Historic Redevelopment

Planning and Building Chandler’s New Core

By David M. Brown

With the combined efforts of city officials, private developers and committed non-profits, the historic core of Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, is being revitalized and reinvigorated.

advertisement

Booming Chandler is spiffing up its historic downtown with town homes, mixed-use developments, street improvements and municipal buildings. Approximately $400 million of private and public projects are in the planning and development stages.

“Downtown Chandler represents a unique and historical aspect of our past,” says Mayor Boyd W. Dunn. “Our efforts to redevelop the area and keep many aspects of its original look and feel not only pay tribute to our rich heritage but also create a wonderful new energy for residents and visitors.”

The Chandler Commercial Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, includes listed buildings constructed between 1913 to the 1940s. The area is protected with a zoning district.

Somewhat larger in scope, the Enhanced Municipal Services District, managed by the nonprofit Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, comprises an improvement area from approximately Chandler Boulevard south to Frye Road, and Delaware Street west to, variously, Dakota, California and Oregon streets.

Future development is also expected in adjacent areas south to Pecos Road, says Teri Killgore, the city’s downtown redevelopment manager, whose role is to oversee and coordinate downtown development.

She adds that the city has adopted the South Arizona Avenue Area Plan, which will help guide the coordination of land uses downtown. A larger South Arizona Avenue design project is just now going to City Council. It includes landscape and architectural themes as well as more detailed aesthetic plans.

For the northwest quadrant of downtown - west of Arizona Avenue and north of Frye Boulevard - Chandler is also working on a master plan. As part of the bond approved for the area, the city will soon be hiring a design firm to codify development standards, Killgore says.

“A downtown is important because it’s an opportunity for a community to make a statement about what it is and what it wants to become,” she says.

Shopping on Main Street

The new downtown includes restaurants, shops and boutiques - many renovations of historic properties.

Built in 1912-1913, the historic 295-room Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort is the city’s grande dame. A $7 million renovation was completed in 1998, and another $7.5 million has recently been invested.

Chandler is redeveloping key areas of its downtown core, including many historic buildings such as Hotel Chandler, originally built in 1914. Photo courtesy City of Chandler

The historic 11,500-sq-ft Arrow Pharmacy at Arizona Avenue and Boston Street has been subdivided for five new retail spaces. Chandler’s Mike Flanders was the architect, and Alex Westwood of Peoria-based A. Westwood General Construction was the builder.

Adjacent to the San Marcos Resort, Sushi Eye in Motion features the only conveyor belt sushi bar in the Phoenix area. Owner Paul Cho says Japanese engineers took three days installing the bar before his opening in November. Esquire Architects of Scottsdale was the architect, and Mesa’s Walker & Sons the contractor.

Just north, in the ‘50s vintage former Valley National Bank branch, Chandler-based Desert Viking is developing mixed-use space. The space at South San Marcos Place and West Commonwealth Avenue will house Images Salon & Spa and the San Tan Brewing Company, the city’s first downtown brewery/restaurant. A new colonnade along Commonwealth is an additional attraction. Desert Viking is the general contractor and Phoenix’ Marlene Imirzian & Associates Architects the designer.

A major contributor to the renaissance of the area is Peter Sciacca, owner of diSciacca, who began his custom glassware business in Chandler 11 years ago. He has recently moved into, and renovated, the Rowena Theater building, 81 W. Boston St. - built in the 1920s as Chandler’s first movie theater.

Friend and architect Kristjan Sigurdsson, principal of Phoenix-based K & I Architects, offered the design, and A. Westwood did the construction. Sciacca spent $500,000 on renovation, including cherry wood floors and slate and glass tiles to create the glass art gallery. In addition to replacing the old screen, Sciacca added a second story and converted the orchestra pit into a glass design library and safe house.

The building uses alternative solar power, which supplies nearly 20% of the electricity used, Sciacca says. Completed November 2005, the renovation received the city’s Architectural Merit Award.

Sciacca has also revitalized two neighboring properties: Kizake, 91 W. Boston, an upscale Japanese/Asian sushi and martini bar/restaurant that features a 2,000-sq-ft outdoor dining area, opening this spring; and Vivi’s Boutique, 95 W. Boston, with upscale fashionable women’s clothing, which opened in December 2007 in what was Chandler’s first Post Office, built 1926. Both properties retained the original tin ceilings.

Robert Brown & Associates served as architect for both shops. Peoria’s Radu Opat was the contractor for the restaurant, while a variety of local contractors worked at the boutique.

Sciacca says he expects to convert another property, 260 S. Arizona Ave., into a wholesale glass store for restaurants and hotels. He expects to complete the 6,700-sq-ft project by the end of 2008 or early 2009.

On the east side of Arizona Avenue, Serrano’s, the local family-owned restaurant group that began in downtown Chandler, is building a three-story, 29,000-sq-ft office and retail development at Boston and Washington streets, with retail space along the ground floor. The original restaurant will remain in its current location. Groundbreaking is expected this month.

The architect for the Serrano Building is Chandler’s Mike Flanders, and A. Westwood is the builder.

Next door, the same architect and contractor recently completed the 12,000-sq ft Inspirador, 63. E. Boston St. Owned by Gilbert resident Dilia Wood, the events complex includes a retail boutique and contemporary art gallery as well as an outdoor courtyard and catering/prep kitchen for weddings and private events. The original structure dates to 1916. “When we got to the project, the building was a dilapidated junk shop,” Wood notes.

A Home Downtown

Two major residential developments are drawing an upscale crowd downtown.

Completed in September, the three-acre 123 Washington features 54 town homes just east of Arizona Avenue on Chandler Boulevard. The developer, Chandler 54, was a joint venture of Tempe-based Benton-Robb Development Associates and Scottsdale contractors Mike Smith and Joe Sacco. Phoenix’ Todd & Associates was the architect.

The gated community includes brownstone-style homes from 1,424 to 1,825 sq ft that range in price from $239,000 to $300,000. Some of the floor plans can accommodate a live/work environment, with commercial suites at street level and living space above.

The group is also working with the city in developing a complementing concept plan for the adjacent half of Site 7 - a 2.5-acre mixed-use corner parcel fronting Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard.

“We are planning to include retail and office, with a possible boutique hotel on the top floors,” Sacco says.

Nearby, developed by Desert Viking, the San Marcos Commons project is a $100 million mixed-use community featuring 79 town homes, more than 152,000 sq ft of new retail and office space, 50 luxury condominiums and a 540-car multilevel parking structure. Todd and Associates of Phoenix was the architect and Scottsdale’s Residential Builders the contractor.

The town homes are across from the San Marcos Resort on the southwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard. They include two and three bedrooms, 1,340 to 2,020 sq ft, with two-car attached garages, starting at $280,000. The three furnished models opened in February.

The first phase consists of 37 homes; 25 have sold through the end of the first quarter.

Downtown Lights

The city is planning a variety of improvements and projects of its own.

The Chandler Center for the Arts is pursuing a major renovation of its interior. Opened in 1989, the 64,000-sq-ft, multiuse performing and visual-arts complex is jointly owned and maintained by the city and the Chandler Unified School District.

From May 2009 to May 2010, the center expects to replace the mainstage rigging system; install an orchestra pit lift; upgrade the HVAC, fire alarm and telecommunications systems; repair seats; remodel production offices and backstage elements; and install new signage, says manager Katrina Mueller.

The Phoenix office of Westlake Reed Leskosky is the architect and the contractor is Phoenix-based Brignall Construction Co.

The new fire administration building at Boston and Washington streets will include an emergency operations center. It should break ground in July, with a move-in by May 2009, says the city’s assistant fire chief, Tom Carlson. Perlman Architects of Scottsdale provided design for the three-story, 15,000-sq-ft building. Layton Construction of Phoenix is the general contractor.

A $70 million city hall is also being built along Arizona Avenue, just south of Serrano’s restaurant. Scheduled for completion in December 2010, the building will include most city operations as well as new council chambers. The Phoenix office of SmithGroup was recently hired as the architect.

Street improvements along Arizona Avenue, south of A.J. Chandler Park, are in the design phase. Funded through $60 million in voter-approved bonds, improvements will include reducing Arizona Avenue to two lanes in each direction, heavily landscaped medians, widened sidewalks, intersection upgrades and new signals at Frye Road and Fairview Street as well as the creation of a pedestrian and bike corridor along Washington. This project will also include major utility upgrades to facilitate planned density along the corridor. TriStar Engineering is the design firm.

Also underway is a parking study of the area from Chandler to Frye.

The city is working with Desert Viking to develop what it calls Sites 4, 5 and 6. The multi-acre projects will add retail, high-density residential and space for a relocating Chandler Museum. A conference center and hotel is also being considered, the city’s Killgore says.

Maricopa County has also recently completed a $5.1 million 26,500-sq-ft County Justice Court at Frye and Washington. And, Chandler High School, just north of Chandler Boulevard, has recently completed $30 million in renovations, including new athletic facilities and a technology and industry building.

Useful Sources :
For more information, visit www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=148

Viking Navigates the Renewal of Downtown Chandler By David M. Brown Niels E. Kreipke and Michael W. Hogarty are warriors of the desert. For a decade, the principals of Chandler-based Desert Viking have battled for the redevelopment of downtown Chandler. The diverse family of companies was founded to develop key in-fill real estate projects, provide property management, historic rehabilitation and general contracting. Before embarking on their current mixed-use San Marcos Commons project, much of their early work was rehabilitating older buildings. The first phase of San Marcos Commons consists of 37 homes, 25 of which have been sold. Delivery will begin this month, and the second phase of 42 homes will begin shortly. Photo courtesy Desert Viking One of the first of these rehabilitation projects was the Historic Gold Spot, Third Avenue and Roosevelt Street in downtown Phoenix, a Spanish Colonial and Mission Revival project that received the 2004 Governor’s Heritage Honor Award and Arizona’s Environmental Architecture Award. Opened in September 1925 as one of the first neighborhood shopping centers in Phoenix, the 12,257-sq-ft Spanish Colonial and Mission Revival building, with its distinctive parapets, had been vacant since 1983 until the company acquired it in 2001. Desert Viking fortified its structure, replaced all utilities, changed the roof and returned the exterior brickwork to its original condition. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of Desert Viking’s rehab work has been in Chandler. Projects include the renovation of the 1916 Suhwaro Hotel, which was also the city’s first bowling alley and first library - purchased in 1998 by Desert Viking with the adjacent post office. The property was empty for 20 years. The rehabilitation, under the guidelines of the National Preservation Office and the National Park Service, won the Arizona Heritage Preservation Award. Following were the 1914 Hotel Chandler; the Monroe Building of 1912, which served as the Parkway Theater in World War II and won the Arizona Preservation Honor Award in 2002; the Rowena Theater, from 1920, originally called the Chandler Theater; and the 1945 Thomas Building. “The smart money may have said demolish them,” says Hogarty, a Yale University graduate who worked in upper management for Johnson & Johnson, Best Foods and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream before his construction and development career. “We said, ‘No.’”

Click here for next Feature Story >>