Capital Place luxury apartments, an addition to the recent surge of apartments downtown, will begin preleasing on Oct. 1.
The $50 million complex, which is under development by Epoch Residential, is scheduled for completion in early 2016. Located in two buildings between 11th and 12th streets and Washington and Jefferson streets, the complex will add 292 luxury apartments for about 400 residents to the downtown Phoenix area, according to the president of Epoch.
The Capital Place apartments are far from the only property under development. According to Dan Klocke, the vice president of development for Downtown Phoenix Inc., there are currently 1,469 residential units under construction including condominiums, 1,277 units in pre-development and several other projects discussing development agreements with the city of Phoenix.
“There are more and more folks interested in living in downtown and there’s not enough product, so the development community is responding to that,” Klocke explained. “We’re really excited. We can’t wait to see more people down here and walking in the streets and eating in the restaurant and enjoying downtown.”
Justin Sand, president and chief operating officer of Epoch Residential, believes the Capital Place apartments will do well despite the competition.
“I think downtown Phoenix has been underserved,” Sand said. “You look at other cities like Phoenix and understand them — the dynamics and what’s happening and what people are looking for and what they’re willing to pay given the different income levels and we think there’s a solid case. There’s really a void of class-A luxury apartments built in the last 10 years in the Downtown area.”
Sand said this is part of the apartments’ appeal. This “class-A luxury” includes amenities such as modern appliances including custom kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, ceramic sink and tub surrounds, vinyl plank flooring and covered balconies.
Each building also includes facilities like a swimming pool, club house, fitness center, social lounge, courtyards, outdoor fireplace, coffee bar and cafe, covered parking, secure bicycle storage, and picnic and barbecue areas. Studio, one, two and three bedroom units are available ranging from $1,100 to $2,400 per month.
Part of the allure is being in the heart of downtown, close to the airport and many businesses, Sand said. Both units are also adjacent to the 12th street light rail station.
Sand said he believes the general interest will come from young professionals, but he expects students, faculty and staff from various downtown campuses, as well as staff from government offices downtown, to also show interest.
There will be opportunities for small businesses on the bottom floor of the buildings as well. There are four cubes available in each property, purposed for up to eight small businesses. Sand says while he is unsure of the marketability of these units, he hopes they will become an additional amenity for residents.
Sand also says that the company has begun spreading the word on the project.
“Even though you want to create a buzz as early as you can when you have a 15-month construction project, it’s hard to make that stick and convert to leases when you get them signed up 90 days or so to opening,” he said. “We’ve definitely had interest and we’re now at a point where we can follow upon those leads.”
Interest forms are now on their website.
Klocke believes that the construction of the Capital Place apartments and additional properties will continue to bring growth to the downtown area.
“If you look at the demographics right now in the country, the more people who are in more of a typical rental age are the largest age cohorts in the country right now,” Klocke said. “I think the competition is healthy and we’ll see those units are going to fill up fairly quickly.”
Looking at recent projects such as Roosevelt Point, which added almost 600 people to downtown, Klocke says there’s already been positive impact with the surge of properties.
“It just brings a lot more life to downtown when people are living here and are here after the work day,” he said. “It just enhances the vibrancy of downtown and makes it a better place to be.”
Clarification: September 9, 2015:
A previous version of this story included a grammatical error. It has since been modified to describe the apartments as “class-A.”
Contact the reporter at Kara.Carlson@asu.edu
