Hotels, restaurants, offices head to Chandler development

The entrance to Chandler's South Price Road corridor is getting its third and final piece in the form of a 100-acre mixed-use development at the southeast corner of the interchange of loops 101 and 202.

Construction began on Park Place less than two months ago.It will host two of four hotels for the immediate area, 1.2 million square feet of office space, 18,000 square feet of retail space and possibly high-rise office towers fronting Loop 202. The project - along with the widening of Price Road and construction of the Chandler Freeway Crossing and Chandler Echelon office projects - will serve as a gateway to the high-tech jobs hub along Price Road.The corridor boasts chip-maker Intel, rocket-maker Orbital Sciences and Iridium, an operator of a satellite phone network, among others.

"It will be a very attractive entry into that corridor," said Christine Mackay, a senior economic development specialist with the city.

Some of the office space at Park Place will start opening as early as December 2009, and it will be fully operational by 2012. "We're very committed to creating a very high-end business park," said Phil Cyburt, founder of Cyburt Hall Partners, Park Place's master developer.

After finishing the project's roads, utility lines and signage, Cyburt sold 60 acres to San Diego-based office developer Douglas Allred Co., as well as eight acres to Madison, Wis.-based North Central Group, which will develop Park Place's Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn hotels.

Cyburt will develop the balance of the property with offices, restaurants and a coffee shop, among other service-based retail offerings.

The land on which Park Place is being constructed was originally part of 230 acres purchased and rezoned for office use in the early 1990s by Connecticut-based ElDorado Holdings, which recognized the future value of the area once loops 101 and 202 were constructed. "The freeway construction provided easy work-force access," Mackay said.

Loop 101 was constructed in the area in late 2000, and Loop 202 in 2005.

Part of the property at Park Place includes a sliver of land that could someday be high-rise offices. "We're confident we'll see it," Mackay said of the high-rises. "That is a significant freeway interchange."