The Downtown campus has met expectations for growth despite changes from original development plans and will continue to expand in the future, an ASU official said.
“We have completed our second phase of development on the Downtown campus with the opening of the nursing building (this fall),” said Richard Stanley, senior vice president and university planner. “We are thinking through what the next round of expansion will be downtown.”
Currently there are no specific plans for construction of any new buildings or an interest in purchasing space for the Downtown campus, Stanley said. At one point, however, ASU had planned to use space in the One Central Park East high-rise office tower near North Central Avenue and East Van Buren Street that is nearing completion and adjacent to ASU’s University Center, Stanley said.
“There was a time before the campus plan was conceptualized that we had serious plans with the developers,” Stanley said. “The city had a relationship with the developer and there had been discussion concerning a joint project for which a portion of the site would be for the journalism school.”
The developers of the office tower, Mesirow Financial, were previously in discussions with ASU to set aside nine floors of space for the Walter Cronkite School, said Bryan Taute, the first vice president for CB Richard Ellis, the leasing agency for the building.
“It was a timing issue,” Taute said. “Our project was not ready in time.”
The One Central Park East project is a 26-floor building that will finish being constructed this November, Taute said. The building will feature nine levels of parking, 16 levels for office space and a ground level with a lobby and 8,500 square feet of retail space, he said.
Construction began on the building in October 2007. Despite being in construction for two years, none of the building has been leased yet, leaving open the possibility that ASU could acquire space, Taute said.
“We’ve heard chatter about the law school (moving here) but it’s pure speculation,” Taute said. “ASU doesn’t have any funding right now and they have their own budget issues.”
Typically, it takes 18 to 24 months after construction for a new building to be fully leased, and high-rises can take as long as 36 months, Taute said.
“Buildings all around our city are struggling to lease right now,” Taute said. “We’re pretty close to a couple deals that we’ll be announcing in the next 30 to 60 days.”
Stanley said that ASU has used all of the money the city of Phoenix appropriated to the university in a 2006 bond deal and that all the buildings planned for construction so far have been completed.
Stanley also said future plans could involve using the space between East Polk and East Taylor streets east of North First Street that is currently occupied by a nonoperational motel.
“Our longer-term campus plan has always indicated that we hope that space will become part of the campus,” Stanley said. “The intent is for campus enrollment to grow.”
The Downtown campus is currently home to a little more than 11,500 students, but Stanley said the university has goals for enrollment to reach 15,000.
Journalism freshman Addison Boroff said he would like to see the campus grow in enrollment and physical size. Boroff said he also hopes more ASU programs move to the Downtown campus.
“A law school in a city is always a good idea,” Boroff said. “The federal court house is down the street from campus; it would be more convenient to have the school here (rather than in Tempe).”
Contact the reporter at dustin.volz@asu.edu
