Really.

We have received overwhelming kudos and support in the press and from our friends and colleagues, after word of our latest venture spread.  Last week’s Phoenix Business Journal even featured us on their front page, not to mention the kind words shared by the Arizona Republic in their Business Section.

Publicity aside, we were incredibly humbled and impressed that  azcentral.com’s comment section featured commentary by Ben Bethel, local hotel impressario and the all around great guy behind the Clarendon Hotel.  Ben’s vision for the Clarendon, coupled with his grit and determination, have resulted in the creation of a vibrant oasis of cool tucked away in mid-town Phoenix.  From its rooftop Flamenco, to the addition of Doug Robson’s Gallo Blanco Cafe, the Clarendon has been a welcome addition to an otherwise staid hospitality scene here in the PHX.

Ben had nothing but kind words of support for our endeavour, and we have to give credit where it is due.  The Clarendon, among its peers, has served as a source of inspiration for us as we dreamed up the crazy idea of purchasing the Lexington Hotel.  Our intention from the outset was to compliment his vision with a different hospitality experience – its slow reveal will be forthcoming over the next several months.

To that end, we have partnered with a team that we believe is the best in the business, Bond HD and McKinney Capital.  Both firms define professionalism with an uncharacteristic modesty which belies their track record of performance and success.  And we are excited to bring their talents and expertise to our little corner of the world.

As a firm, we seek first to collaborate where possible and necessary, especially given the complexities of engaging in development work within an urban market such as downtown Phoenix.   As we brought our Portland Place project to the market, we felt it was important to honor the risks taken by those who preceded us, so we decided to create the Gold Spot Gallery – now the home of Pita Jungle‘s downtown location.  Our work on the Oasis on Grand project will strike a similar note, cued by the pioneering risks taken by the entrepreneurs, artists, gallery owners, and residents that call lower Grand Avenue home.  Without their work and inspiration, projects like Portland Place, the Lexington Hotel, and Oasis on Grand would not be a reality.

We strive, as always, to exceed expectations.  With each project, we strive to set the bar a little higher than before.  And we trust that our partners, co-conspirators, and supporters will hold us to that ever higher standard with every new endeavour.

Members of the development team recently completed the renovation and repositioning of an existing resort property in Honolulu, Hawaii, converting it into the Waikiki Edition , a Marriott/Ian Schrager lifestyle hotel concept.  The urban resort features a new Morimoto restaurant concept, as well as Ian Schrager’s first night club since Studio 54.  The Edition opened in September to rave reviews.  Bond HD CEO Robert Watson describes the Lexington project as “a very unique opportunity.  Similar to our Hawaii project, we strive to find diamonds in the rough, envision a solution,  execute on the renovation and repositioning, ultimately filling a void in the market place.  We have aggressive, capable capital backing us, we understand how to create solutions, and we have the experience to execute.”  The Lexington is located at the Arts District METRO Station, within two stops from the midtown Phoenix Art Museum and Heard Museum, as well as the Phoenix Convention Center, US Airways Center, Chase Field and the downtown cultural amenities of Symphony Hall and Herberger Theater.

The Lexington was originally developed in 1973 as a 7 story hotel designed by Schoneberger Associates.  In 1984, an eighth floor was added under the firm’s design expanding the room total to its current 108 rooms.  Habitat Metro Principal Tim Sprague stated, “The hotel has been on our radar since we began construction of Portland Place in the fall of 2005.  It has great bones and, unlike most older hospitality properties, it enjoys excellent room sizes including 730 sq ft balcony penthouse suites.  It will find a natural place as the unique boutique choice for the downtown hotel guest.”

The property was acquired from NCA Hotel Partners, LLC, a Scottsdale, Arizona firm which purchased the property through foreclosure.  NCA partner Peter Gooding related, “This was one of the best deals we’d seen over the last couple of years and we couldn’t pass it up. The plans of the new development group far exceed what we originally envisioned.”  Gooding has reinvested in the new concept, confirming his confidence in the property and the downtown Phoenix hospitality market.

The hotel’s redesign will incorporate an additional 8,000 square feet of gallery and meeting space highlighting quarterly exhibits of internationally acclaimed artists.   The new restaurant and bar will incorporate the outdoor ambiance of Portland Street’s City Beautiful boulevard, with focused attention on the downtown neighborhood and travelers seeking the local flavor.  Room designs will continue the art theme allowing guests to “spend the night with the art,” jokes Watson.  Construction is scheduled to begin this summer with an opening slated for early 2012.  Until construction begins, the Lexington will continue operations with a “Last Call” theme of activities celebrating its history.

Habitat Metro principals Tim Sprague, John Hill and Feliciano Vera have been active in the local development community building multifamily and commercial properties since 1979.  Bond HD principals Robert Watson and Paul Guccini are hospitality veterans with 20 year pedigrees that include brand development and regional management with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, W Hotels, and Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group.  Damian McKinney, founder of McKinney Capital Group, LLC, has 30 years’ experience in national real estate investment and consulting with a focus on value-added opportunities.

• The Oasis on Grand is moving forward.  News here and here.  We expect construction to begin within the next two months, as the project winds its way through the Development Services process.  More news to follow, as we prepare to formally introduce this exciting adaptive reuse  project to the community.
• We were contrarian eight(!) years ago when we decided that there was no reason Phoenix shouldn’t have a vibrant live/work/play environment downtown.  Many of our colleagues in the development community told us we were nuts to build a condominium project downtown, but we are pretty happy with the results at Portland Place Condominiums thus far.  Expect to see more news within the next few weeks on our next big project.  We think you’ll be as excited by it as we are.
• Pita Jungle’s Gold Spot location at Third Avenue and Roosevelt is knocking the ball out of the park.  With little to no advertising that we are aware of.  Lunch time crowds have been impressive, to say the least.  While we’d like to think their commercial success has to do with the good karma we left in their new digs when we folded up the Gold Spot Gallery tents several years ago, we know their success is a function of great food and prices satisfying significant unmet demand in the downtown market.  Welcome to the neighborhood!

I’m hungry now . . .

A bit of background: the Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use is charged to “encourage and support excellence in land use decision making.”  Its Rose Center Fellowship Program tapped Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, along with three fellow mayors from throughout the United States, to lead working groups of professionals and key stakeholders within their cities in the examination of current land use and policy decisions facing their municipalities and develop a palette of proposed solutions.  The recently published report on Phoenix outlined a number of major policy issues faced by the City of Phoenix and within the wider metropolitan area comprising the Valley of the Sun.

Of the four recommendations that comprise its action plan perhaps the most ambiguous, if not sentimental, is the first: “Create a shared vision.”  While policy actors, public and private stakeholders may aspire to such an achievement, it stands in stark contrast with the cacophony of voices present at any particular discussion of public or common import, especially when it such discussion involves the challenge of city building.

Truth be told, we enjoy (for the most part) the manic energy that one associates with city making, and the attendant conversations and passions associated with such common endeavors.  Those conversations and passions are constitutive components of a city.  In fact, one could make the argument that those conversations and passions are elemental to the development of a civic soul and sense of place.  Inscribed in arguments over what buildings to save, the width of a given sidewalk, or the material palette of a landscape plan are the cumulative opinions of countless residents, developers, city staff, and elected officials.  Stories of how a particular decision was arrived at come to define and crystallize public and private values espoused in a given community at any point in its evolution.

So we find ourselves in our stark little patch of desert at one of those interesting times, when we must grapple with larger questions about how we evolve as a city and community, physically, economically, politically, and possibly spiritually.  Frustrated with the status quo? Involve yourself.  Broken business model?  Evolve yourself.  The only way you can lose is by not engaging yourself in the conversation.

But we think this is pretty cool.  Our friend, Marshall Shore, the Impresario behind the Phoenix Metro Retro series of talks, dug this old photo up from the archives.  And truth be told, we’ve been slow to let folks know what we have been working on along Grand Avenue.

You see, we remain convinced that in this present time of economic distress and soul-searching, people are reevaluating how they organize their lives and are coming to the conclusion that quality of life matters.  Just check in at any number of coffee shops in downtown or midtown Phoenix, whether it’s Giant Coffee, Fair Trade, or either of the Lola’s – people seem to be flocking to central Phoenix despite any other generalized anxieties they may have.

They are searching for a textured life that is experience rich and unique.

We think we may have something for them up our sleeves.

For those of you unfamiliar with Grand Avenue, it was one of the Mother Roads in Phoenix. Designated as the US 60, it was a way station for travelers after a long drive, and home to a bevy of first and second generation motels, including the Caravan Inn/Oasis Hotel, located at 1501 Grand Avenue.  In its heyday, the Caravan Inn’s blend of kitsch and modern architecture provided a nice respite for its guests, but as auto traffic shifted to the I-10, the Caravan and its sister hotels along Grand Avenue and Van Buren Streets, were consigned to the dustbin of history as particularly inhospitable specimens of single-room occupancy motels.

Our involvement at this site came at the invitation of the Carmody Companies, the site’s present owner.  Tasked with re-imagining the building in its present incarnation, we collaboratively arrived at an exciting solution: we were going to reuse the building to offer affordable housing, with a particular focus on serving the needs of working artists that are already a part of the downtown arts community or who want to become a part of the downtown fabric.

We are happy to announce that we will be initiating (fingers crossed) the adaptive reuse of the Oasis on Grand Apartments within the next few months.  Comprised of sixty studios, one bedroom, and ground-level live-work residences along the building’s Roosevelt Street facade, we believe that the project will be a critical anchor to Lower Grand Avenue’s northern gateway at the intersection of 15th Avenue, Roosevelt Street, and Grand Avenue.  Plus, it will build upon the pioneering efforts of the Grand Avenue Merchants Association to support arts-based adaptive reuse within central Phoenix.

And, we are also pleased to announce that we will be opening up the Oasis, in is present, pre-construction condition, as part of the Re-Dapt Tours during the upcoming Grand Avenue Festival this Saturday, September 25th.  For tickets and information click here.

So come out and join us!  We don’t bite.  Really.

But try this one on for size – the ASU Stardust Center’s Blueprint for a Sustainable Recovery reflects the proceedings of a working meeting this past November between the Stardust Center’s Board of Advisors – composed entirely of real estate industry professionals – and Deputy HUD Secretary Ron Sims.  But it also distills a number of ideas and critiques the Board of Advisors has mulled over since the beginning of the downturn.

What differentiates the Blueprint from most conventional thinking on the real estate industry and the recession is that its observations and recommendations come from one of the regions hardest hit by the recession – metropolitan Phoenix.

Makes for some interesting bed time reading.