By Corina Vanek | Phoenix Business Journal
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced many office workers to work from home, Dan Lupien, president of Palmer Development, decided to rethink plans he had for a major speculative office development dubbed “the Sydney” near Pima Road and Pima Center Parkway.
“For the Sydney, we planned 500,000 square feet of office,” Lupien said. “But we pivoted and went to the market with smaller parcels, and we saw there was a huge demand for entertainment and smaller-scale office.”
Plans for the Sydney as an office development had already been underway with leadership in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, so now Lupien plans to resubmit plans for the development to the development review commission. Once the plans are approved, construction is planned to begin around the second quarter of 2022.
“We want to create a main street, Kierlandesque type project here with a downtown atmosphere,” Lupien said. “We have gone over the top here to replicate the success of Kierland.”
Lupien said the development is designed to cater to the audience demographic who live in central Scottsdale and will be an attraction for families and adults.
“This can really be an entertainment hub for central Scottsdale,” he said. “There is a lot of spending power in central Scottsdale, and it is not being addressed in Scottsdale.”
