 3.5-bath homes to penthouses with over 7,200 sq ft.

Studios start in the mid-$300,000s while larger units start at over $1 million.

The towers share a 30,000 sq-ft, amenities-rich Great Room on the seventh level. Residents can take advantage of a fitness center, two theaters, a dedicated chef, business center, concierge and a video game lounge.

A 23,150-sq-ft public plaza will weave the community into the downtown fabric as will 20,000 sq ft of retail, including Kitchen Market Caffe, a gourmet-café grocery in partnership with Chef Michael DeMaria of Michael’s at the Citadel; DeMaria’s signature restaurant, Trattoria M; a bakery; and PurVine, a wine-making facility in conjunction with Signorello Vineyards of Napa Valley, Calif.

Avenue Communities, which is serving as the general contractor, expects the first tower to open in late spring 2008, with the second tower approximately six months thereafter. When the four towers are completed, the community will comprise more than 800 condominium homes and 2,000 residents.

The Centerpoint design and build team includes an architectural collaboration of the Phoenix office of Gould Evans Associates and Hancock/Bruckner/Eng + Wright of Vancouver, B.C. Engineers include the Phoenix office of Glotman Simpson (structural) and Krall Civil Engineering of Phoenix.

Tight Site and Deep Dig

Centerpoint’s tight urban site, which neighbors businesses and a Tempe fire station, has meant that “staging, delivery and material removal required city support so that existing businesses and residents were not disrupted by the construction work,” says Richard Labonte, project manager for Avenue Communities.

Martin L. Tovrea, AIA, NCARB, vice president for Gould Evans, adds, “Staging and material deliveries need to be constantly monitored.”

To incorporate the site into the existing downtown, the design team compressed phases one and two. “This allowed for the extension of Sixth Street to bend around the phases and to open up the street grid again to urban circulation,” says Allan Maguire, senior project manager for Avenue Communities.

To maintain good neighbor relationships, the company coordinated with the adjacent Marriott Courtyard hotel so that its guests could expect quiet and unobstructed stays.

While shoring for the underground parking, the team ensured that ingress and egress to and from the adjacent Tempe Fire Department’s station was not impeded.

In addition, the city allowed, but closely monitored, extended-hours work at the site for shift work.

“This was a challenge for trades, as they are not used to this kind of construction environment in the Valley,” Labonte notes. In the desert, horizontal sites with adjacent open areas are the norm. Trades had to coordinate 24-hour crane and hoist schedules well in advance.

The project incorporated an international design team and complied with FAA height restrictions associated with Sky Harbor International Airport flight paths. In addition, the design had to satisfy city ordinances and codes.

“We have a great relationship with the city,” Losch says. “They have been very supportive of our community, and we have worked together tirelessly to make certain that, when issues come to light, we immediately take action to resolve them.”
The first phase also required extensive excavation and shoring on three sides for the four-story-deep underground parking facility. More than 28,000 cu yds of dirt were removed to a depth of 58 ft. “We found a lot of river rock, too,” from the nearby Salt River, Labonte says.  

The construction team tapped the water table higher than expected, partly due to recent heavy rains. The garage also had to be dewatered, requiring drilling eight wells to an average of 80 ft. To clear the water, the team pumped 24 hours a day at 1,000 gallons an hour for 11 months.

Skilled labor was also a challenge, at least when the project started. “The market has somewhat leveled since then, but we had some concern for labor availability two years ago because of the high level of building activity in the Valley,” Labonte says.

Maguire adds that as materials costs-for concrete, for example-increased early on, Avenue Communities locked in pricing to avoid cost overruns.

Concrete has been a focus. In fact, the largest concrete pour for the project occurred in 13 hours May 15 and 16, 2006, when approximately 4,015 cu yds of concrete were poured below grade. Three pumps worked at a rate of about 330 yds per hour, outputting 7,470 tons.

Additionally, about 230 tons of reinforcing steel were used, resulting in a total weight of 7,700 tons. This entailed $1 million in construction costs and 400 concrete mixer truckloads.

The shape of the building, along with the skewed column lines, made layout challenging, and the small footprint of each floor restricted the slab placements to one pour per floor, says Larry Erps, senior project manager for Tempe-based Ceco Concrete Construction. “The large amount of vertical work created by the columns and walls, along with the one-deck-pour-per-floor scenario, caused some work flow and continuity issues for the vertical and deck-forming crews,” he adds.

Additionally, a large amount of high-strength, 8,000-psi concrete had to be placed during the summer months, when ambient air temperatures exceeded 110 degrees. “Specifications restricted concrete placement to be complete within 90 minutes from the time each load was batched,” says Erps, whose crews will pour and place a total of 55,000 cu yds for phase one.

“The heat of this past summer also really tested our crews,” he adds. “Even with starting times as early as midnight, they put in long hard days in brutal conditions. My hat is off to them.”

Useful Sources
Visit the project’s website at www.centerpointaz.com

Key Players

Developer/General Contractor: Avenue Communities
Architect: Gould Evans Associates; Hancock/Bruckner/Eng + Wright
Engineers: Glotman Simpson; Krall Civil Engineering; Sterling Cooper and Assoc.; Arnold Nemetz & Assoc.
Concrete: Ceco Concrete Construction
Electrical: Hatfield-Reynolds Electric Co.
Mechanical: HACI Mechanical Contractors
Steel: Powers Steel & Wire
Other: PCI Performance Contracting; Danco Plumbing; Allan Window Technologies

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