Entertainment District Proposed for City's Core
Mike Padgett , The Business Journal of Phoenix, May 29, 2006
A $300 million entertainment district with restaurants, boutique retail and nightclubs, is in the works for downtown Phoenix by one of the Arizona Diamondbacks owners, Dale Jensen, and development partner Bradley Yonover. Jensen, who also is one of the owners of the Phoenix Suns and Dodge Theatre, said he and Yonover, an East Coast developer who moved to the Valley a year ago, plan to announce more details in June about the project.
Entertainment venues are planned in an area roughly between Jackson and Jefferson streets, between First Avenue and First Street. It would include existing and planned residential condominiums and a proposed luxury hotel around Chase Field and US Airways Center.
Working on the designs with Jensen and Yonover is Wellington "Duke" Reiter, dean of Arizona State University's College of Design, and architecture students in ASU's Phoenix Urban Research Lab in downtown Phoenix. "Our goal is a successful street-level lifestyle and activities in the area (near the arenas)," Jensen said.
Jensen said he and Yonover already purchased several smaller properties in the area for about $25 million. The $300 million figure is the estimated cost at build out. So far, they have spent more than $1 million just for the designs.
The partners have kept their plans quiet until now to lessen the chance of property owners inflating their prices and to avoid dealing with property speculators getting ahead of them and boosting property prices.
Downtown hotel operators, including Wyndham Phoenix Hotel General Manager Steve Cohn, said downtown Phoenix is lacking entertainment options for conventioneers, and timing is critical because of the $600 million expansion and renovation of the Phoenix Convention Center.
In their purchases of land around the sports arenas, Jensen and Yonover also have been meeting with W Development's David Wallach, who is building The Summit at Copper Square condominium project just south of the arenas. Wallach and Yonover were fraternity brothers in Indiana. They were unaware of each other's plans in downtown Phoenix until after Yonover and Jensen began buying land in recent months.
The proposed entertainment district would envelop the luxury 39-story W Hotel, planned by Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver. The hotel is proposed between the sports arenas, facing Jefferson Street. Its $200 million price tag is not part of the projected $300 million cost of the proposed entertainment district.
Word about Yonover's and Jensen's proposal came out during their May 24 presentation to a Phoenix City Council subcommittee about an annual Indy-style race they want to schedule for 10 years, starting in November 2007. The subcommittee ordered city staff to prepare a report projecting the economic impact numbers of the race as well as what the race would cost the city and businesses near its route.
The downtown race is opposed by Phoenix International Raceway President Bryan Sperber and some state lawmakers. Sperber said the proposed Champ Car World Series race Nov. 16-18, 2007, is the weekend after the Checker Auto Parts 500 at PIR. During the subcommittee meeting, Yonover told City Council members Tom Simplot, Peggy Neely, Claude Mattox and Chairman Michael Johnson that the Champ Car race's startup costs would be paid by his and Jensen's organization, Arizona Grand Prix LLC. He later estimated those costs at $15 million. "This is on our dime, not on the city's dime," Yonover said. He also said the three-day race would generate more than $50 million annually for the city and have a total attendance of about 150,000. "We have a 10-year contract, so this would be every year for 10 years," Jensen said.
Jensen and Yonover said they are not asking the city to upgrade downtown streets to racing standards. Instead, according to their proposal to be considered by the city, they will pay for the upgrades and later seek reimbursement of part of their costs from sales tax receipts from festivals scheduled as part of the three-day race.
A Champ Car racing car resembles an open-wheeled Formula One car.
A $300 million entertainment district with restaurants, boutique retail and nightclubs, is in the works for downtown Phoenix by one of the Arizona Diamondbacks owners, Dale Jensen, and development partner Bradley Yonover. Jensen, who also is one of the owners of the Phoenix Suns and Dodge Theatre, said he and Yonover, an East Coast developer who moved to the Valley a year ago, plan to announce more details in June about the project.
Entertainment venues are planned in an area roughly between Jackson and Jefferson streets, between First Avenue and First Street. It would include existing and planned residential condominiums and a proposed luxury hotel around Chase Field and US Airways Center.
Working on the designs with Jensen and Yonover is Wellington "Duke" Reiter, dean of Arizona State University's College of Design, and architecture students in ASU's Phoenix Urban Research Lab in downtown Phoenix. "Our goal is a successful street-level lifestyle and activities in the area (near the arenas)," Jensen said.
Jensen said he and Yonover already purchased several smaller properties in the area for about $25 million. The $300 million figure is the estimated cost at build out. So far, they have spent more than $1 million just for the designs.
The partners have kept their plans quiet until now to lessen the chance of property owners inflating their prices and to avoid dealing with property speculators getting ahead of them and boosting property prices.
Downtown hotel operators, including Wyndham Phoenix Hotel General Manager Steve Cohn, said downtown Phoenix is lacking entertainment options for conventioneers, and timing is critical because of the $600 million expansion and renovation of the Phoenix Convention Center.
In their purchases of land around the sports arenas, Jensen and Yonover also have been meeting with W Development's David Wallach, who is building The Summit at Copper Square condominium project just south of the arenas. Wallach and Yonover were fraternity brothers in Indiana. They were unaware of each other's plans in downtown Phoenix until after Yonover and Jensen began buying land in recent months.
The proposed entertainment district would envelop the luxury 39-story W Hotel, planned by Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver. The hotel is proposed between the sports arenas, facing Jefferson Street. Its $200 million price tag is not part of the projected $300 million cost of the proposed entertainment district.
Word about Yonover's and Jensen's proposal came out during their May 24 presentation to a Phoenix City Council subcommittee about an annual Indy-style race they want to schedule for 10 years, starting in November 2007. The subcommittee ordered city staff to prepare a report projecting the economic impact numbers of the race as well as what the race would cost the city and businesses near its route.
The downtown race is opposed by Phoenix International Raceway President Bryan Sperber and some state lawmakers. Sperber said the proposed Champ Car World Series race Nov. 16-18, 2007, is the weekend after the Checker Auto Parts 500 at PIR. During the subcommittee meeting, Yonover told City Council members Tom Simplot, Peggy Neely, Claude Mattox and Chairman Michael Johnson that the Champ Car race's startup costs would be paid by his and Jensen's organization, Arizona Grand Prix LLC. He later estimated those costs at $15 million. "This is on our dime, not on the city's dime," Yonover said. He also said the three-day race would generate more than $50 million annually for the city and have a total attendance of about 150,000. "We have a 10-year contract, so this would be every year for 10 years," Jensen said.
Jensen and Yonover said they are not asking the city to upgrade downtown streets to racing standards. Instead, according to their proposal to be considered by the city, they will pay for the upgrades and later seek reimbursement of part of their costs from sales tax receipts from festivals scheduled as part of the three-day race.
A Champ Car racing car resembles an open-wheeled Formula One car.
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