THE GRID Runs Into A Road-Block: No Financing | "Ready-to-Roll" It Is Not

But that's what just what staff writer Jim Walsh said in the corporate-owned The Times Media Group's East Valley Tribune in one more Spoon-Fed Story

More downtown Mesa development ready to roll

"Ready-to-Roll"By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer Mar 12, 2019
"The Pomeroy parking garage, a bland but functional structure near Mesa Municipal Court, will disappear behind a new veneer of three-story row houses when a long-awaited redevelopment project rises downtown.
Real estate developer Tony Wall, of 3W Management in Scottsdale, said he is close to landing financing for The GRID Mesa near Main Street and Mesa Drive. . . ________________________________________________________________________________________




phrase of ready/informal

(of a person, vehicle, or thing)

fully prepared to start functioning or moving.

For example:

"the next morning, the plan was ready to roll"

QUESTION:
Appearing in this staged photo opp as the featured opening image for Walsh's report with his "new best friend", will the company he keeps do the trick to get the financing?

Karrin Taylor Robson and developer Tony Wall stand in front of the city garage

 

 

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Tony Wall has been working on THE GRID project for more than two years. Is the problem about municipal tax-incentives/finance from the City of Mesa that involve development on a city-owned property or lack of interest from private sources for the $60-million project he can't get from private investors willing and able to assume the risk? Even after two or more rounds of financing, Tony Wall still can't get the financing - and he's lost what was called "the anchor" for THE GRID proposal [CO+HOOTS]. What about those highly-touted and highly-promoted PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS? . . . 

In May of last year, Tony Wall [with legs crossed] appeared at a press conference announcing the massive 9.8-acre Mormon Temple Area Makeover of Downtown Mesa at the intersection of Main Street/Mesa Drive. Sitting next to him is former Mesa City Mike Hutchinson, VP of the East Valley Partnership. Standing at the podium is the owner of City Creek Reserve LLC, a for-profit affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints. It's the only new major project that has broken ground and is under construction now.

No financial details for the Temple Area transformation were ever disclosed to the public. Reports in the media say that it's a smaller scale version of the $2-Billion invested to develop the 23-acre City Creek in Salt Lake City that will feature "Mesa-authentic" architecture

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The GRID is being developed by Palladium Enterprises whose principals Tony Wall, Karrin Taylor Robson and Trevor Barger have long and successful tenures in Arizona real estate development.

 

KARRIN TAYOR ROBSON alone should have been able to attract the financing. Here she is back on May 14, 2018 with a big blow-up of THE GRID  
350 Claim Spots at AZBEX Private Development Summit
By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange

"It was another one for the books. Nearly 350 Arizona A/E/C and CRE professionals packed into the DoubleTree by Hilton Resort conference center May 9 for the latest Arizona Builder’s Exchange Private Development Summit to hear from leading industry experts about the state of the market . . .
After a networking and snack break, the attendees reconvened to hear about financing and the state of real estate development from Ericka LeMaster, SVP of Commercial Real Estate for Alliance Bank of Arizona and Joe Blackbourn, president of Everest Holdings, with a conversation moderated by John Orsak, dir. of Real Estate for Lincoln Property Company. While cap rates and basis points dominated the conversation, it appeared the two panelists somehow worked out a new development deal amongst themselves. Details will (hopefully) be forthcoming in future issues of AZBEX.
The next agenda item covered the “Developer Profile” for Ariz. construction and opportunity, presented by Karrin Taylor Robson, founder and president of Arizona Strategies. There were few surprises, there, but many – if not most – people in the room got confirmation they were part of an important and ongoing fraternity.
LINK > http://azbex.com 14 May 2018  

For more than 20 years, Karrin Taylor Robson has been one of the most sought-after strategists on major real estate development in the West.  Trained as an attorney specializing in land use, development and zoning, she spent more than 12 years as the Executive Vice President of DMB Associates, Inc., a Scottsdale based master-planned community developer where she was responsible for ongoing land use entitlement matters and other value-enhancing efforts for its communities and businesses.  She has successfully obtained approval of municipal finance incentives and  tools that provide well over $500 million of value to her clients. Cumulatively, she has entitled more than 20,000 acres including more than 35,000 homes and over 25 million square feet of commercial uses.

Reference >
https://thegridinmesa.com/

About Tony J. Wall - 3w management
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MORE ABOUT KARRIN KUSANEK TAYLOR ROBSON from a earlier post on this blog:
Link > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2018/06/no-disclaimer-in-this-az-big-media.html


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Once again back to what EVT staff writer Jim Walsh reports
 "Real estate developer Tony Wall, of 3W Management in Scottsdale, said he is close to landing financing for The GRID Mesa near Main Street and Mesa Drive. . . "

Walsh also makes it public that The GRID lost a key potential tenant, Co+Hoots, a co-working space company in Phoenix, but is working on finding a replacement that will foster the creativity and collaboration envisioned by the Innovation District, Wall said.
Here's Tony Wall appearing in front of the Mesa City Council in February 2018, with Jenny Poons and her husband to sell the proposed project to city officials. At that time Wall stated he hadn't known about CO+HOOTS until three weeks before.
Apparently that "partnership" fell by the wayside and might now opt to associate programs with Benedictine University for a build-out of their campus at 225 East Main Street
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To extract more from Walsh's report we have more:
> "City officials view the novel seven-story combination of office space, row houses, one- and two-bedroom apartments and “micro units’’ as an important part of downtown Mesa’s renaissance."
> "They say it compliments other development, including Benedictine University next door and the new Arizona State University building near City Hall."
> "ASU’s Mesa City Center campus is viewed as the cornerstone of an Innovation District that will focus on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality."
The GRID lost a key potential tenant, Co+Hoots, a co-working space company in Phoenix, but is working on finding a replacement that will foster the creativity and collaboration envisioned by the Innovation District, Wall said.
“I think the Innovation District is so important to downtown. It’s going to bring new life to downtown,’’ Wall said. “We are in serious discussions with a number of innovative companies.’’
> "Jeff McVay, Mesa’s downtown transformation manager, said the Innovation District requires a learning institution, a creative business network and a place suitable for the exchange of ideas. . .
“Downtown Mesa has the bones of a great place. New, high-quality residential will put the meat on the bones and will create the human vibrancy that will support an Innovation District,’’ McVay wrote in an email.
The GRID also is located on the west side of Mesa Drive, across from The Residences at Main and Mesa Drive, under development by City Creek Reserve, the real estate division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
> "Karrin Taylor Robson, Wall’s partner and a Mesa native, said very little new housing has been built in central Mesa for decades. She said the ASU building will help the market, but a market already exists.
 “There’s pent-up demand,’’ Taylor Robson, the daughter of retired Mesa state legislator Carl Kunasek, said. “There’s no new product.’’_________________________________________________________________________________
Here's the Clinker in the development proposal, again directly from Jim Walsh:
"Wall conceded the changes in the development agreement will save him money, but he said it is more of a marketing decision than a financial decision.
“We are very, very close’’ to obtaining financing, Wall said, an obstacle in the past. He signed his first development agreement with Mesa in fall 2017.
“It’s a big project. It’s the first real private investment in downtown,’’ Wall said, adding that he considers The Residences more of a church-related project.
 “We are the pioneers. It’s a hard mountain to climb.’’
BLOGGER INSERT: Exactly Who is the We ?????
Wall’s modified development agreement “represents a delay in project completion of up to one year,’’ according to a report written by McVay. It requires him to start construction by June 3 and finish by the end of December 2021.
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http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/more-downtown-mesa-development-ready-to-roll/article_c8b412c2-44dd-11e9-bdc9-33e15129cb57.html