Related articles:

ASU plans housing in downtown Phoenix

Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors

PHOENIX — Arizona State University has worked out a deal to build a $100 million-plus student housing project in downtown Phoenix after nearly six months of negotiations.

Specifics of the agreement with Alabama-based Capstone Management have not yet been made public.

But the university plans to seek project approval from the Arizona Board of Regents at the end of the month.

The Phoenix City Council is expected to vote on the deal in December or January.

"We are cautiously optimistic that we are going to get this in place," said Rich Stanley, senior vice president and university planner.

The student housing project would be 12 to 15 stories high, contain roughly 1,300 beds and be built in two phases between now and 2009.

The first phase, which would include up to 750 beds, would open by August 2008.

The project would be paid for entirely by a private developer that would, in turn, charge students rent.

ASU is hoping to put a grocery store or a fast-food restaurant on the ground floor.

The development is considered key to helping Phoenix reach its revitalization goals.

Not only would it function as student housing, the city believes the project would encourage spinoff development in the form of restaurants, shops and other retail uses.

"More people living downtown will create the support for new businesses," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said.

"It's a cycle that will repeat and continue."

The project is also critical to the success of the new campus, which is expected to open the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in August 2008.

The Cronkite school has an enrollment of nearly 1,800 students, many of whom are undergraduates likely to live in campus housing.