Town Lake towers moving fast
HAYDEN FERRY LAKESIDE OFFICE BUILDING #2 - LOBBY
Lakeside 2 building opens, 3rd planned
Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 21, 2007 12:00 AM
Hundreds of people gathered at Tempe's newest high rise Thursday night to see firsthand how quickly things are happening alongside Tempe Town Lake.
At the unveiling for the 12-story Hayden Ferry Lakeside Tower 2, Randy Levin, a vice president at SunCor Development Co., announced that the building is 70 percent leased and that the company filed plans this week with Tempe to begin construction of the third tower. Levin is vice president of design and urban infill development.
He also said construction will begin in a month or two on Le Meridien at Tempe Town Lake, a 183-room, 14-story European style hotel that is scheduled to also open in mid-2009.
The lobby of the new Hayden Ferry Lakeside building, which opened a month ago, gives you the experience of being under a floating ship.
It has backlit, sapphire-blue walls resembling water and a ceiling designed to look like the bottom of a ship.
Levin said the lobby design should make workers enjoy going to work.
"It's not just going to work each day. It's an experience each day," he said.
SunCor also turned on a three-story, blue-lighted ship's mast on the outside of the newest building that will be visible to motorists driving by on the Loop 202 Freeway across the lake. It is meant to mark the entrance into Tempe, Levin said.
The second tower has about 10 tenants. DFD CornoyerHedrick, an architectural firm that designed the building, will move in June 1, and KPMG, an international tax and audit firm, will move in May 1.
Julie Lemmon, an attorney who lives in north Tempe, was especially impressed with the 10th floor balcony view that shows off the lake and downtown Tempe.
"It's a spectacular view that you couldn't have seen before because there was nothing this high before," she said.
Her husband, James Lemmon, a member of the Tempe Elementary School District board, salivated over the value of the new properties, which he said will help give the district more money.
"It's nice to see this much assessed valuation," he said.
The building is the fourth finished at Hayden Ferry Lakeside. Three more are under construction and two are being planned. Edgewater, with 40 residential condos, is sold out, Suncor staff said. The second condo tower, Bridgeview, is half sold and half finished, they said. It will have 104 units.
As for the first Hayden Ferry Lakeside office tower, SunCor has leased all but about 15,000 square feet on the bottom and is reserving that for quality restaurants, Levin said. He said the company will begin soliciting those next week. Bill Hendrich, president of the engineering firm Morrison Maierle, Inc., a tenant in the first tower, said the location is perfect. Competition is intense for engineers, he said, and being next to Arizona State University gives the company access to interns and graduates and gives the employees an opportunity to take classes and teach. Plus, he said, it is near the planned light rail line.
"When you are competing for engineers, you have a need for a nice place for them to work," he said.
Tom Tokoph's View:
I had the pleasure to attend this event and I must say, I was very impressed! The Hayden Ferry Lakeside development has the potential to become one of the BEST live/work/play environments in the entire state of Arizona. Suncor is building this property the right way. They are taking their time with tenants- keeping in mind the cart before the horse theory. If all goes as planned, many a urbanite will call Hayden Ferry Lakeside their home!
If you have any interest in being a part of this new development, and relish the idea of exchanging the hassle of traffic with a short walk to the heart of the city, please call Tom Tokoph with Urban Realty & Development. We would be more than happy to tell you all about the fantastic growth of downtown Tempe including Hayden Ferry Lakeside.
