44 Monroe is a US$70 million, residential high-rise building, located at the northeast corner of Monroe Street and First Avenue in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The 34-story tower is currently Arizona's tallest residential structure.

History

In 2004, the long vacant

Arizona Bank Building Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the northwest and California to the west, and s ...

, an 11-story building completed in 1961 on a small quarter of a city square block, was in the process of being remodeled into residential condominiums called Monroe Place Lofts. High demand quickly sold out the 60-unit project. In May 2005,

Grace Communities Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...

announced the existing building would be razed and in its place a 34-story tower would be erected and named 44 Monroe, the site's address. In late September 2005,

demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

of the Arizona Bank Building began. Construction on the tower began in November 2005. On April 16, 2006, Grace communities hosted a "Going Vertical" party signaling the tower's foundation was complete and construction would now be above ground. In the summer of 2007, 44 Monroe topped out. Fall 2008 saw the completion of 44 Monroe. As of August 2009, the completed project was 5% occupied. In September 2009, its primary lender,

Corus Bank Corus Bankshares, Inc. operated as the holding company for Corus Bank, N.A., a United States company that offered consumer and corporate banking products and services. Corus Bank The bank's deposit products included checking, savings, money marke ...

, based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, was taken over by the

FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

, and in January 2010 the project was headed for a trustees' sale and likely

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

. Spring 2011 saw a different side of the market as the tower's units were converted into rental apartments. As of October 2011, 86% of the tower's units had been filled. A strong rental market and high demand in the downtown area has further improved the tower's troubled history.

Design

The project's exterior and interior design were inspired by a painting by artist Jennifer J.L. Jones named "Five Elements," which incorporates the five Chinese elements of nature — earth, wood, water, metal, and fire. The elements will be expressed as five vertical fins on the front of the structure's façade, with the pattern to be repeated throughout the building's interior. The building will feature seven floors of above-ground parking and 196 residential units, ranging in size from 780 to . Residential unit prices range from $480,000 to $3.2 million.

References

* Hesler, Linda
"Take a peek at Downtown Living"
{{Dead link, date=September 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes ''The Arizona Republic'', September 29, 2006. * Berry, Jahna

''The Arizona Republic'', November 28, 2008.

External links

Luxury Apartments in Downtown Phoenix

Grace Communities
Residential skyscrapers in Phoenix, Arizona Residential buildings completed in 2008 2008 establishments in Arizona

History

Design

See also

References

External links