If you listen closely, you can hear downtown Tempe business owners breathe a collective sigh of relief now that the mammoth Centerpoint Condominium towers have been purchased and will finally be completed, with work scheduled to begin in October. Of course, the project’s initial investors, such as former Phoenix Suns players Penny Hardaway and Mark West are no doubt relieved, too.
On Thursday, Sept. 2., it was announced that the Centerpoint condos, comprised of one 22-story tower and one 30-story tower, had been purchased for $30 million by the Zaremba Group, a national real estate company that also owns residential properties in Peoria and Mesa, as well as the Barolo Place condos/townhomes in Scottsdale.
When finished, the Centerpoint Condominiums, will be the tallest buildings in Tempe and hopefully set a new standard for luxury residences in and around the ASU campus and the trendy Mill Avenue District. But as of late, the two towers on the south side of Tempe Town Lake have been a painful reminder of economic strife ever since the project stalled in the summer of 2008 after Mortgages Ltd., the original investing company, was forced to declare bankruptcy. Six months later, the project’s developer was forced to do the same.
Mortgages Ltd. sunk a reported $135 million into Centerpoint’s construction. Once the largest private commercial real estate lender in Arizona, Mortgages Ltd.’s investors included prominent figures in the Valley, such as former Phoenix Suns players Penny Hardaway and Mark West, professional golfer Jeffrey Quinney, and Bill Lewis (whose family founded Phoenix’s KTVK-TV).
If construction begins in October as scheduled, Centerpoint’s 22-story tower will be on track to open in March 2011, while the 30-story tower will potentially open in July 2011. No doubt Mill Avenue retailers, restaurants and the like are counting on future Centerpoint residents to provide the area with a financial boost, and we can’t wait to tour one of the luxe units and (finally!) see the finished project for ourselves.
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