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Phoenix, AZ -
When Bruce Gray was an architecture student at Arizona State in the late 1970s, his teachers told him to design a project for Tempe Town Lake, which was then on the drawing board.
Now his company, Phoenix-based Gray Development Group, is in the middle of building a $100 million project on the northern shore of the lake. His school assignment was much different than the 523-unit Mondrian Tempe Town Lake, but that tie makes the condominium-apartment project significant to Gray.
“It is so exciting, so rewarding to see it come to fruition after so many years, “ said the Gray Development Group president, who designed a park with small buildings for his school project.
Mondrian will be completed by summer of 2005 and is one of several Gray Development Group residential projects in the valley. The company specializes in building upscale apartments, which the developer later converts into condominiums, Gray said.
The projects include the 367-unit Camelback Square apartments, which was completed in 2004, 64-unit Pavilions on Camelback, completed in 1994, and 254-unit Pavilions on Central, completed in 1998.
Today, motorists who drive by the Mondrian site near Rural Road and Loop 202 see a concrete cube. It’s the project’s future parking garage, which won’t be visible when the project is completed because the apartments and condo units will wrap around it.
These days, eager developers are in the midst of a multi-million dollar bidding war over 27 acres of city property o the southern shore of Tempe Town Lake. When Gray Development Group began plans for Mondrian in 2001, it was months after 9/11, Tempe Town Lake was 2 years old and the real estate market seemed less certain.
“At that time it was a very, very different world,” Gray said. Mondrian, one of the largest projects, is an important part of the mix of housing that is being built ear the lake, said Chris Anaradian, Tempe’s development services manager. In his former role as Rio Salado manager, Anaradian worked closely with the Mondrian’s developer.
Mondrian’s future residents will be able to take advantage of boating, biking and hiking opportunities at nearby parks and at the marina, Anaradian said. The development is one of several projects planned or under way on the eastern side of Rural Road, near
Loop 202. Developer WestStone Communities plans to build Northshore, a condo development with 137 units, just west of Mondrian. An In-N-Out Burger is under construction and a coffee shop is planned. |
