Los Angeles-based Triyar Cos. hopes to move its Arizona offices from Phoenix to Scottsdale within weeks.
The partially constructed building on the northeast corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads will house Triyar’s offices on the top floor, said Shawn Yari, Triyar principal.
The company is the developer of the $4.5 million structure. It’s a small but significant piece of Triyar’s plans for downtown Scottsdale, which include the state’s first W Hotel and Residences just an eighth-mile southeast of the intersection and 10 acres of land next to it that Triyar plans to develop into a retail, dining, entertainment, office and hotel complex.
The W is pegged to be completed in May. The mixed-use project hasn’t even received city approvals to start yet.
But Triyar’s new offices are expected to be ready to move in by mid-March, Yari said.
Two new-to-Scottsdale retailers — Sprinkles, a California-based cupcake bakery, and American Apparel, a California-based casual clothing store — will take up the whole ground floor. Sprinkles is slated to open in mid-March, American Apparel in July. The new building sits next to Triyar’s Renaissance Center, a strip of upscale shops lining Scottsdale Road across the street from what will soon become the Barney’s store at Scottsdale Fashion Square.
But even though the new Triyar building is small, it is taking on a mighty feat, serving as the final corner of the key intersection to complete Scottsdale’s desired upscale urban image.
“We consider this the gateway to Scottsdale,” Yari said. Triyar demolished a 50-year-old dilapidated gas station to develop the new structure.
But while cars could still easily navigate the tricky gas station entrance, will pedestrians be able to do the same?
Mall shoppers on the northwest corner and Waterfront diners on the southwest corner of the busy intersection can pass from one venue to the other through a bridge spanning Camelback Road.
Anyone who wants to get to the east side of Scottsdale Road has no choice but to dodge traffic.
It’s a concern, Yari said.
“We’ve had numerous discussions with the city about pedestrian connectivity,” he said. The Arizona Canal, which runs under the road, poses even more problems, he said.
David Roderique, general manager of Scottsdale’s economic vitality department, said the city is working on it.
“We plan improvements to help facilitate pedestrian movement,” Roderique said.
But so far, most options considered are aimed at getting pedestrians more safely from the north side of Camelback Road to the south side nightclub district, Roderique said.
They don’t address crossing Scottsdale Road.
