SkySong Selected As Project Name For ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center
January 10, 2006 - Scotsdale, AZ
The development partners of the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center project announced that the center will be named and marketed as SkySong, capitalizing on the visibility of the iconic shade structure named SkySong that will soar over the interior intersection at the heart of the 37-acre site at Scottsdale and McDowell roads. SkySong, a tencile structure named and designed by the project's lead architect, Harry Cobb of the internationally renowned firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, is a series of swooping conical frames stretched with specially designed transparent mesh fabric commencing at 60 feet above the ground and sail-like support masts peaking at 125 feet. Higgins Development Partners and The Plaza Companies are co-developers of the project in collaboration with the ASU Foundation and the City of Scottsdale with USAA Real Estate Company as financial partner.
"The SkySong structure is the focal point of the pedestrian-friendly boulevards and is symbolic of the character of the project - innovative, technology-based and imaginative," said Tom Samuels, Executive Vice President of Higgins Development Partners. "It will be visible from both Scottsdale and McDowell roads and provide an exciting and comfortable area for the Center's workers and neighbors to gather." Samuels said a priority was making the site of the former Los Arcos Mall inviting and user-friendly, helping to foster and encourage the creative activities that will take place within the development.
Through the collaboration of Higgins Development Partners and The Plaza Companies partnership, ASU Foundation, Arizona State University and the City of Scottsdale, the mission of the project is to create an environment where innovation, technology and business interact. It will position Greater Phoenix, Scottsdale and ASU as global leaders of the knowledge economy and substantially benefit the residents and businesses of southern Scottsdale. The concept and design of the Center envisions an original, world-class "assembly point" for knowledge/technology businesses, not a traditional research park, business park or university campus. In addition to an 80,000-square-foot pre-leasing commitment by the ASU Foundation, the development team has also initiated marketing and leasing activities with CB Richard Ellis to bring major corporate tenants that are compatible with the office/research character of the center.
In December, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously approved the design for the project's phase I and II consisting of approximately 300,000 square feet of office, research and retail space. The perimeter of the entire site and all the interior surface parking areas will be densely landscaped during phase I. The site plan has interior circulation created through intersecting carriageways, allowing vehicular traffic to move within the project.
The official groundbreaking of the site will be January 20, with construction of the site infrastructure commencing later in January and Phase I building construction in March. Longer-term plans for all phases of construction over the next ten years call for the total project to comprise about 1.2 million square feet when complete. The completed project will be a vigorous, 21st century center for innovation, commercialization, entrepreneurship and business development at the site.
The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center is a planned 1.2 million square foot research lab and business complex combining technology, innovation, education and business in a collaborative campus environment that integrates state-of-the-art digital infrastructure into flexible office and research space. Organized around a grand boulevard lined by retail, restaurants and cultural institutions, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center will serve the needs of businesses, research and technology industry and academia while building vital networks between university innovations, regional progress and the global technology industry. Located at the intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell Roads, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center is a development of Higgins Development Partners, The Plaza Companies and Arizona State University Foundation, with special collaboration from Arizona State University and the City of Scottsdale.
Higgins Development Partners is a national real estate and development company headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the US and in Toronto. The company has created more than $4 billion in development value since 1980. It has extensive phased campus development experience.
The Plaza Companies is an Arizona-based development and real estate company started in 1977. It has developed and managed in excess of $500 million in projects with a portfolio of communities throughout Arizona.
USAA Real Estate Co. has more than $3.4 billion of assets under management and provides acquisition, build-to-suit and development services for corporate and institutional investors. The USAA portfolio consists of office, industrial and hotel properties as well as investments in real estate operating companies. Our annual volume of transactions is in excess of $500 million.