​Exclusive: Tempe Monti's to be joined by $200M mixed use tower

View Photos

Douglas Wilson Companies

The 274-room Kimpton Hotel faces Mill Avenue and the 280KSF office tower is to the west at Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway

Eric Jay Toll

Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

Email  |  Twitter

The corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway across from the Tempe Town Lake park is getting a new tower.

Hayden House Tempe LLC, closed on a 2.5-acre parcel on the southwest corner to preserve the Hayden House – home of Monti's La Casa Vieja – and integrate an edgy, mixed use urban development.

The partners paid $16.9 million for the land, which is a square foot cost pegged at near peak levels for the first time since the recession.

The 280,000-square-foot Class A office and 274-key hotel will break ground in mid-2015 by veteran mixed use developer Douglas Wilson Companies. The development includes 17,000 square feet of complementary restaurants and retail space.

The twin towers will rise from a combined pedestal with the 16-story Kimpton Hotel – owners of the trendy Palomar Hotel at CityScape in Downtown Phoenix – on Mill Avenue and the 15-story office building set between the hotel and former U.S. Airways headquarters building on Rio Salado Parkway. The pedestal includes combined amenities for use of both tenants and hotel guests. A walkway to the Third Avenue light rail station is part of the development.

"This is the front door to Tempe. We saw a challenge and opportunity," said Wilson Chairman and CEO Douglas Wilson. "We came into the project knowing that we could meet Tempe's desire to preserve the historic Hayden House and see a unique, mixed use development."

"Downtown Tempe and Tempe Town Lake are exciting places to be right now, with many developments under construction and proposed," said Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell. "The intersection of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway is a key place in our downtown because it connects the vibrancy of Town Lake to the busy atmosphere of Mill Avenue."

Eric covers economic development, banking and finance, infrastructure, transportation and utilities.