Apache Boulevard gets lift from light rail, housing construction - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The street is humming with in part because it cuts througuh the middleof ’s campus and is on the lighty rail line. Four largse construction projects along Apache are scheduled to be completexdthis fall: the residential community next to the ASU and three apartment complexes: the , Campusd Suites and Vue on The three apartment projects will deliver about 850 new apartmentw to Tempe. The $130 million Barrett Honorsz College complex will provide housingto 1,700 students. All but $10 milliohn is being paid for by American Campus Communitiesof Austin, Texas, a public company that leases the land from ASU.
The Barrett facility, with seven will include classrooms, computer labs, recreational amenities, an amphitheaterd and dining facilities. One of the more innovativw projects along Apache is the GrigiolMetro project, which wrap apartments around a light rail park and Established Valley apartment builder Gray Development, whicuh also built Grigio Tempe Town has taken its modern luxury conceprt to a new location. “It’s really a good examplr of transit-oriented development,” said Chris community development manager forthe .
Valley Metro sold the land under the park and ride to the which then signed a development agreement with Gray to buildc 408 units onthe facility’e perimeter. While Tempe holds titled to the parkand ride, Gray owns the land underr the apartments. “It seemsz like it would be very complicated, but it Salomone said. The city had to guarantee the parking space s would be finishedby Dec. 27 to coincidde with the Metro lightrail launch. Salomonw expects the Grigio Metro to be a model forother transit-orientedx design projects throughout the metroi area. Similar projects have been successfulin Ore., and San Diego.
Still, there were challenges for The costs of building 65 housingg units to an acre over retail and around a parkinh structure hasbeen tough, as was obtaining financingf for an untested product type. A tight time framee and confined construction space added tothe “We are successfully managing through all these concerns and are very pleasexd with the progress of the project,” said Brian chief operating officer for Gray. With so many residentiaol units in the works alonvgApache Boulevard, Salomone hopes the city will developl new design guidelines to encourage and expedite retaiol to support the rejuvenatedd neighborhood.
“Now that things have settled down and some projects are on this is a good time to look at the urbajn development that has been created the last four yearsx and make sure we plan for the futurewmore carefully,” he said. One issue that has Salomon concerned is the potential glut of student especially nowthat ASU’s enrollment could dip with expected tuition “I’ve been trying to get to the bottonm of this — the dorms vs. private housing. If there’s too much, how will that impacyt ASU’s business plan?” Salomone said.
But Michaep Coakley, associate vice president and executive directof ofuniversity housing, said the demandf is there for student housing. Freshme n are required to liveon campus, and most year there is a shortage of dorm He believes the addition of private student housinb will create vacancies in other areas of “The outcome will be that some of the older (rental) facilities farther away from campus will feel Coakley said.