Nine-story downtown Chandler project has new developer

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

There have been so many twists and turns in the city of Chandler’s attempts to get a nine-story, multi-use building financed and constructed downtown, some area residents might have forgotten what was planned for the location.

Chandler City Council member Matt Orlando said it’s taken “the better part of 20 years” to try to get a downtown project built the size of One Chandler. That’s the name of a nine-story, two-tower, multi-use project to be built along the west side of Arizona Avenue downtown, along Chandler Boulevard and north of Dr. A.J. Chandler Park.

Council unanimously approved a new contract Sept. 17 with an Shelter Asset Management LLC that city leaders hope will finally get the project built.

In addition to years of discussion and attempts to find partners for the project, this is also the third time since October 2022 that Council has approved a document with project deadlines for the site.

The first developer, known only as One Chandler LLC, fulfilled some of its initial obligations, including an application to rezone the property to a planned area development zoning designation.

But after more than two years, that group was unable to fulfill the construction side of its obligations, and after convincing Council to grant it a one-year extension on starting construction, March 31 of this year came and went, with the 1.7-acre cleared land remaining vacant.

That missed deadline caused city staff to start moving faster to find a new developer.

Chandler Cultural Development Director Kim Moyers spoke about the project at the Sept. 17 meeting, praising the developer’s commitment to the project.

“SAM’s (Shelter Asset Management) parent is Drewlo Holdings,” Moyers said. “And Stu (Hansen, the CEO and president of SAM) has been at so many of our meetings himself.”

The approved preliminary development plan includes 291 apartments, 13,000 square feet of office space and 16,000 square feet of lower-floor retail space — the latter two being what Moyers said could house 70 to 85 office employees and about 100 retail jobs.

Moyers said similar projects this size in the Valley are projected to produce about $30 million “annually in expenditures.”

“That’s a lot of people spending money in Chandler,” she said.

There is also a self-contained parking structure in the plan.
The developer also submitted substantially complete civil and building plans, which Moyers said should give SAM a head start, but she also anticipates some changes as a design phase unfolds.

The buildings would wrap around a Jack-in-the Box restaurant in a sort of thicker U-shape, as its owner has no plans to sell or relocate.

Council members Jane Poston and Christine Ellis praised the deal and commitment as well. Mayor Kevin Hartke said he likes it and SAM so much, he felt obligated to take the rare action of making the motion himself to approve the agreement.

Moyers said SAM will have about 200 people eventually working actively on-site on the project — half of whom are staff SAM it’s bringing to Chandler to work on it. She said it’s a $130 million project expected to bring about $4 million to the city in permit fees alone.

Also, there are no incentives to the new plan, she said.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the projects I’ve seen, that SAM has put in,” Moyers said. “It’s not just a project to them. It’s the people that they house and their pricing structure. They care about their people.”

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

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