5 developers float plans for Bell Road, 94th Street property

The Bell Road corridor near 94th Street would take on a new look under each of the five development proposals Scottsdale is considering for 80 acres of city-owned land.

Three proposals are for apartment complexes, with one of them including nearly 100 single-family homes.

The other two plans are more unusual. One is for a wakeboard water park that uses electrical motors to pull participants across two man-made lakes totaling 7.4 acres.


Another proposal is for Stagecoach Gap, a Western-themed town to include the Scottsdale Museum of the West.

Scottsdale has postponed its review of each of the five plans until after April 5, when proposals are due for a new multipurpose building for WestWorld, said Mark Hunsberger, Scottsdale revitalization specialist.

That project south of Bell Road could have an impact on what is developed on the city's 80-acre site north of Bell and is split by 94th Street.

Stagecoach Gap would be a Western version of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia with blacksmiths and craftsmen in period costumes making cowboy boots, said Jim Bruner, Scottsdale Museum of the West board chairman.

The nonprofit group Bruner heads has been trying to raise funds to develop a Western museum downtown. That is still a goal but a smaller museum at Stagecoach Gap is a more immediate opportunity because financing might be available for the entire $38 million Western village, he said.

It would include a 30,000-square-foot museum, theater, movie house, restaurant, pool hall and horse stables.

Stagecoach Gap would require no city investment. It would operate under a long-term lease with Scottsdale sharing in the museum's receipts.

The wakeboard water park from 1440 Inc. would operate on a long-term lease of $250,000 annually for the eastern half of the city's 80-acre site. The developer said the park would generate about $624,000 annually in local and state taxes.

There are 10 wakeboard parks operating nationally but none are west of Texas, according to 1440 Inc. principals Todd Arnold and Matt Shannon.

The residential-development proposals for the site include a partnership involving Shea Homes, Alliance Residential Co. and Cassidy Turley/BRE Commercial.

Shea would build 95 homes and Alliance would add 283 apartments on a 37-acre site northeast of Bell Road and 94th Street. That would include 42 homes of 1,700 to 4,000 square feet on larger lots and 53 houses of 1,300 to 2,400 square feet on smaller lots.

Alliance's apartment complex would feature two- and three-bedroom units of 700 to 1,400 square feet.

Shea would pay the city 10 percent of the price, or about $4.5 million, and Alliance would pay Scottsdale $3.5 million for its 12-acre apartment site.

Mark-Taylor Inc. is proposing a 380-unit apartment complex on 24 acres northwest of Bell Road and 94th Street and using 4.4 acres for a retail-office park along 94th Street and 3.1 acres for a commercial parcel on Bell Road. The developer would include two- and three-story buildings with apartments of one to three bedrooms.

Mark-Taylor would pay the city $10 million for land plus $3 million for building and impact fees.

JLB Partners has proposed 412 apartments on 37 acres northwest of Bell Road and 94th Street. It would include units of 600 to 1,300 square feet in two- and three-story buildings. JLB would pay Scottsdale $11 million for the land and another $2.5 million in taxes over five years.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Mar. 11, 2011 10:50 AM





5 developers float plans for Bell Road, 94th Street property