From Trash to Treasure

Brownfield Site in Tempe Flowers into Upscale Retail

by Scott Blair

Rising from a former brownfield site along the Salt River at Rio Salado Parkway and McClintock Drive in the Phoenix metropolitan area's East Valley, Tempe Marketplace is taking shape on land that had once been occupied by landfills and industrial-type businesses. .

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The $250 million, open-air destination for shopping, dining and entertainment now under construction will provide 1.3 million sq. ft. of retail space with special features such as elevated fireplaces, outdoor gathering spaces and even a laser light show.

The project, being developed by Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co., is expected to open by Summer 2007.

The project is divided up into two main components: The District at Tempe Marketplace is a 380,000-sq.-ft. open-mall style center which is directly inspired by Vestar's earlier successful retail project, The District at Desert Ridge Marketplace in north Phoenix. McCarthy Building Cos. of Tempe was the general contractor on Desert Ridge and has again been tapped for this project.

The other component, known as the 'in-line majors', is comprised of medium-sized big-box stores such as Ross, Cost Plus and Pier 1 Imports, forming an exterior ring around the centralized District. The Phoenix office of Adolfson & Peterson Construction is the general contractor for this phase. Additionally, the contractor is constructing several other big-box retail buildings at the site outside of their contract with Vestar, including a Target and Sam's Club.

Yet another general contractor, Scottsdale-based Double AA Builders, has been retained to construct a 16-plex Harkins Theatre at the east end of the District.

Having multiple contractors and all their subcontractors on the 117-acre site concurrently adds to the complexity. "There are so many contractors on site trying to get into certain areas at the same time," said Ken Foudy, project manager with Adolfson & Peterson. "There are quite a few meetings and a lot of coordination to make it happen."

The site was assembled by Vestar from up to 80 individual parcels of land and over 50 landowners. "This is definitely not a typical deal for us in the state of Arizona," said David Malin, Vestar's project manager. "Most of our projects in Arizona are in growth areas, and we are usually dealing with one owner."
Instead, Tempe Marketplace is an infill project in an already mature market.

"It was one of the most complicated land deals ever done in the state of Arizona," Malin added.

The site was formerly a county island between valley cities until annexed by Tempe in 1999 where businesses were not heavily regulated.

"We've run into just about everything you can possibly run into on a site," said Rob Kerwin, managing partner with Foursite Consulting, the project manager for Vestar on the project. "The remediation was a project in itself. Prior to having acquired all the parcels, we were doing remediation on the ones that we had acquired while still negotiating the acquisition of the remaining parcels."

During remediation methane, lead and PCB contamination was found, and a variety of undocumented landfills were either stabilized or in some cases removed entirely, according to Kerwin. One large landfill that fell directly under a planned building footprint required excavation and removal of 130,000 cu. yds. of earth.

With other non-organic dump sites, the soil was either screened or was kept in place and put through a deep dynamic compaction process. "We took a 28.5-ton weight and raised it up to a height of 85-ft. on a special crane fitted for this type of work," Kerwin said. "Then we dropped the weight a number of times in a very precise pattern." Santa Paula, Calif.-based Hayward Baker Inc. performed the compaction, with the Phoenix office of Brown and Caldwell acting as environmental consultant.

Construction on the buildings began in July 2006. Design of the project was handled by Phoenix-based Butler Design Group, which has collaborated with Vestar on six other major retail projects over the past five years.

The District features 11 separate masonry structures built on concrete slab foundations, while the in-line majors are comprised of pre-cast concrete panels cast on-site.

Some remediation is still being performed. "We've been doing a lot of jumping around and adjusting the sequence accordingly, so having the 11 buildings adds to that flexibility," said Jim Brandt, project director with McCarthy.

Due to the large amount of masonry work on the District, McCarthy chose to bring in two masonry contractors, Mesa, Ariz.-based Rhino Masonry and Glendale, Ariz.-based Maverick Masonry. "We thought that it was a big enough scope of work and an aggressive enough schedule to have one subcontractor working on the east half while another masonry contractor works on the west side, both at the same time." >>

Over 250,000 masonry units will be used upon completion of the District, and the outdoor walkways will feature 200,000 sq. ft. of colored hardscape pavers in varying patterns, according to Brandt. Abundant metal panels and canopies, five different water features and exterior finishes of stucco and plaster will add visual interest to the completed project.

Coordinating the needs of up to 100 separate retail tenants has been a major component to the project. "You have to make sure you are meeting the needs of all the tenants, so that everything with the core and shell is taken care of before they come in and start doing the build-out of their interiors," Brandt said.

"What makes retail a different animal is the complexity -- not so much from the type of construction that we do, which is fairly straightforward -- but in the sense of the intense degree of coordination required with the various tenants," Kerwin said.

Key Players

Developer Vestar Development Co.
Architect: Butler Design Group
Construction Manager Foursite Consulting
General Contractors: McCarthy Building Cos.; Adolfson & Peterson;
Double AA Builders
Environmental Consultant: Brown & Caldwell
Subcontractors: Suntec Concrete; Rhino Masonry; Maverick Masonry; Schuff Steel; Corbins Electric; JEN Electric; Baker Concrete; Universal Piping LLC

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