By J. Graber | Daily Independent
Artist rendering of Cosanti Commons, a new residential, mixed-use development planned in Scottsdale.
A three-story mixed use development with 196 apartments and 79,200 feet of existing commercial space near the intersection of Shea Boulevard and 70th Street took a step forward toward becoming a reality April 24.
The Scottsdale Planning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend to the city council approval of the project known as Cosanti Commons.
Commissioner George Ertel said the city has enough water to support the project. He also said the project would only affect traffic minimally and the development would help revitalize that area of town.
“I say this is three-quarters full because, and I’m definitely an outlier here, it was going to be four stories,” Ertel said. “It was going to be 240 units where people could live and now we’ve cut off a quarter of that. We’ve lost 44 opportunities for people to live in Scottsdale. Some people say that’s good, I say it’s not so good, but still you’ve got 196 so that’s a good thing.”
The developer removed the top floor of the proposed residential space based on feedback.
The 8.6-acre site located at 7000 E. Shea Blvd. is currently zoned for commercial use and a change is necessary to allow for the residential portion of the plan. A shopping center currently sits on the site, part of which would be demolished to make way for the apartments.
The name Cosanti was invoked for the development because of its importance to Scottsdale, John Berry, an attorney representing the project said. Cosanti is a renowned art studio founded by Paolo Soleri in the mid-twentieth century.
“Cosanti is a cultural jewel,” Berry said. “We know that not only because of its impact on the city but also because the voter-approved general plan has one cultural jewel, one cultural icon, identified that is not inside the city of Scottsdale.”
The Cosanti studio is actually a half-mile from the Scottsdale boundary with Paradise Valley, but the developer will place an iconic work by studio founder Paolo Soleri on Shea Boulevard. The new development would also include a space where the Consanti Foundation can exhibit and sell its work.
“We are actually happy with the development company for a number of reasons,” Ivan Fritz, a spokesman for the Cosanti Foundation, said during the public comment section of the hearing. “First of all this project increases density, which is part of our mission. We also will be able to display our art, which has a huge advantage of bringing more eyeballs to the Cosanti Foundation in general, and we hope more foot traffic to the foundation, which, as noted is not a mile away.”
He also noted that the development’s 500-square-foot educational/flex space could be used by the Consanti Foundation to host single-day workshops.
Parking would be handled with a new, 2-story subterranean parking garage below the apartments as well as an existing 2-story subterranean parking garage below the a portion of the existing stores as well as surface parking.
The minimum open space requirement for the site is 10% but the developer is proposing 25%.
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