The City of Scottsdale is frustrated and “cutting ties” with Alan Ferris, the developer of Main Street Plaza, a high end condo and loft community in downtown Scottsdale.
Back in March 2002, Scottsdale agreed to sell Farris land in and around Main Street and Goldwater Boulevard so that he could help to revitalize the area by creating a new pedestrian friendly arts district with art galleries, shops and a Western Museum to compliment the Scottsdale Artist’s School and benefit from the proximity to the Loloma Bus Center. The plan included the constrution of 250 condominiums and lofts built over four phases.
Scottsdale further agreed to assist with the plan by paying for parking garage, plaza and alley improvements to the tune of $4.7 milion. and granted Ferris the right to buy city owned land future rights to develop the northwest corner of Marshall Way and First Street.
So far, of the 250 proposed condos, only 33 have been built and those were done in early 2006. Farris states that he intends to move forward with the plan but needs more time from Scottsdale. He cites difficulties obtaining financing and the current housing and credit crisis as having hampered his efforts.
The strange thing is that Farris only requested a four to six week extension. I would think that he would need two to three years or more. Maybe the idea is to string it along little by little instead of getting real and facing current market conditions and developing a realistic timeline. Either that or the guy has some big money on the horizon.
We think that the condos and lofts as built make a nice little infill project and it’s worth checking out if you are in the market to buy a high end property in downtown Scottsdale. However, please know that there is one short sale currently advertised on MLS and we believe there may be more on the way. If so, it would behoove you to give us a call to get the whole story before you move ahead.
