Phoenix residents John and Delphine Rigoli had their hearts set on Unit 2008 in the new downtown 44 Monroe condominium tower.
But it had nothing to do with the view or the floor plan.
"My wife wanted that unit number," John said, "because that’s when everything seems to be coming downtown."
That’s the year light-rail cars are scheduled to roll down the tracks carrying students to and from a new downtown ASU campus. It’s also when the revamped Phoenix Civic Plaza opens across from a new 31-story, publicly financed hotel.
The Rigolis are not gamblers by trade, but they are among the hundreds of people willing to bet that these projects will transform the city’s sleepy downtown into a hub of activity.
Downtown living is suddenly very hot, with more than 1,700 residential units just opening, planned or starting construction soon. And the biggest fuel to the fire is the Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix Campus.
The school will launch its first classes next fall, but it is the second phase in 2008 that is expected to bring the real boon: 8,000 students, as well as faculty and staff members.
"(ASU was) bigger than the light rail, bigger than Civic Plaza; the day that that was announced, people just had to buy," said Eric Brown, founder and president of Artisan Homes. "I’ve never in my life seen a light switch turn on like that."
Brown, who recently merged Artisan into Engle Homes, is one of several developers who stand to benefit from the downtown transformation. Homes in his 105-unit Artisan Village, at Seventh and Roosevelt streets, went quickly, for $150,000 to $300,000 per unit. The property is sold out.
Similar stories can be heard across downtown: Summit at Copper Square, a 165-unit high-rise at Fourth and Jackson streets, across Fourth from Bank One Ballpark, has logged more than 3,000 inquiries from potential buyers, developer W Developments LLC of Chicago said.
About 90 people signed conditional sales contracts in the past two weeks for units that range in price from $199,000 to $965,000,said Anthony Trakas, a sales representative for the project.
Eddie Chang is among them.
The 25-year-old apartment broker snapped up a two-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath unit on the eighth floor.
"To me, it was a no-brainer," said Chang, a self-described Diamondbacks fanatic who owns a condo in downtown Scottsdale. "Phoenix is true urban living."
Chang knows he’s taking a risk that all that is promised for downtown becomes reality. But, "I really think you’ll see, by the end of the decade, a totally different city," he said.
Downtown’s new and future residents believe ASU, along with the other high-dollar projects like the Translational Genomics Research Institute, will fuel new retail, restaurants and people.
They talk confidently of new grocery stores and cafes, streets crowded with pedestrians and diverse entertainment venues and late-night hotspots.
"It’s just kind of neat to see all the growth down here," said Jesse Hunt, a 25-year-old airline pilot who moved into the Orpheum Lofts three months ago. "It’s kind of like a renaissance before my eyes. And I think ASU really just backs up all the downtown plans."
Developers and real estate agents say Hunt and Chang are largely representative of those eager to grab a piece of downtown real estate.
They say they’re getting lots of calls from 20- and 30-somethings, most of whom are single or married without children. They have decent jobs and are interested in moving out of suburbia and into an urban core.
Jay Butler, director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University, said there has always been an interest in the urban lifestyle, but there hasn’t been the housing stock in Phoenix until now.
But young people aren’t the only ones buying.
John Rigoli, for example, is 64. He and his wife, the future occupants of Unit 2008, are empty nesters, and they love the idea of being able to walk to the theater, to art shows and nearby restaurants.
"The lifestyle is so much more fun and exciting," Rigoli said. "We had our four children, and that was a wonderful time, but it was a different time.
"Now that they are grown, there are different opportunities for us."
David Wallach, developer of the $40 million-plus Summit at Copper Square project, said interest from the public "has been beyond what we ever imagined."
Ryan Zeleznak, a principle with Grace Communities, the company building the 44 Monroe tower, echoes those comments.
His property originally was proposed to be 65 units. But plans were scrapped after the units sold out almost instantly. The company now is building a 176-unit, 34-story high-rise.
"It’s finally happening here," Zeleznak said. "In three to four years, you will see a brand-new Phoenix."
His company also intends to build what could be a 50-story condominium tower where the Ramada-Inn Downtown is, at First and Polk streets. They haven’t worked out the details yet.
Phoenix Downtown Development Director Pat Grady estimates that the residential projects planned or under consideration will add "a couple of thousand" new units to the downtown housing market.
The city’s downtown plan calls for as many as 10,000 units in the next decade.
Despite the building excitement over downtown living, there is a down side. Some of the very people Phoenix is trying to lure downtown could soon be priced out of the market.
Consider that units at 44 Monroe start at about $300,000 for a 780-square-foot space, Zeleznak said. The new Portland Place Condominiums also start at the low $300s and run up to more than $1 million, officials said.
"I get 300 or 400 calls a month from people interested in downtown living, about half of whom are about my age," said Nicholas Yale, a 28-year-old real estate agent. "Most of them are shocked to find out the price range."
Yale, who reserved a luxury condo downtown, said that he "would like to see some lower-priced units on the market."
City officials also say they are watching the prices carefully, but that there is little they can do. Councilman Doug Lingner said the city is trying to buy land and form partnerships with developers to build more affordable housing.
But so far, there’s no shortage of takers.
Monroe, for example, isn’t even scheduled to start construction for another 60 days, but 110 people have put down money on units. Portland Place has only nine units left in its 54-unit first phase.
"As long as that ASU campus gets built, this is real," Brown said.
Ginger D. Richardson and John Stearns
The Arizona Republic
