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FnB Amenities in Multifamily and Senior Living Communities
Community amenities are impacted any time we have a social or cultural change, such as new technology or a shift in health and wellness. The goal of community amenities is to connect residents to the property in a way that feels personal and unique. Properties that do that well will always have an advantage over their competitors. Amenities with staying power feel like a decision the targeted demographic would have made on their own if they only knew they could. One such amenity that has changed quite a bit over the last several years and can really make a property stand out is its food and beverage offerings, or FnB.
Nothing else feels hyper local quite like restaurants do. The biggest trend in food offerings in multifamily or senior living developments is to connect them to the local community. This can be done with catering kitchens, demonstration kitchens, self-serve markets or events. The biggest key here is commitment because an empty kitchen or a market that is never wellstocked is an obvious miss. It also doesn’t necessarily have to be done with food. If drinks are more manageable, properties can achieve the same connection that way. Coffee bars have been a favorite in communities for years, but while bringing in Starbucks is nice, bringing in the neighborhood coffee house in an area that prides itself on great coffee is even better. Providing alcohol for events is great, but providing a locally well-known mixologist or stocking the bar with local beer and wine creates that extra connection.
For senior communities, the FnB offering is even more important because that demographic is getting to a point where they want and need as much as possible onsite. When it works within the property’s program, full-service restaurants with multiple casual dining offerings are a huge asset to that age group. The connection to the location comes in the form of sourced ingredients, menus created by well-known chefs and food catered to specific diets. When full service doesn’t make sense from a budget standpoint, providing dining spaces where neighborhood restaurants can cater frequent meals or provide event services is a nice alternative.
Another amenity offering we are hoping to see more of is community gardens. In a senior living community, the connection to the outdoors and the sense of belonging are real factors that improve physical and emotional health and aid in memory care, in addition to the benefits of fresh-grown food.
While this is a moment of change for the hospitality market, multifamily and senior living can and should recognize it as their cue to innovate, as well. —Christina Johnson, creative director of Phoenix- and San Francisco-based Private Label International (privatelabelintl.com), a full-service interior design studio that develops hospitality environments and lifestyle brand experiences for clients worldwide. GET REAL
Rio Salado Project to Combat Food Desert
Ground has broken on the 140-acre Arizona Food Innovation Center along Rio Salado in Phoenix, at 1150 E. Elwood Street, that will include a year-round farmers market and community park. Developed by Arizona Fresh and Plaza Companies, this is the first new physical development within the John McCain Legacy Project, Rio Reimagined, converting a former brownfield site into an active community park and gathering space along with the nation’s leading innovation and education source for means to achieve food security, production and distribution. —Mike Hunter phoenix.gov/econdev/delrio
Master-Planned Community Boosts Growth in Buckeye
The Howard Hughes Corporation® plans to develop Arizona’s largest master-planned community, in partnership with JDM Partners and El Dorado Holdings, in Buckeye, already one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. Dedicated to innovative placemaking, the company is recognized for its ongoing commitment to design excellence and the cultural life of its communities. The master-planned community in North Buckeye anticipates 100,000 homes, 300,000 residents and 55-million-square-feet of commercial real estate upon completion. —Mike Hunter howardhughes.com
Leasing Home Run for Mesa Industrial Product
On behalf of Metro Commercial Properties, leading national design-build contractor Graycor Construction Company has delivered the final industrial buildings at Metro East- Valley Commerce Center in Mesa, Arizona. Designated as Phases III and IV, the delivery totals five buildings and marks the completion of the 11-building, 1.1-million-square-foot Class A industrial project – one of the largest master-planned commerce parks in Phoenix’s Southeast Valley. Lee & Associates’ Chris McClurg and Ken McQueen have completed leases for more than 98% of the project, most as pre-leases. —Mike Hunter graycor.com • lee-associates.com/tag/phoenix • mcpaz.com
A new 30,000-square-foot terminal is part of a $25 million construction project that has begun at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, with McCarthy Building Companies as the project’s general contractor. The project, being partially funded by a federal grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will provide Gateway Airport with a larger, modern, energyefficient and ADA-enhanced commercial passenger facility designed to accommodate future growth. The new addition will replace a 13-year-old temporary structure.
Currently, the airport’s terminal has 10 gates, but overall capacity and efficiency is limited by the current 10,000-square-foot temporary structure. New airlines, new flights and record-setting passenger activity require the airport to expand its terminal to keep up with its growing popularity.
The new terminal expansion will be connected via an impressive glass walkway and will include new retail and concession space. Demolition of the temporary facility is planned for December and the project is expected to be completed by February 2024. The airport and DWL Architects + Planners began designing the new facility in the summer of 2022 and, through a competitive bid process, selected McCarthy Building Companies as general contractor in August 2021.
Gateway Airport is served by five domestic and international airlines offering nonstop jet service to more than 50 popular destinations across the U.S. and Canada. The airport welcomes nearly 2 million passengers each year and contributes approximately $1.8 billion annually to the regional economy.
The airport will be fully operational during the construction. —Mike Hunter
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport gatewayairport.com McCarthy Building Companies mccarthy.com
Infill Industrial Breaks Ground in Tempe
An infill, redevelopment project that will revitalize the 17.97-acre parcel that was the former global headquarters for Insight Enterprises, Sight Logistics Park broke ground last month along the high-visibility I-10 corridor in Tempe.
Calling it a phenomenal addition to the ViaWest Portfolio and observing, “It’s not often you get to transform a site of a Fortune 500 office building into a state-of-the-art industrial complex,” Danny Swancey, partner of ViaWest Group, describes the project as designed to accommodate a variety of sizes and uses catering to a diverse group, including manufacturers, distributors, and all types of general industrial users.
Sight Logistics Park is made up of two modern industrial buildings totaling 356,904 square feet, Building 1 at 155,717 square feet and Building 2 at 201,187 square feet. These Class A buildings both feature 32-foot clear heights, with 33 dock-high doors and four drive-in doors.
Sight Logistics Park was designed by McCall & Associates Architects and the general contractor on the project is Willmeng Construction. Once work on the buildings begins, the estimated completion time is just nine months. Demolition of the former Insight headquarters began in July and the project is scheduled to finish in July of 2023. Colliers International in Arizona is handling the leasing for Sight Logistics Park, with the team of Rob Martensen, Phil Breidenbach and Sam Jones leading those efforts.
Sight Logistics Park is the second industrial development that ViaWest is delivering along the I-10 corridor. Just over three miles south on I-10, ViaWest and Willmeng Construction are nearing completion on Converge Logistics Center, a three-building infill project on the west side of the I-10 between Ray Road and Chandler Blvd. —Mike Hunter
ViaWest Group viawestgroup.com Willmeng Construction willmeng.com
