Cassidy Turley has announced that Hayden House Tempe, LLC, a partnership between San Diego-based Douglas Wilson Companies (Douglas Wilson, Chairman and CEO), Hensel Phelps Development LLC, a subsidiary of Hensel Phelps based in Greeley, CO, (Jeff Wenaas, President) and Los Angeles-based Karlin Real Estate closed on 2.51 acres at the southwest corner Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe for $16,875,000. Karlin Real Estate also provided the debt in this transaction. The site is home to Hayden House, the oldest continuously occupied structure in Metropolitan Phoenix and Arizona, built 1871-1873.

Cassidy Turley Executive Managing Director Brent Moser, Vice President Mike Sutton and Associate Brooks Griffith negotiated the transaction on behalf of the seller, Michael Monti’s Catering.

The partnership, Hayden House Tempe, LLC plan to develop Mill & Rio Salado, a $200 million mixed-use creative office and lifestyle-hotel development located on the 2.51 acre parcel widely considered to be the gateway to Tempe’s downtown core. This landmark project consists of a two towers: a 15-story 280,000 square foot Class A office building and a 16-story 274-key Kimpton hotel along with 17,000 square feet of complimentary restaurants and retail.

Historic Hayden House
Historic Hayden House

“Tempe is experiencing tremendous investment and revitalization. This environment combined with the Partnership’s ability to deliver a high-quality, urban mixed-use development will ensure this is a landmark project for downtown Tempe,” stated Douglas Wilson, Chairman/CEO of Douglas Wilson Companies.

Hensel Phelps has been selected as the contractor for Mill & Rio Salado. Construction is expected to start in mid-2015 with completion in 2017. Jerry Noble, Patrick Devine and Greg Mayer with Cushman & Wakefield have been awarded the leasing assignment for the office space at Mill & Rio Salado.

The historic Hayden House, one of Arizona’s original homesteads, will be preserved and repurposed as a destination restaurant to serve the Valley and the surrounding office and hotel guests. The building evolved from a typical Sonoran row house that was Charles Hayden’s family home until 1889, to a boarding house and eventually a restaurant that has been operating continuously in the building since 1924.

Carl Hayden, an Arizona Representative and Senator, was born in the home in 1877. Historians have labeled Carl Hayden “the most important person in Arizona history.” Leonard Monti purchased the property in 1954, and the restaurant, at the time known as La Casa Vieja, was renamed Monti’s La Casa Vieja. The restaurant underwent several additions to the original historic structure.

“The sale and subsequent development of the Mill & Rio Salado site is symbolic of the Tempe transformation into a destination for both corporate and high-tech companies as well as a vibrant lifestyle and entertainment district,” said Mr. Moser with Cassidy Turley.

North Tempe has emerged as one of the most desirable submarkets in the Valley.  It boasts the lowest vacancy rates in Metro Phoenix, with a Class A Vacancy rate under 5%.  It is home to several large office users in multiple industries.  Real estate leaders cite access to ASU, Light rail, freeways, walk able amenities, and true Class A office space as the leading reasons Tempe is experiencing such dynamic attention from office tenants.

The Mill & Rio Salado site is located less than a block from Phoenix’s acclaimed light rail system, across the street from Tempe Beach Park and Tempe Town Lake.  The development will compliment the core of over 3 million square feet of Class A office in Downtown Tempe that has become a magnet for the technology industry due to its central location within the Phoenix Valley and its close proximity to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and Arizona State University.

Denver-based Shear Adkins Rockmore Architects (SARA) and historic preservation specialist Nore Winter of Boulder, Co. have been chosen as designers and architects on the project. Both have worked with DWC previously on other projects, including the Symphony Towers in San Diego that also had a historic preservation aspect to the property.

“Because of Hayden House and the requirements with the historic preservation, both SARA and Winter have been working with DWC and their partners as their input was important to putting the sale together and getting all city/municipal approvals,” says a Cassidy Turley spokeswoman.