Tempe council approves Newman Center tower

It'll be easy to spot the Newman Center's new 22-story tower for student housing, but don't waste much time looking for the parking garage. There won't be one. In fact, it won't feature any on-site parking - a first for a large Tempe project.

Though the project will house 432 students and include some offices, the Tempe City Council on Thursday approved a development that typically would have required more than 500 parking spaces.

Critics trashed the plan, saying it just adds to downtown parking shortages - and that neighborhoods around downtown will be flooded with Newman Center residents who won't have parking or won't pay to park in Arizona State University lots.

But Newman Center attorney Charles Huellmantel said the residential tower won't cause parking problems. It's surrounded by ASU, and the lives of the mostly Catholic student residents won't require as many car trips as the general public.

Huellmantel argued the residential tower will actually help solve another Tempe problem - that neighborhoods around ASU are flooded with students in rental houses because the university doesn't have enough housing.

"We're trying to take them out of the neighborhoods and put them on campus," Huellmantel said.

The project will include some parking - 147 spaces that the Newman Center leases at two nearby properties.

A parking study commissioned by the developer showed many students would not have cars because of the growing number of amenities within easy walking distance.

Also, the location has some of the best access to transit in Tempe.

It's two blocks from a Metro light-rail line and near bus lines and the Orbit neighborhood circulator.

The project is a response to massive transit investments, Huellmantel said, which eliminates the normal demand for parking.

Students who have cars can use spaces leased by the Newman Center or pay to use an ASU lot. Students will have their leases terminated if they have a car and park elsewhere, though the city and the Newman Center still have to agree to specific details.

Councilwoman Onnie Shekerjian praised the plan and said it should help reduce the number of students who live in neighborhoods.

It's being developed by Kansas City-based Domus Communities, which is proposing similar student housing projects for Catholics at other universities but has yet to build a development of this kind.

The company would fund construction, and a third party would operate the dorm, while the church would continue to own the land.

The student housing tower came about after the Newman Center had raised about $6 million to build new offices and a larger chapel, replacing the cramped 1960s facility. Domus then proposed building the tower, offices and a new chapel.

The Newman Center will keep the historic St. Mary's Church, the red brick building that's been on the northwest corner of University Drive and College Avenue since 1903.

It could take two years to complete the project.