Developer Mark Taylor broke ground Friday at College Avenue and Veterans Way for San Marquis, an apartment complex designed for students and young professionals, which plans to open fall 2013.
San Marquis is just another apartment complex in the wave of apartment housing that has swept Tempe since the housing market crashed in 2007 and such developments became obsolete.
“This recession is no joke,” Tempe Community Development Director Chris Anaradian said. “It’s been … the dark ages for construction in Arizona.”
Since residents are becoming wary of having mortgages, construction has revived to build apartments instead of single-family homes.
With the private sector growing, construction costs lowering and rent remaining steady, banks are lending money for apartment projects, Anaradian said.
Eleven apartment housing projects have either recently been completed or will be in the coming year, according to a City of Tempe press release on Oct. 24.
With more jobs and transportation in Tempe, it makes sense that apartments are in demand, Anaradian said. The second tower of West Sixth opened in November, and Cabana on McClintock opened a second building in December. Wesley Hall, a residence hall managed by the United Methodist campus ministry at ASU, is slated to open in August 2012.
Mark Taylor is also constructing San Capella, another apartment complex designed for young professionals on Elliot Road where Fiddlesticks, the family entertainment park, used to be.
Although apartment developers typically market to students and young professionals, Tempe is becoming a destination for seniors and “empty-nesters” as well, said Nancy Hormann, president and executive director of Downtown Tempe Community.
College communities are appealing to retired people, seniors and “empty-nesters” because of the resources available, she said.
ASU Gammage and restaurants downtown are geared more to this demographic than to students, Hormann said.
“(Downtown Tempe) is one of the only true walkable urban environments in the Valley,” Hormann said. “I really do believe that because of our location, we are going to be where a lot of housing goes first.” The boom of apartment housing is expected to continue.
According to Tempe’s October press release, nearly 2,500 housing units being built in Tempe will not only create new places to live, but will also create job opportunities.
“We have known all along that Tempe is a great place to live, work, study and play,” Mayor Hallman said in the press release. “So it’s wonderful, but not unexpected, to see the free market strongly back our words.”
Reach the reporter at Michelle.Peirano@asu.edu
