Demolition site in Phoenix scheduled for trustee's sale

The 9-acre site of a 2009 office-building demolition in central Phoenix is now scheduled for foreclosure auction, according to a trustee's sale notice obtained from Mesa real-estate analysis firm Ion Data.

The property at 3033 N. Third St. once was the site of a 10-story office building that was constructed in the early 1970s for Mountain Bell, the telephone company that later became US West and then Qwest Communications.

The site was purchased in 2004 by developer Joe Pinsonneault, who had planned to convert it into a mid-rise retirement campus to be called Montage.

Although the Mountain Bell building, designed by the late Phoenix architect Al Beadle, had been considered by many to be historically significant and deserving of preservation, Pinsonneault was unable to rehabilitate it because it contained asbestos and had other health and safety issues.

Instead, the building underwent floor-by-floor asbestos removal, was stripped of its exterior glass paneling and finally imploded by a professional demolition team on Sept. 27, 2009.

The foreclosure notice, recorded by the Maricopa County Recorder's Office on July 7, lists the property owner as MAM Wealth Management Real Estate Fund I, LP, based in Encino, Calif.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is listed as beneficiary of the trustee's deed sale, scheduled for Oct. 6. The FDIC is acting as receiver for La Jolla Bank of Carlsbad, Calif.

by J. Craig Anderson The Arizona Republic Jul. 30, 2011 12:00 AM




Demolition site in Phoenix scheduled for trustee's sale