For more than two years, the skeleton of the Elevation Chandler project has stood near the Chandler Fashion Mall, a monument of sorts to the late, great real estate market in Phoenix. Now it looks like Chandler could have another "ghost development" just down the road: [Thanks M!]
Construction equipment is off and workers have left what was supposed to be a 21-acre project called Chandler Piazza, a Tuscan-style mall with a hotel, shops, restaurants and offices.
The Scottsdale-based owner didn’t return phone calls Wednesday, but those involved in the project, including city officials, said work stalled on the construction site at the southeast corner of Frye and Ellis roads in Chandler.
Plans for Chandler Piazza – owned by Chandler Piazza LLC, according to the Maricopa County Recorder’s office – included a four-story Westin-brand Element hotel, a two-story, 77,000-square-foot office building and 31,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The project isn’t officially dead yet:
Doug Whitneybell, the project’s architect, said he recently spoke with the project’s construction officials, who said they expected to restart work soon.
Whitneybell said he was unsure why construction stopped.
"I think it’s a lending issue," he said. "I don’t know the actual details, but that they said they had a new lender lined up and they’re getting ready to get going."
That’s easier said than done, however:
Retaining financing in the midst of construction is a common problem for developers, said Anthony Sanders, an economist tracking real estate financing at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
"There’s a whole bunch within the Valley that are just literally stranded," he said.
That’s because about 80 percent of banks have increased standards on commercial lending due to the implosion in the subprime mortgage industry, he said.
"It’s a brutally tough time to obtain commercial financing," he said.
We’ll see if the Piazza rises from the dead, or becomes another ghost development.
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