Erica Sagon
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 3, 2004 12:00 AM

If X marks the spot for treasure, real estate developers are finding it at the cross of Camelback Road and 24th Street in Phoenix.

Opus West Corp. is the latest developer to announce plans for a condominium tower in the Camelback Corridor, an area becoming more well-known for ritzy shopping, dining and living.

It would bring the count of existing and planned high-rise condo projects to five in the corridor. The addition of hundreds of condos, which easily go for at least $500,000, indicates this upscale area is growing even more exclusive. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested.

Key players say the corridor has got it just right: from its urban feel and mountain views, to the historic Biltmore Resort & Spa and fancy anchors like Ritz Carlton and Esplanade Place.

What makes the location special, said condo broker Keith Mishkin, is that residents are able to walk to everything, including Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, a movie theater, dozens of restaurants and upscale shops like those at Biltmore Fashion Park.

Another draw for developers and residents alike is the proximity to Paradise Valley, Scottsdale and the airport.

“Location-wise, it’s fabulous, and prestige-wise, it’s fabulous,” real estate analyst Stanley Paul Cook said. “It’s pretty easy to figure it out.

“In some respects, it’s the center of the universe.”

The Camelback cluster of projects is one of several condo enclaves forming around the Valley. Other condo towers are rising at Tempe Town Lake, luxury lofts are opening at swanky Kierland Commons in north Scottsdale and condos are under construction at Scottsdale Waterfront adjacent to Scottsdale Fashion Square. Another high-rise condo is planned next to Bank One Ballpark.

Along Camelback, the Esplanade Place tower has anchored the residential market there since it opened in 2003, but at least four other developers want a footprint near the chic intersection.

The latest is Opus West Corp., which plans to build two 10- or 12-story condo towers on the south side of Camelback between 28th and 29th streets.

Opus West President Thomas Roberts said the buildings could house 200 to 300 condos averaging $1 million a piece. Restaurants or retail could be on the bottom floor facing Camelback. No plans have been submitted to the city.

The company has an agreement with the current property owner to jointly develop the project, if the city changes zoning restrictions to allow for buildings taller than four stories on the site.

Opus West is also developing two condo towers at Scottsdale Waterfront.

“I think the benefit of the Camelback location . . . is that it’s more of an employment center. People can actually live, work and play in one community,” Roberts said.

The most high-profile announcement for the Camelback Corridor so far has come from Donald Trump, who plans to build a luxury condo-hotel project on the former Hard Rock Cafe site. Other posh projects under way include The Residences at 2211 Camelback, a 12-story development with 86 condos, and Optima Biltmore Towers, with two 15-story towers and 230 condos.

But condo developers aren’t the only ones making a play in the area. In addition to four new residential towers, the Biltmore Fashion Park will get a multimillion-dollar overhaul. A tunnel will someday connect the mall to restaurants, shops, condos and offices across the busy street.

New residential projects in the area will compete with wildly successful Esplanade Place on the southeastern corner of Camelback and 24th. It quickly sold out, leaving buyers thirsting for more and developers anticipating success.

Deep-pocketed buyers are paying record prices, and some are flipping the units for hefty profits in no time.

Units at The Residences at 2211 Camelback are selling at double the pace of Esplanade, said Mishkin, a broker for Cambridge Properties, who sold the Esplanade Place and represents other condo projects. Seven units are left for $1.45 million and above. Mishkin recently sold a 7,000-square-foot condo for just under $4 million.

“In the corridor, you can ride on coattails of Esplanade and sell them (units) for a pretty penny,” said Cook, with Landiscor Aerial Information.

Bob Kammrath, a Phoenix commercial real estate analyst, calls it the lemming mentality: One popular project causes developers to pattern projects of their own after it.

“Eventually it’ll get overbuilt like everything else,” Kammrath said. “I think what you’ll find is too many people will rush in and eventually you’ll saturate the market.”

Still, this cluster of ritzy residential and commercial development would flop anywhere else in the city, he said. Decades ago, Phoenix’s central corridor was marked for mid-rise condos.

“The Camelback Corridor, unlike downtown, has a newer and more upscale reputation,” Kammrath said. “If high-end multifamily residential is going to work, that’s where it’s going to work in Phoenix.”

Mishkin said Phoenix is taking cues from other cities where urban living has been a mainstay for decades.

“Every urban project has been wildly successful,” Mishkin said. “More is actually more. The more that people come to the area, the more people will want to come to this area, the more you’ll see our city start to look like and feel like a city.”

Steve and Helen Gubin of Phoenix paid $1.7 million for two condos that they combined into one and a studio on another level at The Residences at 2211.

“It’s just a good central location,” Steve Gubin, 67, said. “Not to mention the fact that there’s zillions of restaurants nearby.”

The couple, who now live in the nearby Biltmore Estates neighborhood, will probably walk to the movies and restaurants when they move in next year.

Cook isn’t worried that the area will become overbuilt.

“I think this area will sustain continued mid-rise condo growth for years,” Cook said.

That could be a concern for nearby neighborhoods, whose residents have historically opposed tall buildings in the area because they block views of Camelback Mountain and generate more traffic.

But Roberts of Opus West said the area is right for residential towers. Developers who want to build around the Camelback Corridor have to deal with zoning restrictions that limit the height of buildings in the area.

Opus West attorney Paul Gilbert backed the need for tall towers, including the one Trump is proposing.

“If we’re going to have residential, it’s got to have height,” Gilbert said. “It doesn’t work without height.”