Darkened windows. Empty escalators. Quiet halls.
Arizona’s tallest building, formerly Chase Tower, is now vacant.
With plans for the tower unknown, Phoenix residents are waiting to see what’s next for the 483-foot skyscraper that soars over the Valley of the Sun from the corner of Central Avenue and Van Buren Street in downtown.
The lot is zoned as a business core, but demand for residential units downtown has been rising in recent years, a trend that offers the building’s new owner options.
Documents from the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office show that a Texas limited partnership called Viola Lordsmeer bought the office block for $107.5 million in October 2018.
Vincent Viola, a billionaire and business person who earned his fortune as the founder of Virtu Financial, owns Viola Lordsmeer LP. Viola, who ranks 318th on the Forbes 400 list. Viola also owns the adjacent parking lot at 201 North First St. His son Michael Viola is listed as the contact for Viola Lordsmeer LP.
County documents show the limited partnership paid for the 40-story high-rise entirely in cash from 201 North Central Avenue Property LLC, a joint venture between Wentworth Property Company and Taconic Capital Advisors LP.
Tim Lawless, president of the Commercial Real Estate Executives for Economic Development, said retailers that filled the lower level left the building due to lack of business activity. But developers are confident in Phoenix’s market potential as population growth and state tax revenue continue to outpace many other U.S. metropolitan areas, he said.
“There’s a tremendous amount of space there for multimillion-dollar tenant improvements or renovations,” Lawless said.
Mike Davis, founder and CEO of DAVIS architecture firm, said the office building would be a better fit for residential units than more offices. The amount of leasable space is small by today’s standards, he explained. The building is in a cloverleaf shape, with columns separated by an elevator shaft making it a natural layout for housing and hotels.
In the future, the developer said, 201 North Central Ave. could present anything from retailers to residences with proper zoning and use changes.
No brokerage signs sit outside the industrial park, where concrete contrasts smooth stone structures, and blank benches fill the pedestrian void.
Phoenix doesn’t know the new owner’s plans for the former Chase building.
“Phoenix Community and Economic Development does not have any information about the redevelopment plans for the Chase Tower,” city spokesperson Eric J. Toll said in an email.
He explained that Viola is not required to share redevelopment plans because he did not seek city assistance to buy the property.
The developer that represents Viola Lordsmeer LP said no design concept currently exists for the city block.
Commercial vacancies rose to 20% in the third financial quarter. The Chase Bank’s building transfer marked the largest single move out in the Phoenix office market, according to a recent CBRE report.
Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce relocated its offices to Camelback Road in the summer, said spokesperson Janelle Tassart in an email.
JPMorgan Chase, which occupied 28 of the 38 tower floors, completed a three-year transfer to its new campus in Tempe on Oct. 1, said Maura Cordova, vice president of media relations and communications at JPMorgan Chase.
“This move will reduce the company’s real estate operating costs in metro Phoenix, savings we’ll reinvest in our strategic campuses to provide advanced facilities, work environment and accommodations for our employees,” a Chase statement on the Tower exit said.
The building’s top floors serve only as an observatory and are not available for lease.
Built in 1972, Chase Tower has been lined with cubicles and corporate suites for nearly 50 years. Documents from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office say the building sits on an 87,750-square-foot lot, which monopolizes an entire city block.
The building’s legal name is its address: 201 North Central Ave. Chase, the banking giant, then added its name and logo to the tower after acquiring Bank One in 2004.
Early this month, the iconic Chase sign was removed. All that remains is a 9-by-11 paper posted on the premises that reads: “Bank/Branch Permanently Close!”
Contact the reporter tjgantz@asu.edu.
