A 10-story hotel topped with condominiums and a 15-story residential and office tower, each planned for the south side of Chandler Fashion Center, would create an urban hub in a suburban city, the project’s architect said.
"They’ll definitely create a skyline," architect Brett Oaks said.
The towers – ground has been broken for one and the other is under review – would contrast with the mall’s design.
"As a building, the mall is horizontal, spread out," Oaks said. "From the perimeter, the main features are the anchor stores and the sloping element over the food court. But the residential tower and the hotel are less of a footprint. . . . You can take it all in at one glance, even if you’re close to it."
Keith Mishkin, a luxury condominium broker not connected to the project, said people who purchase units to live adjacent to a mall would be those who want their surroundings to have an urban feel.
At the Chandler property, he said, residents "can live and work and play" in the same vicinity.
Luxury high-rise condominiums are selling quickly in the Valley, he said, because "there’s a strong backlog of demand for this product. . . . The more of these communities out there, the more educated our market becomes, the more it becomes an accepted lifestyle."
Luci Scott
The Arizona Republic
