Phoenix City Square, formerly Kent Plaza and the Rosenzweig Center, is a mixed use high rise complex covering 15 acres at 3800-4000 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix, Arizona. The project was developed by the Del Webb Corporation in 1962. The complex features 3 office towers, a hotel, an open-air retail plaza, and a 1200-car parking garage. City Square was designed by the architectural firm of Flatow, Moore, Bryan, and Fairburn. The towers were constructed in 1962, 1964, and 1971. 3800 Tower is 194,482 square feet (18,068.0 m2); 3838 Tower is 236,094 square feet (21,933.9 m2); and 4000 Tower is 295,797 square feet. There is also a large 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) Fitness Center, known as Sports Club at City Square, that is part of the complex. Phoenix City Square is on Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. The B Line of the Valley Metro Rail & Streetcar system runs down this portion of Central Avenue. This part of the line was opened on December 27, 2008 as part of the original Valley Metro Rail line. It remains to be seen if this will have an impact in increasing tenancy at City Square, though it will serve to connect the area to Downtown Phoenix. There are a variety of businesses that are part of the complex. Besides having a fitness center, there are also cafes, a day care, a barber shop, law offices, accounting firms, engineering consultants, etc. There is also an on-site U.S. Bank as part of the City Square area.
History The plot of land used to develop the Rosenzweig Center had been owned by the Rosenzweig family for 46 years when construction began in 1961. Portions of the property were formerly occupied by the Mirador Ballroom and a yard owned by Superlite Builders Supply Co. on the north portion. The Webb Corporation planned the complex as a "dramatic, high quality, self-contained complex of buildings around a landscaped plaza that, in time, will mean to this area (downtown Phoenix) what New York's Rockefeller Center or Philadelphia's Penn Center means to the East." The project was announced by the Webb Corporation on June 10, 1961. The complex was built as the Rosenzweig Center and was originally owned by North Central Development Co., a partnership of Newton and Harry Rosenzweig, prominent jewelers in the Phoenix area, and the Del Webb Corporation in Phoenix. In 1983, the property was sold to Canadian entrepreneur Jack Kent Cooke, and was subsequently renamed Kent Plaza. In 1985, Kent Plaza was sold to Merrill Lynch Hubbard, a real-estate subsidiary of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith. Merrill Lynch subsequently renamed the complex Phoenix City Square. In 1987 Merrill Lynch invested heavily in refreshing the property, heavily renovating the exteriors of all three towers, the plaza, and the landscaping. The redesign was designed by Cornoyer-Hendrick Architects and Planners, Inc. and the renovation was completed by Kitchell Contractors, Inc. The past couple decades have seen a lot of activity around the City Square development. In 1996, the Singapore government went into escrow for the purchase of City Square. At the time the Phoenix metropolitan area was experiencing drastic increases in commercial tenancy rates. In 2000, the government of Singapore sold Phoenix City Square to the Praedium Group. In 2005 the present owner, Parallel Capital Partners (then part of the Shidler Group), purchased the complex from Praedium Group. At the time, the construction of another tower was considered; however this never did materialize, which is a possible result of the real estate downturn. Parallel Capital Partners maintains properties in San Diego, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Orange County, Dallas, Denver, and Honolulu. In 2006, The Arizona Department of Economic Security signed a lease at City Square for a near 6-year tenancy. The deal was worth around $9.5 million and included approximately 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of office space. DES chose the 4000 Tower for its location. In 2007, a news release noted that the Arizona DES had extended their lease and increased office space to nearly 140,000 square feet.
3800 Tower 3800 Tower, formerly the Del Webb Building, was the first structure in the complex completed, and is located at 3800 N. Central Ave. The tower offers approximately 175,000 square feet of rentable space. The basic construction loan was furnished by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and Coldwell Banker was the building leasing agent. The principal tenant is the Webb Corporation which houses its international headquarters for construction, housing, building and operating hotels in the building. Webb’s offices occupy 50,000 square feet on the top six floors of the tower. On the ground floor was a branch of the First National Bank of Arizona, a Rosenzweig jewelry store and other business firms. The jewelry store moved to the adjacent open-air retail plaza in 1971. The office structure is rectangular, with all utility rooms, elevators and stairs built around a central core. This permits all offices to have outside windows. There are no interior columns to restrict space layouts. The exterior originally used precast stone and mosaic tile panels and trim of gold anodized aluminum. Ground was broken on the tower on June 20, 1961 and it was completed by June 1962. The building featured a 54 by 20-foot spray fountain and marble facing on the first 2 floors. The building was renamed the 3800 Tower on October 28, 1987 following the Webb Corporation’s decision to move their headquarters from the building in 1988. The 3800 tower was radically redesigned in 1987, with the stone and mosaic tiles panels and aluminum trim removed and replaced with a new marble and blue glass exterior. The rooftop of the tower was topped with a new pyramid-shaped metal trellis crown. The front spray fountain was removed in favor of a grand new entrance with additional retail shops and a prominent clock tower. The original appearance of the structure was identical to the Bank of the West Tower in Albuquerque, New Mexico also built by Webb. 3800 is the smallest of the office towers in City Square, coming in under 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2). It contains an attached day care, and it is located directly on Central Avenue. 3800 Tower has a variety of businesses, such as Just Mortgage Inc., The Valley Forward Association, Law Offices of Michael Cordova, PMA Consultants, Black, Gould & Associates, Inc. and Maricopa County Legal Advocate.
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