Commieblocks coming to Phoenix.
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The only question is how long until the first resident collapses due to heat while waiting for the bus.
I've covered that apartment complex here before.
It's just an off-campus college dorm marketed to urbanists. Ironically, since it's in an industrial area, it has fewer bugman-friendly businesses within walking distance than other student apartments closer to campus which have parking for residents. It also has parking for its retail because they were unable to find tenants without it:
The only businesses it currently has are a convenience store (which the website claims is a grocery store; it's not) and an expensive Mexican restaurant. The only "coming-soon" businesses are a coworking space, bike shop, and a coffee shop. The average strip mall has more stores.
Also, they really crammed those apartments in close together and most people have a nice view of a wall. The only people with a decent view are those overlooking the parking lot.
Their board members are the Cofounder/President of Lyft and the Cofounder/COO of DoorDash. Amazing that the people who like to blame
nonexistent Big Auto and Big Oil funded propaganda for the popularity of suburbs have nothing to say about a taxi company and a food delivery company literally building a "neighborhood" that is dependent on their services:
Source (Archive)
Also, despite them claiming that they save $20k per unit in construction costs by not building parking, they aren't passing those savings on to their residents. Their rent is quite high at >$1400 for a one bedroom which is more than many nearby apartments
with parking. The neighboring buildings have rents in the $1100-$1300 range, with a lot around $1250.
These two quotes from the article sums up the whole development:
“Culdesac hits a whole bunch of philosophical and ideological buttons,” says Mark Stapp, a professor of real estate at Arizona State University. “Cities and towns love it and it sounds sexy to certain investors, but what we don’t know is how the market in general is going to react.”
In an effort to build goodwill with neighbors — and create buzz — Culdesac has been hosting a regular open-air market called Little Cholla since the early days of construction. [...] Cars streamed into Culdesac’s 100-spot guest lot until it overflowed and visitors began to park on nearby streets — turning Tempe’s first car-free neighborhood into a minor traffic jam.
Maybe those parking minimums exist for a reason and weren't created out of thin air? Great job externalizing your parking costs to your neighbors.
I also love that the tenant they profiled is an urbanist who moved to Phoenix because she believed the propaganda:
Sara Hoy, a 40-year-old consultant from Pennsylvania, was also among the first to move in. Hoy had never been to Phoenix when she first heard about Culdesac two years ago during an online event for college students looking to learn about social entrepreneurship.
By the way, what sort of 40-year-old hangs out at events aimed at college students?
After getting her bike stolen she discovered that the complex is in an industrial area and that public transit is a rolling homeless shelter:
Two weeks after moving in, her bike was stolen from an outdoor rack. Hoy describes it as the only bump in otherwise smooth experience, and one ameliorated by the free e-bike. The theft, she says, served as a lesson about the neighborhood, which is still in transition. There’s a UPS warehouse to the south, a tire shop to the west, an old hotel serving as a temporary homeless shelter to the east and more apartment buildings going up across the street to the north. The nearby light rail often serves as a rolling shelter for people looking to escape high temperatures.
She also "drives" because it turns out that it sucks to walk when it's 100 degrees out:
Hoy is also learning lessons about the heat. While she’s been relieved to discover that a dry Phoenix 96F isn’t too hot for a morning stroll, she’s also found herself hailing a car instead of biking or walking. “I'll just minimize the amount [of time] I’ll be outside,” she says of dealing with Phoenix summers.
