McBride Cohen Lands $35 Million for Lake Village in Tempe

McBride Cohen Management Group has raised $35 million to build the second phase of a $4 billion urban retail village in Tempe, east of Phoenix.

The unit of The McBride Cohen Company, based in Seattle, secured the money from Bellevue-based JLW Tempe Investments for South Pier, a 12.4-acre development at 1190 East Vista Del Lago Drive, on Tempe Town Lake, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

The South Pier project, to be built in seven phases over 15 years, will rise on the south shore, northeast of Arizona State University. Buildout is slated for 2038.

Plans call for 18 buildings with 2,300 apartments, 160 condominiums, 520 hotel rooms, 600,000 square feet of offices, 111,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a public pier and an 80-foot waterfront Ferris wheel, according to the city and the Business Journal.

The first phase, which broke ground early last year, will include three apartment towers with 724 units and 26,800 square feet of retail on 3.3 acres. A topping-off was held last month.

Last summer, JLL announced it raised $385 million to kickstart the project, including $162 million in equity from Cantor Fitzgerald and Silverstein’s Opportunity Zone Fund and $223 million in construction financing through senior and mezzanine loans.

“Imagine waterfront living right here in the desert,” Loren McBride Cohen, head of his eponymous firm, told the Business Journal early last year. “It’s no longer just a dream.”

A second phase, funded by JLW, will include 624 apartments, 80 condos, two hotels with a combined 520 rooms, two office towers, and “potentially dozens” of ground-level shops and restaurants.

The brands for the hotels have not been confirmed. Cohen declined to disclose the backers of JLW.

The McBride Cohen Company, founded by Cohen in 1999, offers design, development and construction management services, with $10 billion in active projects in the U.S. and Mexico, according to a news release.

— Dana Bartholomew