Orpheum Lofts

The Orpheum Lofts are just a terrific place to live. It’s a relatively unique experience for Phoenix, although you could find lofts like this in most other major cities in the US.
The building is an Art Deco office building built in the 30’s. Other than the gorgeous original lobby and exterior, everything else is new. Now it sells and rents far below replacement cost due to the crash.
The units themselves have high cement ceilings, exposed pipes and conduits, exposed venting. The original warm crumbling brick exterior walls and original windows give it a warmth and light that is just unique in Phoenix. Most units have tile and granite througout, with kind of a modern/​retro theme going. Very few people see the units and don’t love/​covet living in them.
Add a basement pool with swim jets, giant exercise room with equipment, steam room AND sauna, as well as a large rec/​party room with full size pool table, and it’s pretty cool. A central desert courtyard is a great place to enjoy coffee and a book, nicely quiet amid downtown. Guards operate about half the time, and a very secure system protects the building.
Light rail goes right along the front. Dozens of great restaurants are within a quarter mile, not to mention walking to every weekend shows, events, games. It’s relatively dead on the weekends compared to the week, yet at any point from the corner you will see a dozen people. The restaurants are generally busy as well.
Two negatives — HOA dues are high. They weren’t when these were $ 600k units, but now that they are closer to $ 100k, they appear high to most folks. It takes a lot of cost to maintain such a cool older building, guards, pool, etc. But they include a lot of extras like high-​speed internet, Direct TV, etc. The HOA is extremely healthy, unlike others, so there is a chance HOA fees go down, but they have always been the biggest negative.
Second is parking. There is no parking garage that goes with your unit. A group of owners have recently bought the lot next door, and operate it primarily as a set of nice parking spots for the owners of the lot, but they have plans to rent out space more widely. If you buy you can likely buy one of the spots, possibly rent. But most people prefer to park about 100 feet from the entrance in a downtown building lot with 24 hour security, for $ 75 per month per car. You walk a bit farther but it’s nice to have a fully enclosed set of parking.
So it’s not cheap. But the urban living, downtown retro loft vibe is near priceless, and the Orpheum lofts is absolutely the coolest place to live downtown, versus the «Marriott hotel room» look and feel condo buildings around it. Take a look if you are in the market to buy or rent.

I am sure everything Pierre has stated is true however I do know somebody who lives in these lofts and they are incredible! They remind me of something out of New York and although there may be a «parking situation» there are museums, restaurants, bars, chase field, and the stadium all within WALKING DISTANCE. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and when did walking ever hurt anyone? Are people who live in Arizona really that lazy?

Some friends and a relative are inquiring about making a move to Phoenix and are interested in living downtown, so I did some research for them. One of my targets was the Orpheum Lofts. What I found out is something that needs to be very publicly disclosed to anyone interested in buying here, so I figured I’d publish what I found, on Unilocal.
The Orpheum is a gorgeous historic building (built in 1931) in the heart of downtown Phoenix’s financial district. What few highrise buildings we have, Orpheum is smack in the middle of, giving you a sense of urban living that’s basically impossible to achieve anywhere else in the Valley. It’s located a 15 second walk across the street from one of my favorite historic structures downtown, the Orpheum Theatre. The interiors of the lofts are elegant and luxurious. There’s a beautiful lobby and a gym for residents as well.
The price for the smallest unit available (850 square feet) is about $ 250,000, right now in December 2007 during a national housing slump that has also affected the Valley. Doesn’t sound all too bad for a swanky condo space, does it?
That’s because there are 2 major catches.
First, the Orpheum has been hit with a major and as-​yet-​unresolved parking crisis. When the original owners bought these condos a couple years ago, they (in my judgment) failed to do due diligence and did not realize that their titles did not include any space deeded to them for parking. The Orpheum allegedly boasted to prospective buyers that they would have valet parking with a full-​time valet on the property. The «property», however, was sold by the builder to someone else, who was then merely allowing Orpheum folks to park there temporarily. Ultimately, that neighboring owner decided to build his own condo structure on that spot. The Orpheum owners’ parking spaces? *poof* Gone.
In a panic, Orpheum’s owners negotiated a tentative deal with the neighboring property owner. As of now, the neighboring owner has agreed to design a near-​by parking structure that will have space available for those Orpheum owners who choose to buy parking spots from him. The cost for each spot? Unknown as of yet, but the estimate is $ 30,000 to $ 35,000. For just one spot. Which doesn’t exist yet. A lawsuit has been filed by at least one unit owner I’m aware of, which is still in litigation. It’s possible the litigation could resolve some of these issues, perhaps by transferring the financial burden from the owners to the builder. But that’s just speculation by me, and it could take years for anything like that to happen.
There’s a second catch. It turns out that to run a swanky loft complex downtown with a private gym and parking valet and luxurious couches in the lobby etc., you need a lot of money. That money comes from each unit owner’s Homeowners Association dues. At Orpheum the dues are decided according to how many square feet you own, and the current rate is 58 cents per square foot. For an 850 sq ft unit, that means you pay $ 493 in HOA fees per month, in addition to your mortgage, property taxes and everything else. Almost 6 grand a year. And that’s AFTER they fired the valet company and made other cuts.
The bottom line is this: move into the Orpheum only if you’ve done your financial homework. A $ 250,000 unit will actually cost you as much as $ 285,000 if you want ownership over a single parking spot. (Note: You can also rent parking spots in other near-​by garages, for about $ 65/​month, but that will entail taking a stroll downtown every time you get in and out of your car). Just five years of HOA fees, under the unsafe assumption that they will remain stable, will amount to an additional $ 30,000 over time. Most young professionals I know can’t afford all that on a Phoenix-​based salary, which is often discounted from other cities because of what’s supposed to be our low cost of living.
I told my curious friends to look elsewhere and they agree with me.