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Let’s start with the stats! Here are the ARMLS numbers for October 1, 2020 compared with October 1, 2019 for all areas & types:
Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 8,101 versus 13,755 last year – down 41.1% from last year, but up 0.9% from 8,028 last month.
Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 13,305 versus 17,592 last year – down 24.4% from last year, but up 1.0% compared with 13,178 last month.
Pending Listings: 7,999 versus 6,011 last year – up 33.1% from last year, AND up 1.4% from 7,892 last month.
Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 13,203 versus 9,848 last year – up 34.1% from last year, AND up 1.2% from 13,042 last month.
Monthly Sales: 9,667 versus 8,022 last year – up 20.5 from last year, AND up 4.9% from 9,213 last month.
Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $198.68 versus $169.60 last year – up 17.1% from last year, and up 1.9% from $194.98 last month.
Monthly Median Sales Price: $327,000 versus $279,500 last year – up 17.0% from last year, and up 0.6% from $325,000 last month
According to the Cromford Report, “The flow of new listings was strong throughout September, with roughly 17% more listings posted than in September 2019. However, this did not result in much change to the available supply. This rose a barely perceptible 0.9% which is in line with normal seasonal trends.”
Regardless of a severe shortage of listings, ARMLS data analyst and commentator, Tom Ruff, is still projecting 2020 to be a record setting year for home sales in Maricopa County. In the most recent ARMLS Stat review, Ruff stated, “The deficit in year-over-year sales in April and May impacted the numbers, but the anomaly will most likely be fully erased in October. And when our final sales figures for the year are reported on January 1, the 2020 real estate market will have surpassed everyone’s expectations.”
One of the major factors fueling the current real estate market are the historically low interest rates available to home buyer’s right now. These rates have essentially made homes more affordable despite rising prices and they have allowed for an increase in buying power. According to a recent Forbes article, these interest rates “have made buying a home the most affordable it’s been since 2016.”
Even with record setting sales and interest rates at unprecedented lows, many clients continue to ask us if we think this is another housing bubble. While we can’t deny that a market correction is bound to happen at some point in the future, experts aren’t predicting it to happen any time soon.
In addition to low interest rates, the current market is being fueled by an increase in demand and a severe lack of supply which is markedly different than the factors that caused the “bubble” in the mid-2000’s. A surge in population growth in Arizona is a major contributing factor to the shortage of homes for sale. According to a recent AZ Big Media article, Arizona tends to be one of the top places that people are moving. With over 63% of all moves being inbound in Arizona last year, it doesn’t look like our market is going to take a dive anytime soon. People from places such as California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Washington have been relocating to Arizona in record numbers seeking things like better weather, more space, lower taxes and more affordable homes.
So what is our advice to you based on this month’s market report? If you are thinking of buying or selling, NOW is the time to do it! Whether you are relocating to the Valley of the Sun or just looking to make a move within the Phoenix Metro area, our team of experience agents at azarchitecture is available to help you. We can help you find a home or price yours to sell. Feel free to reach out to us directly at info@azarchitecture.com for any of your real estate needs.
Hayden Library’s Reinvention with Todd Briggs of TRUEFORM
October 6th, 2020
The surface level to Hayden Library on the ASU Tempe Campus became a mausoleum, of sorts, when the library entrance was sealed in 1988, as the then-new subterranean entrance to the library was opened south of the Hayden Lawn. Over the decades, the punchcard pre-cast panels on the outside, acted as a marker of its mid-century roots. It became a barrier for the sun as students and staff walked down Cady Mall on the way to Memorial Union for lunch. But, it never went away. When you’re an architect or designer, these are the things you notice when commissioned to bring new life to a building older than you. The project, dubbed the “ASU Hayden Library Reinvention,” involved the collaboration of Ayers Saint Gross Architects and TRUEFORM Landscape Architects. Normally, the further a landscape architect steps away from a project’s physical structure, the less they’re involved in the design. But, that dynamic was upended, owing to the unique design of Hayden Library. azarchitecture recently chatted with TRUEFORM’s principal architect Todd Briggs about this and the other unique dynamics to this project.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
On a Reinvention of this Scale
This project was very unique, in many ways. It’s the heart of campus. Right away, this is gonna be high profile and heavily scrutinized, attention to detail from the President (of Arizona State University) and everybody else. With that comes all these discussions with the library itself, the chief librarian. “What is a library in this day and age, with technology and access?” It’s not the library of 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. That was a big part of it, “What is a library now?”
Obviously, that’s not impacting landscape a lot, but it does a little bit. Because it really encourages a porosity to its edges, which is why you now have three entries and exits at the library and more student engagement. All of those goals of the university start to factor into making more outdoor space accessible, useable, comfortable and flexible for different uses. It might be events, it just might be studying, it just might be two people having coffee. You have to achieve all of those. The challenges of marrying up all of those things, with new classroom space, a new structural lid, and a new plaza that’s at a different level from the Orange Mall. And then, matching that up with a 1966 building was super challenging.
On Peeling Back and Integrating Decades of Design Clutter
That subterranean entry [from an 1989 update] wasn’t there and it was this appendage. You know, trying to knit in a new perception of what a successful public space is and integrate with a 1966 building and architecture. When we see these old buildings like this, we’re always looking for chances to repurpose, reuse and recycle, all those “re”-words. What are the results of that intervention or what’s the goal and focus? A lot of the library felt very dark and dreary. There was not a lot of natural light. Ayers Saint Gross [the project architect] pulled all the granite slabs off the building. They made the first level of the library, which was the plaza deck level. It created a notion of this heavy base that the upper floors and delicate architecture sat upon.
But, we thought, “That granite is really beautiful — it’s just not doing what it needs to do anymore.” What if you pulled that off and used it in some other way? It happens to be two and a half inches thick. It’s really, really beefy and super heavy, but polished on one side. Once we inventoried how much granite would be available, we determined we could, because the library sits three feet above both Hayden Mall and Orange Mall, create this plinth, this raised platform plaza with the stairs and ramp to access it all the way around the entire library, with that material used as the retaining wall system. That proved to be one of the more exciting opportunities, because not one piece of granite was ever taken off site. It didn’t disappear, we kept that history in close context. It tells that story right there.
On Collaboration
As a design team alone, we closely collaborated with the architect on almost every detail, because every single thing we did was touching the building or touching the roof of the plaza below. On most projects, once we step away from the building, we’re not engaging much with architecture at all. The collaboration between the architect and the landscape architect isn’t as important. But, on this one, we collaborated on a daily basis. ASU that has such a layered system of management, you have to navigate all the different avenues including the offices of the university architect, capital planning and management, the President and CEO. And, all four entities have different opinions.
On Goals Set By Their Client of the Final Product
They had earmarked that north plaza down below at the moat level as a study space, an entry and exit and an event space. In normal, non-COVID times, the library hosts anywhere between a half dozen to a dozen special events, for which they’d use the outside area. And, they wanted to be clear, open, flexible, and not have many obstructions within it, but, at the same time, you don’t want it make it feel vast and empty. Making sure they could accommodate an event but still keep it inviting enough for four or five people in a study group to get out into the courtyard during nice weather was important. That north plaza is really interesting because it is shaded by the building for a long time during the year. So, it’s actually quite a pleasant environment even when it’s pretty warm out. That was completed first in August of 2019.
They required that and then the rest of the plaza level that sits three feet above Hayden Lawn and Mall, Orange Mall, and the MU [Memorial Union], just became seamless between the two as much as possible. And, they wanted it as useable and flexible with tables and chairs. Those just recently arrived. None of the photographs you’ve seen actually show furniture on the deck. There’s power all over the place up there so people can plug in. They put some Wifi enhancers on the building so all those plaza decks have really good strong signals. So that whole deck is usable and seamless to the surrounding malls, lawn and plaza. And that was really the predominant goal.
On Complimenting the Existing Design
We did something on some of the pedestal walls that hold the edges of the granite walls or stairs and ramps. We gave a little cant back on those walls because they sort of pick up that geometry on the pre-cast panels on the library. If you look at the columns on the old 1966 library, those columns actually taper down, they’re a little bit canted, so we picked that up and repeated it on the wall that project on the malls out toward the edge. Then, we repeated that angle with the handrails and the ramps. I was really looking to study the architecture and compliment it. And that goes all the way down to the planters, those white planters on top of the walls at the stairs and ramps. They weren’t custom designed, but they were made locally at Kornegay Design. And that design seemed to pick up a lot of what was going on in the hanging precast panels. There are a lot of little gestures.
On Feedback from the University Staff and Students
The north patio was used for six or seven months. I don’t think they ever hosted an event there, because they’re still adjusting to how to use their new library. But everything I’ve heard from the head librarian and the campus architect is that everyone loves the final product. President Crow said one time that his opinion of this library is that it’s ASU’s Acropolis [of Athens] and after it was all done, because there’s a new lighting effect on it, he says it’s elevated to what beyond it was. Obviously, the deck outside wasn’t used too much because COVID hit, and there never was furniture there until recently. We’ll see how it’s used. I’m curious to see it, I kinda wish I spent this last spring semester out there watching people. Because that’s what we love to do, just sit and watch people use space. We love to see how they use it.
On Architectural Luck in COVID
The interesting thing about COVID is that the upper deck space was space designed and laid out for furniture that actually exceeds CDC distancing requirements for seating. Just by chance, it just does. And, the reason why is that everything was predicated on the layout, the rhythm of the trees on the west side of the library that separate it and Cady Mall. When they grow, those trees will provide shade along Cady Mall, and provide shade for the seating.
I think there are 18 trees, so there are 18 pockets of seating and shade. All of those already adhere to ASU’s new guidelines, so they haven’t had to re-adjust anything along that entire deck like they have had to do everywhere else. You know, we didn’t forecast it, we just got lucky. But, we’re pretty giddy about that! I just talked to the landscape architect about that the other day about. And he said, “Yeah, we’re laying the furniture out and everything is meeting the distance requirements.”
On What They Learned from This Project
I guess the thing we took from this project the most goes back to more about the notion of history, preservation and repurposing. There really is no building, product or material on that project that you can’t find a way to reinvent it. That goes back to why they called it the Reinvention Project. There are no bounds to what you can redefine for a new generation or century. Because, as all of you at azarchitecture know, in Phoenix, we’re tearing down way too many buildings. And this could be one of those glowing examples of not needing to tear down anything. You can go in and surgically modify and tweak. It can be really delicately or really heavy handed. You can always find value in a building or a site, pretty much anything and figure out how to reinvent it, modify, change it into what the needs are today.
Thinking about relocating to Arizona?
September 29th, 2020
While we don’t have a beach, there are lots of other great reasons to move to Arizona! Here are just a few that come to mind:
Lower Taxes. According to a 2019 article from Kiplinger.com, Arizona is considered to be one of the top 10 most tax-friendly states while states such as Illinios, New York, and New Jersey are some of the top 10 least tax-friendly states.
Cost of Living is low. According to the Cost of Living Calculator on Payscale.com, “Phoenix’s housing expenses are 5% lower than the national average and the utility prices are 4% lower than the national average.” Cost of living could be calculated as high as almost 50% lower than areas such as San Francisco, California and New York, New York.
Lower cost of living means you can also get more for your money in Arizona as compared to states like California or New York. Even median home prices are significantly lower in Arizona. In an AZ Central article from 2019, the median home price is Phoenix was $273,000 while the median home price in San Francisco was $1.3M, $610,000 in Los Angeles, $522,000 in Seattle and $408,000 in Denver.
You can find a job! According to US News in 2019, Scottsdale, Arizona was ranked the number one place to find a job in the entire United States! Chandler, Arizona, another Valley city also made this list.
There is SO much to do! You don’t have to go far to find something fun to do when you live in the Phoenix Metro Area, but with Sky Harbor International Airport at your disposal, your options are endless! Whether you want to visit a museum, play a world class golf course, explore the outdoors or travel afar, you can easily do it all when you call Phoenix home.
Want to go to Las Vegas for the night? You can opt to hop on a quick flight or you can take a scenic, 4.5 hour drive past the Hoover Dam to get there. Want to go to the beach? No problem! A short four hour drive will get you to Puerto Penasco in Mexico, or you can drive six hours and arrive in sunny, Southern California. While mountains in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico are easily accessible from Phoenix by plane or car, you don’t even have to leave the state to find good snow skiing, hiking or mountain biking. A quick two or three hour car trip can have you exploring the mountains of Eastern or Northern Arizona in no time! And, don’t forget about one of the great wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon, located right here in Arizona.
Speaking of baseball, if you are a fan, chances are, you can get your fill and maybe even cheer on your home team right here in the Valley of the Sun. Why? Spring Training, of course! Major League Baseball has only two “Spring Training” leagues, one played in Florida called the Grapefruit League, and the other, played right here in Arizona, called the Cactus League. Want to know more about the Cactus League and its history in Arizona, check out the blog post we wrote earlier in the year right here.
Now that you’ve seen more than a few good reasons why you should move to Arizona, here are some things we think you should know to make your relocation to Phoenix or Scottsdale easier:
You don’t need an attorney as you would in New York or Chicago. Your REALTOR® can prepare documents for you and the title company can help manage the process. You can choose to hire a real estate attorney, but it is not required in Arizona.
The market is HOT! Many sellers are hesitant to sell to buyers that have not seen the property in person. This doesn’t mean it can’t happen though. Find a REALTOR® you trust to show you the property virtually and you don’t necessarily need to see it in person. If you can though, it’s always a good idea.
You’ll have room to roam. Like other large cities around the country, the Valley of the Sun is very spread out. The areas are all different. Talk with you REALTOR® about the amenities you want in an area such as a 55+ community, good schools, golf community, close to trails, close to family members already residing here, new build vs resale, multi-family vs single family, etc. They can help you find he perfect place.
If you are thinking of relocating to Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Carefree, Cave Creek, Glendale, Peoria, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Fountain Hills or anywhere else in the Phoenix Metro area, email us at info@azarchitecture.com. We are happy to help you navigate the in’s and out’s of relocating. Think of us as your relocation specialists! Let us help you make the Valley of the Sun your new home.
Market Update September 2020
September 15th, 2020
Needless to say, our market has been as hot as our summer weather! In reference to the real estate market in Maricopa County for the month of July, Tom Ruff, The Information Market Data Analyst for ARMLS recently stated, “Day after day the news plays like a broken record, but when we look at the July sales data (as reported by ARMLS), it’s all about smashing records. The 10,303 home sales were not only the highest number of sales ever in July, but one of the highest monthly totals ever. Sales normally don’t peak in Phoenix in July; they almost always subside. The high-water mark for sales usually occurs in March, April, May or June. It is now clear that Covid-19 only paused sales, which in turn created pent-up demand. Our market has shown remarkable resiliency.”
The data for August was almost just as impressive. Per Tina Tamboer, Data Analyst for the Cromford Report, the past August was the third biggest August on record just behind August of 2004 which was a close 2nd to August of 2005.
With records being shattered and things changing so rapidly in this market, our clients are relying on us to stay as up to date as possible with the statistics. Here are some of the most recent questions our agents have been receiving from their clients and our answers to those questions:
Is this another bubble? That is a common question we are getting from clients these days. According to many experts in the field, the answer is no. In her weekly Zoom talks with area REALTORS®, Tamboer explains this by introducing the idea that the demand we saw in 2004 and 2005, prior to the burst of the bubble, was not real demand at all. The demand was driven by people purchasing properties under the guise that they would be living in them, when, in fact, they never intended to do so. Because of the number of properties that had been built prior to the bubble bursting as well as the investors buying up properties around the valley, we ended up with a glut of excess homes. Things are different now. Currently, inventory in ARMLS is shockingly low while the data from the Cromford Report shows that demand is staying slightly above normal.
What is fueling the current market? The shortage of supply coupled with excess demand is the perfect recipe to fuel the current market. Experts are saying that they think demand is holding strong because of the low interest rates currently available to buyers. Another interesting thing that could possibly fueling the current market in Maricopa County is the proposed tax increase on the wealthy in California as well as other states. In a recent National Review article, Robert Gutierrez, the President of the California Taxpayers Association said, “The tax hikes would be the tipping point for many taxpayers prompting them to book a one-way trip to one of the 49 states with lower taxes.” Many experts believe that the surrounding states such as Arizona and Nevada would and may already be benefiting from this “wealth flight”.
I have been thinking about selling my home. Is now a good time? Definitely! According to Danielle Hale, Realtor.com®’s Chief Economist, “Sellers are calling the shots in today’s market. Prices are rising and housing inventory is vanishing almost as fast as it appears.” In the same article for REALTOR® Magazine, Hale mentions possible changes coming to the market with the dynamics of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic as well as upcoming election in our country. If you have thinking about selling, we, as well as many expert, would recommend doing it now!
I would like to purchase a home. Is now a good time to buy? Surprisingly, YES! Even though supply is low, homes are still affordable. If you are in the market to purchase a home, now is the time to do it. In a recent article from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun stated, “Although housing prices have consistently moved higher, when the favorable mortgage rates are factored in, an overall home purchase was more affordable in 2020’s second quarter compared to one year ago.”
We hope that you found the information in this post to be helpful. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us via email at info@azarchitecture.com. We would be happy to help you navigate this crazy market. It is what we do, and we love our job!
HOME+WORK with Brent Kendle, AIA – Part Three
July 28th, 2020
This final conversation of the three-part series entitled HOME+WORK, Scott Jarson pondered life without office and garnered the input from three top design leaders to share their experiences and wisdom. Eddie Jones, FAIA, of Jones Studio, and Luis Ibarra, of Ibarra Rosano Design Architects, were previously interviewed for this blog feature. Scott posited the same five set questions to each of them:
-What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
-How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
-Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying to make to your current design?
-With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
-Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
He wanted to know how this time may have affected their approach, and how they think the future of design may be impacted as a result of recent experiences.
Our final installation of the series features insights from Architect Brent Kendle. Kendle Design Collaborative designs homes that are inspired by the natural beauty of our area and they work in an interesting arts compound on Cattletrack Road in Scottsdale.
SJ: Brent – Your studio is at the Ellis property on Cattletrack Road. What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
BK: Yes. It’s laid back, casual and historic with adobe walls and concrete floors. It’s the antithesis of “corporate office”. It feels like going to your cabin on Mondays instead of heading to the office. It is surrounded by creative artists within an historic artist compound.
SJ: How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
BK: Our staff, except two of us, have been working from home. We collaborate with both staff and clients and interview with potential clients using platforms such as GoToMeeting, Zoom and FaceTime. Rather than sitting at a desk and sketching things while sitting next to my staff, I find I redline drawings and 3D model images, photograph them with my phone and send them to my staff who are working remotely. It’s pretty efficient really.
SJ: Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying to make to your current design?
BK: Dying to make? Not really. I can always think of improvements I’d like to make given time and money, but nothing needed right now out of any necessities caused by the pandemic.
SJ: With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
BK: I think people are thinking more about the importance of a well-designed home since they are spending more time there. They are longing for those experiences they might find at their favorite restaurant, club, resort or other social gathering spot and wishing they had a way to create that in their homes.
SJ: Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
BK: I have to believe it will change many of the things we have taken for granted. Restaurants in particular.
When a top chef finds, out of necessity, that they can successfully and profitably run an upscale food delivery service out of their kitchen without the expense of renting dining space and the associated help cost, will they decide to do that instead of returning to their former restaurant? When a non-profit finds, out of necessity, to hold online fundraisers rather than the costly renting of ballrooms and the associated staff and hassle, will they opt for that, leaving venues like our upscale conference hotels to have to change their model?
Certainly offices will realize that they can collaborate with staff and clients from a distance, lowering their need to expand their space in order to take on new staff. And, that staff will feel emboldened to request more work-from-home options of their employers who previously felt the need to have their staff under one roof.
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A huge thanks to Brent Kendle, AIA, LEED AP, of Kendle Design Collaborative in Scottsdale for helping to round out this three part HOME+WORK series. We are extremely grateful for Brent Kendle, Luis Ibarra and Eddie Jones for each taking time out of their busy schedules to share their insights and wisdom with us.
HOME+WORK with Luis Ibarra – Part Two
July 21st, 2020
Welcome to part two of a three-part series entitled HOME+WORK. In this series, Scott Jarson pondered life without an office and garnered the input from three top design leaders to share their experiences and wisdom. Scott posited the same five questions to each of them:
-What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
-How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
-Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying to make to your current design?
-With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
-Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
He wanted to know how this time may have affected their approach, and how they think the future of design may be impacted as a result of recent experiences.
Today, Part Two features insights from architectural designer Luis Ibarra who with Teresa Rosano, are based in Tucson, Arizona. Since 1999, Ibarra Rosano Design Architects has grown to become an internationally recognized award-winning architecture design firm. Here is Luis’s unique perspective…
SJ: Luis, we’ve all been spending more time in our homes and perhaps isolated in office/studios. What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
LI: We began our careers modeling our firm on the philosophies and practices of my mentor, world renown Australian architect Glenn Murcutt.
He is decisive in keeping his practice a one-man-band. But, as a married couple, we were already off-script — and with several associates too. Yet, his method for staying true to his principles and choosing the best projects by running a lean business has always been at the core of Ibarra Rosano’s strategy. Back then, we were lucky to find a large, inexpensive midtown lot with a tiny little house, upon which we cut our teeth and tested our knowledge.
We built a standalone design studio and rebuilt the tiny house bigger. For two recent architecture graduates, our property proved to be the best finishing school. It has also served us as a great backstop for weathering terrible events and economic storms. We’ve been through many: 9/11, the great recession, and now Covid 19. In spite of the constant uncertainty, we still have in the back of our minds to move to a commercial place, but our midtown quarter-acre property continues to serve us well. Clients who visit the studio enjoy seeing all the experiments we’ve tried on ourselves. And, knowing that we have had our hands on those experiments boosts our clients’ confidence in the constructibility of our ideas.
So, for us, it’s business as usual in our 900 square foot studio in the back lot…Well, kind of.
SJ: How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
LI: The unfortunate loss has been the face-to-face meetings with consultants and clients. We are a personable firm that likes to gather with clients, collaborators and colleagues. Covid has definitely changed that. That said, since our firm has a national reach, we were already meeting remotely with several clients. I guess the silver lining in all this is virtual meetings are now easier to have because newly-improved technology has stepped up to serve necessity, and we are all growing more comfortable with it.
This comfort is expanding our teaming/collaborating possibilities. As more and more consultants, creators, and creatives become available on networks and social apps, the more expansive our services and expertise offerings. We are able to offer clients the top engineers and expert consultants, because the cost of travel is a non issue. As the technology improves, the difference between having a collaborator at my shoulder or across the planet will become less and less noticeable. It’s quite remarkable. And probably a better use of the planet’s resources.
That said, I really miss the day’s end round of beers at the neighborhood pub.
SJ: Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying to make to your current design?
LI: Since we built it as a serious studio, the studio is professional, and well-equipped with several stations and work spaces. I wish it had more space to exhibit our models, awards, and publications, but, other than that, it works quite well — at least for now.
SJ: With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
LI: We have always enjoyed designing homes. Of course, we have already branched out into hospitality, multi-family housing, a gallery, a church, and other civic spaces. But, we have always believed in the power of a well-designed house. I can imagine that homeowners are now beginning to understand that idea as well. When a home is truly well-considered, it can be a great servant, providing for many of our human needs. When it is not well considered, its limited set of opportunities can feel like a trap, leaving us feeling ‘safe’ but stuck. For those who are lucky to live in well-considered spaces, no matter what size or what cost, the home can be both a source of productivity and repose.
Architecture is the instrument through which we make connections, connections between people and their place, between people and each other, and between people and themselves. Whether you are in a big city, a suburb, or out in the middle of nowhere, it’s these connections that we yearn for as humans. Ibarra Rosano’s most important mission is to help people make these connections through architecture.
We are already seeing an influx of clients asking for help in strengthening these connections in their daily lives. Some are asking us to modify their places of work at home, others to create new places that work exactly as they should. These momentous challenges force us to reflect and realize that time is our greatest wealth. And we should spend it wisely.
SJ: Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
LI: Covid as a justification for sprawl? I hope not. Suburbia has its place as all things do, but the civic cost is tremendous.
Ironically, as we can already see, suburbanites insist on being separated and independent, but, as soon as you obligate them to do so, they can’t wait to rush back in and be closer than they should be to people who could be ill.
But that’s just proof of our human nature. We have a need to connect, to be a part of each other’s lives. I think architecture is the stage where that can happen. I think designers, architects, engineers, and artists have a tremendous role to play in the making of great civic space that allows all of us to share our lives with each other — safely, respectfully, responsibly, and with great equity.
This current calamity will one day pass and leave a great lesson in its wake. If we awaken to it, we will be smarter for it. If not, it or something like it, will unfortunately come again. I hope we take this opportunity to learn and be ready.
…….
A huge thanks to Luis Ibarra, Principal Designer & Co-Founder of Ibarra Rosano Design Architects in Tucson for joining us in Part Two of this blog. Stay tuned for part three featuring architect Brent Kendle.
To Be Concluded…
HOME+WORK with Eddie Jones, FAIA – Part One
July 14th, 2020
As part of a three-part series entitled HOME+WORK, Scott Jarson ponders life without an office and garnered input from three top design leaders to share their experiences and wisdom. Enjoy!
Part One: There will come a time, self-imposed or peer-pressure mandated, that we will begin to return to our workplaces in Arizona. Many have already done so, the pull of the routine is strong. With our collective work situation changed and changing, we may very well end up back in semi-isolation once again. These experiences redefined the way we work, and as we ponder a future return, we just may draw new conclusions from our recent experiences.
However, this natural longing to return to routine, and the communal disruption to our engrained life-patterns had me thinking about what others have experienced, how they are coping, what changes to their routine might have been made, and where they think our future lay in regards to the concepts of home, and office, and the balance between life and work.
To learn more I reached out to architects and designers whose work and friendships I respect, each of which keep their studios in diverse and creative settings. I posited the same set of questions to each of them:
-What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
-How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
-Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying to make to your current design?
-With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
-Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
I wanted to know how this time may have affected their approach, and how they think the future of design may be impacted as a result of recent experiences.
Our friends Eddie Jones, Luis Ibarra and Brent Kendle offered generous, interesting and heartfelt responses. We begin with our friend Eddie Jones FAIA in Part One of this blog. Part Two will feature architectural designer Luis Ibarra, and we will wrap-up in Part Three with architect Brent Kendle. I think you’ll find their insights interesting, I know I did.
SJ: Eddie, We’ve all been spending more time in our homes and perhaps isolated in office/studios. What are you enjoying most about the space you are working in?
EJ: Jones Studio is on its 3rd year in our new Studio building. Most everyone works from home until June. We are all anxious to get back to our one big happy family in Studio. We miss the direct and more efficient collaboration. I work and live in beautiful rooms surrounded by nature.
I never not notice my good fortune. The Studio has amber tinted glass surrounding our roof top deck and each morning the low eastern sun casts a beautiful golden shadow, curb to curb, directly in front of our building. I stop my glass topped Tesla in the shadow before turning into my tree lined DG parking area just to “bath in the golden light”. That’s how I begin my day!
SJ: How have you made things work under the current circumstances?
EJ: At 70, I have happily and proudly become quite proficient with my little laptop communicator.
SJ: Based on your recent time spent there, are there any changes you’re dying (perhaps this was a very bad choice of words on my part! -SJ) to make to your current design?
EJ: Can’t be dying when you are reborn every day in architecture and a garden!
SJ: With your recent experiences, how do you think this will affect the future advice and design concepts you’d want to share with clients?
EJ: My young partner, Brian Farling, said it best the first week into the stay at home quarantine. During one of our many video conference meetings I complimented him on his home space backdrop…wall lined with books, soft north daylight (I have been there many times). He said, “I am so glad I designed my house so I did not have to stay home in crap!” Scott, did you notice the mediocrity back dropping 99.9% of the TV news casters, late night talk show hosts and comedians? Therefore, my design advice will include something about a personal image projecting a personally authentic space.
SJ: Do you feel that the pandemic experience in America may affect the future of urban design in the U.S. and even influence a return to suburbia?
EJ: Urban lifestyles give more than they take. Suburbia just takes. It will all work out for the better.
…..
A huge thanks to Eddie Jones of Jones Studio in Tempe for joining us in Part One of this blog. Stay tuned for parts two and three featuring architectural designer Luis Ibarra and architect Brent Kendle.
To Be Continued…
Market Update July 2020
July 7th, 2020
First off, we must apologize. Over the past few months, the market has changing much more rapidly than ever before. We did not post a monthly market report in May and June because of the weekly shifts that were occurring. We pride ourselves on putting out the most current, up to date information, and did not feel we could do that over those hectic months. However, as real estate agents living living and working through this pandemic, we often hear the same questions over and over from our clients: What is happening with the housing market? Do you think it’s going to crash? Do you think prices are going to go down? At this point in the pandemic, we feel that we owe it to you to catch you up on what has been happening in the market as well as what is being forecasted to happen.
The best, and only, way to answer these questions is by looking at the data we currently have and comparing it to historical data. Initially, we thought this pandemic was going to lead to a pretty hefty recession and thus a possible real estate crash; however, based on the recent data on the economy, unemployment, as well as the real estate market, many economists have revised their forecasts for the remainder of 2020 – and the outlook is actually extremely encouraging! We have compiled for you the following quotes from a few national experts as well as some local data from the Cromford Report to show you exactly what people are thinking about the housing market throughout the end of 2020 and moving into 2021.
According to the Economic & Housing Research Forecast put out by Freddie Mac, “Going forward, we forecast the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to remain low, falling to a yearly average of 3.4% in 2020 and 3.2% in 2021.” These extremely low interest rates are helping spur affordability in spite of rising prices which certainly is nice for buyers. (http://www.freddiemac.com/fmac-resources/research/pdf/202006-Forecast.pdf)
Joel Kan, Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting for the Mortgage Bankers Association says, “The recovery in housing is happening faster than expected. We anticipated a drop-off in Q3. But, we don’t think that’s the case anymore. We revised our Q3 numbers higher. Before, we predicted a 2 percent decline in purchase originations in 2020, now we think there will be 2 percent growth this year.” (https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/summer-housing-market-off-to-strong-start/)
While it’s great to see things looking up from a national standpoint, we realize that the most important market to our clients is their own! What are we seeing on a local level you might ask? With employment rising sharply over the past month, things are starting to look up in the Phoenix Metro area too!
In her most recent recap on July 5th, Tina Tamboer, Senior Housing Analyst for the Cromford Report, mentioned that while the number of residential real estate contracts weakened this month, they are still up 11.5% over this exact week last year. Tina did indicate that housing supply, however, is down about 42% from this time last year. Per Tina and the Cromford Report, the statistics show that the real estate market in Maricopa County is no where near balanced right now. In fact, due to the short supply of homes available, there are certain areas in the valley that have as many as eight times the amount of properties under contract than they do for sale. Needless to say, the current real estate market in Maricopa County heavily favors the seller right now. It is, in no uncertain terms, a “sellers market”.
So, what does this mean for you? Well, if you take into consideration the optimistic outlook of the economists mentioned above and the current market statistics from Maricopa County, it means that NOW is a great time to sell! If you happen to be a buyer looking for a home, low interest rates are helping to keep payments low amidst rising home prices; however, because of the low housing supply, it is more important than ever to have a good REALTOR® on your side to make sure you secure the home of your dreams. You will need a seasoned pro, like one of the fabulous agents here at azarchitecture, to help you write an offer that will stand out amongst the competition!
If you have been thinking about listing your property, please reach out to us. We can conduct a thorough evaluation to help you price your property appropriately. We will also determine the precautions that we will take to keep you and your family as safe as possible while your home is on the market, and, last but not least, we will develop a marketing plan that will help ensure you get top dollar for your home in the shortest amount of time. Our ultimate goal is to make this a quick and easy process for you!
If you would like to set up a free home evaluation to find out what your home is currently worth, please contact us at info@azarchitecture.com today!
What makes Scottsdale so great?
June 29th, 2020
Known for its relaxing spas, high end resorts and spectacular golf courses, Scottsdale is an desert city located just east of Phoenix, Arizona. Situated close enough to Phoenix to enjoy “big city” amenities such as professional sports teams and an international airport, but far enough to give you a taste of a serene, desert landscape, Scottsdale has so much to offer!
Downtown’s “Old Town Scottsdale” has buildings from the 1920’s as well as 19th-century olive trees while farther north, scenic trails wind through the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, a 30,500 acre desert-scape of hills, rock formations and cacti.
If you are an architecture buff, Scottsdale has that too as architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s former winter home and studio, Taliesin West is located within Scottsdale’s 85260 zip code.
While certain areas of Scottsdale are quiet enough to hear the birds chirp, other areas of Scottsdale, such as Old Town, have quite the nightlife scene. This is especially true during the Spring months when Major League Baseball holds their Spring Training Camp, known as the Cactus League in various cities throughout the Valley of the Sun, including Scottsdale.
With big city amenities and a friendly, laid back, Old West vibe, Scottsdale is the go-to place for many vacationers and retirees alike. We believe that it is for these reasons and many more that Scottsdale has attracted the attention of many national news outlets and has recently been voted:
So, if you are looking for the best place to live, quarantine, staycation, retire or work, look no further! Scottsdale is the place to be! Lucky for you, azarchitecture was co-founded by Scottsdale native, Scott Jarson. Scott and the team at azarchitecture know the benefits of living in Scottsdale better than anyone, and we would be happy to show you the in’s and out’s of our lovely home while we help you find the perfect place to do whatever it is you want to do in Scottsdale. Scott and Debbie Jarson have been helping people like you find their unique home in the Valley of the Sun since 1990. So, whether you want to watch an Arizona Diamondbacks game, go mountain biking, visit a museum or have a fancy dinner, we promise to show you everything Scottsdale has to offer as we help you find the home of your dreams! Click here to contact us.
Arizona Falls: Where Art, History and Technology Meet
But where can one go to learn about art, history and technology, all in one simple, beautiful outdoor setting? Arizona Falls, along the Arizona Canal between 56th and 58th streets, is the perfect place! The Falls were originally formed by a natural 20-foot drop, and, in the late 1800s, Phoenicians enjoyed this spot for picnics, social gatherings, dancing; prior to air conditioning, this was literally one cool place! Utilizing the flowing water of the canal to produce power, Arizona Falls was also the site of the first hydroelectric plant in Phoenix. Originally built in 1902, the plant was rebuilt by SRP in 1911, began delivering power again in 1913 and was eventually shut down in 1950. As the years passed and more people moved to the Valley, Arizona Falls was almost forgotten as the place to gather — until today.
When the Falls reopened in 2003 as a restored hydroelectric plant, it rekindled the love and need for a neighborhood gathering place where visitors can learn, interact and reflect. The new Arizona Falls combines art, history and technology to generate clean electricity from the canal’s waterfall. The transformation of a historic waterfall by SRP, the Phoenix Arts Commission and the Arcadia neighborhood allows Phoenix-area residents to experience something old and something new.
The second part in our two-part series about Sunnyslope. Part 1, which was titled ‘A Flyover Guide to Sunnyslope,’ was published on azarchitecture here
The origins of Sunnyslope are inadvertently routed in architecture and design, and they continue as many architects, from both the past and present, have left their mark on the area which lends to its rich eclectic nature.
Architect William R. Norton moved his family from San Francisco to Phoenix in 1907 to recover from the symptoms of black measles and pneumonia, which the dry air and warm climate offered to remedy. The desert landscape in Arizona was picturesque and plentiful — but also cheap.
The name “Sunnyslope” originates with Norton, specifically his daughter Alice. One day, according to legend, while she and her father were on horseback in North Mountain, one of the hills was suddenly bathed in sunlight, which inspired an off-handed comment about the “beautiful sunny slope” before them. The name stuck. So, in 1911 as he continued to expand his architectural firm, he took his daughter’s turn-of-phrase and branded and platted it, as a new 40-acre subdivision between Central and Dunlap Avenue.
At that time, the area’s character was impugned for its status as a tuberculosis camp for those to recover from their symptoms. Eventually Sunnyslope further populated and those once afflicted, but now cured, settled. Subsequently, the wartime workers stayed and then veterans moved in. Following World War II, the reputation of the area leveled out and attracted people you need to grow a community: architects and designers.
Architect Fred M. Guirey and builder John F. Long were two of several designers who built out a couple hundred dwellings in the blossoming North Central Heights, bordered just west of Central Avenue on Hatcher. If you’re on a self-guided tour through the area, Guirey’s homes are more easily identifiable through the pronounced patio space in front. In the 1970s, Paul Christian Yaeger, an accolade of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed a vaguely Usonian-looking house atop one of the area mountains, which azarchitecture listed and sold in 2015.
Flash forward to present and architects still flock to the Sunnyslope area for builds and remodels. James Trahan (of 180 Degrees), Wendell Burnette, Jerry Little (of SEAD Architecture) were responsible for notable, award-winning designs in Sunnyslope, while Eddie Jones (of Jones Studio) is also a fan of the area. Several of the designs, including the Dialogue House and Five Degrees Residence, azarchitecture has represented the past. The architectural office of Marlene Imirzian, with its neat desert landscaping and striking Modern remodel of its MidCentury structure, exists on the other side of Sunnyslope High School on Central Avenue.
If you travel east to the edge of the preserves on Mountain View Road, you’ll find the subdivision of Ocotillo Hills, where the lines between MidCentury and Modern blur alongside each other. Wherever you go, there’s little existence that beige and forgettable is the ethos for anything in the area.
It’s on the rise?
If there’s a thread that runs through the history of Sunnyslope, it’s a perpetual cycle of renewal whenever the more seedier elements threatened to envelope them. In 1999, during one such downturn cycles, salvation arrived in the form of a 12-acre neighborhood retail center, named “Sunnyslope Village Center,” symbolically in the same spot where Norton platted his Sunny Slope subdivision almost a century prior.
Behind the efforts were a mix of local business owners, community leaders and governance working to enhance the areas reputation through a mixture of grants, development and community policing. Anyone with the means of looking to move their business found easy allies in the varied community improvement and business coalitions — and it appears the outreach and revitalization is working (and people are finding Sunnyslope on their own).
“What you are seeing is the envelope being pushed,” said Larry Ortega, in a 2018 Phoenix Business Journal article. “People are starting to discover Sunnyslope has a lot of interesting business aspects.”
In the area, there is an eclectic mix of incomes, housing values, retail and restaurants.
Ortega and a business partner recently then-recently brokered the sale of the midcentury Walgreens Center at 8905 N. 7th St. for $3.3 million. The plaza resides in a high traffic area where three major roads, (7th Street, Cave Creek and Dunlap Road) intersect. In the last 18 months, Little Miss BBQ and a Planet Fitness moved into the same shopping center. As of this writing, a Salad ‘n’ Go, the ultimate sign of an area on the upswing, is set to be built on the spot of a shuttered Jack in the Box.
In 2017, Ladera Cantina opened up, under the same philosophy of Little Miss BBQ, bringing an upscale eatery to an area that normally wouldn’t naturally lend itself to such a business decision. It’s unknown if Tucker Woodbury and Jim Riley, the business partners behind Ladera, were aware that this was the same ethos behind the opening of Corbin’s Bar and Grill, which opened in the exact same building in 2005.
“We’ve done something a lot of people told us not to do,” Kevin McNeill, the owner of Corbin’s Bar and Grill, said, in a community video from 2007. “We’ve opened an upscale neighborhood bar and grill, in an area that people said, ‘Don’t make things too nice, this is Sunnyslope.’ I’m real happy I didn’t listen to them.”
The luminance of Sunnyslope, an annexed-but-not-quite a town area within the City of Phoenix reveals itself from afar — in the form of a mountain. It’s a place that people from all over the valley have heard of or, at least, have spotted the mountain face from far away. How do they recognize a bluff, you ask? More on that later… The longer you observe, the more you can conclude this neighborhood, which generally spans from 19th Avenue to 16th Street and Cactus Road to Northern Avenue, exudes civic pride.
The history of Sunnyslope is notable enough that a citizen Historical Society and Museum, complete with a resident historian, operates within its boundaries. And, the more you study the area, the more you can understand why. As the spoils of places like Arcadia, Downtown and the Uptown Phoenix area on 7th Street are plundered and redeveloped, many transplants are beginning to find an underrated alternative in Sunnyslope. Now, more about that mountain…
Sunnyslope “S” Mountain
If you’re on approach coming into Sky Harbor Airport from the East side of the Valley, you can make out this 1,500ft mountain face (which is situated on the northern-most face of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve) with its distinctive bold white typeface marked with an ‘S.’ Similarly a trek up South Mountain reveals the ‘S’ to the hiker, as far away as 27 miles away, and maybe farther if your eye catches it at just the right moment while traveling west on the 202.
The origins of this landmark harken back to the early days of Sunnyslope High School. On a hot day in December 1954, a handful of Juniors and Seniors on Student Council, using old World War II walkie-talkies to coordinate, whitewashed the large letter onto the mountain to denote their school. A fever of school pride was a motivating factor, aided by the inspiration of seeing lettering belonging on different high schools everywhere but in the valley. The mountain became a landmark of sorts for students, cruising south on Central Avenue, acting as a North Star to guide them back home, if they got lost.
They accidentally started a tradition at the high school which continues to this day. Each year, freshmen climb the mountain and reapply the decades-thick white paint during homecoming week. You can mark your calendar for this time of year, usually around late September to October on a Thursday, where residents of the houses below can hear the faint, but audible commotion of the school’s freshmen painting their mountain white again.
By 2011, the young area of Sunnyslope marked their first centennial. To mark the occasion as a young, but growing community, the area’s Historical Society submitted the mountain for Historic Preservation designation status, which Phoenix City Council approved with a unanimous vote.
Prior to its historic designation, John Croteau, a resident and former principal of Sunnyslope High School, made the bold statement that ‘S’ Mountain was a secret to the neighborhood’s success and status. “That ‘S’ draws all eyes to our community,” he said, in the Phoenix New Times article, “and we don’t want it to fail.”
“You want the eateries, we got the eateries!”
A scrappy resourceful attitude has always influenced Sunnyslope’s direction. And for a state that’s valued the entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses which outnumber the chains, the neighborhood contributes to that same philosophy. The next stage of this is underway as the character of the neighborhood shifts toward the young professional and their family.
In 2019, a renowned local BBQ joint arrived in Sunnyslope: Little Miss BBQ. The Tempe institution expanded their brand to a high-traffic location, where the flow of the nearby major intersection, branches into five directions. For Scott Holmes, the chef and restauranteur behind Little Miss BBQ, who was already known for motivating people in to dine at areas off the beaten path, the underrated location was attractive to him. It also helped that Holmes already lived in the area.
“There’s a lot of great areas, but I also wanted to go somewhere where it was a bit underserved, which fits Sunnyslope to a tee,” he said in a Phoenix Business Journal story. “We just decided while the market’s really hot, why don’t we go somewhere that’s central where a lot of people live. Sunnyslope is a funny neighborhood, it’s one of those transitional neighborhoods.”
Hold my spot in line — my kid needs to attend this school!
A strange sight happened at the area’s namesake high school in the first days of 2020. Sunnyslope High School, the impetus for a white ‘S’ permanently affixed on their nearby mountain, hosted a few hundred parents who lined up in front of the administration office. Their intention wasn’t to obtain tickets for the next big tentpole film, nor was it their desire to buy a new iPhone. For all the parents, who camped for 36 hours to stake a spot in line, the public school’s pedigree, both an “A” rating from Arizona’s Department of Education and one of Arizona and the nation’s perennially top-rated public high schools, promised superior education for their children that rivaled schools slightly less out of their way.