Living Simply

The still surface of Tempe Town Lake reflects a full moon suspended over an otherwise bustling block. It’s dusk, and Mill Avenue is already alive, pulsing with pedestrians and restaurants abuzz with the happy hour crowd. On the northern hem of the water, just across from Arizona State University, sits a new luxury apartment community. Neon signage lit up in happy, primary colors over the front entrance reads like an announcement welcoming one and all — GRIGIO.

The architecture and design is inspired by the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. Unexpected angles and bold, bright colors create the tempo for the community’s vibe, an ambience described as hip, trendy and cutting-edge. Despite the colorful design elements at GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake, its name is a derivative of its development company and means gray in Italian.

Michael Clow is a senior vice president with Gray Development Group Inc. in Phoenix, which started in 1992 and specializes in the development of luxury apartments in the Valley. Its most recently completed project, GRIGIO, opened in January 2007.

“We’re pegging consumers who are ... looking for a living environment with service and amenities to improve their lifestyle, either through convenience or time — consumers who are looking for the better things in life,” Clow says. “We’re trying to give people the ability to live at a resort 365 days a year (not just two weeks when they’re on vacation), but in a rental environment.”

The luxury-rental concept is consistently communicated through deliberate marketing lingo. Words closely affiliated with those of high-end hotels are used to appeal to upscale clientele: The 534 residences are called suites, not units, and the small, on-site grocery is dubbed a gift shop. Floor plans range from 538-square-foot studios to 2,375-square-foot, four-bedroom pads, which are mostly occupied by ASU students and professionals between the ages of 25 and 35.

“The (potential) problem for someone my age is there are a fair number of ASU students,” says Robert Hahn, who is 39, single and an attorney living at GRIGIO. “(But) I haven’t had any problems.”

Residents want an active, exciting lifestyle where luxury amenities are available and common areas are frequented, Clow says. The busy pool area is a favorite hot spot for weekend gatherings and poolside pedicures or massages. Various other services available to residents include room service, turn-down service, house cleaning, dry cleaning, limo service to the airport and more.

“We’re trying to take the best things about apartments, condos, resorts and time shares and combine the best of all of those,” Clow says. “GRIGIO allows you to ... spend your free time on you. (Residents can) spend weekends doing things they want to do without feeling anchored to maintenance on a house and going to Home Depot. It’s about giving you more time to your day.”

For Hahn, GRIGIO’s luxury amenities and central location are the primary selling points, as he works in Mesa, socializes in Scottsdale and Phoenix and drives home on lunch breaks to workout at GRIGIO’s on-site health club. Since he regularly travels for business, he gets to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport quickly and on weekends walks across the street to tailgate with friends at ASU football games.

“It’s everything a typical apartment is not. The amenities I have aren’t available at any place that I know of,” Hahn says. “The sort of stuff that would take a half hour, you can do in 10 minutes or less. You can do more things in a day.”

Besides amenities that offer conveniences, GRIGIO is noteworthy also for its uncommon architecture and interior design. The member lounge is paved with high-gloss, white stones, a material rarely used in public spaces because maintenance is difficult, says interior designer Katheryn Haro, who adds, “but it’s absolutely beautiful.”

Haro founded her San Diego-based company, Rutledge Haro Design Inc., in 2000, and now serves as vice president and owner. Specializing in high-rise commercial projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, her team of four works solely on public projects such as lobbies, offices, gyms and model homes. Gray Development invited Haro to spearhead most of the interior design at GRIGIO, and she designed all five model units and the third through fifth floors, including the roof deck.

“Our goal was ... to go with strong, dynamic, bold, contemporary units that each have a distinctive flair,” Haro says. “We have four distinct (design) schemes that hopefully ... allow them to rent to a large, disparate group of people.”

In an effort to “push boundaries” and try new materials in a fun and creative way, Rutledge Haro Design pursued Gray Development’s design directive — modern, fresh and urban — by creating contemporary, yet warm interiors. The models’ dramatic schemes deliberately appeal to certain demographics. The masculine prototype with a black-and-white dominant interior and ample use of metal and glass is reminiscent of New York City’s SoHo district, while a Moroccan-themed model uses oranges, creams and browns, along with African-inspired sculptures and shapes.

“We were really going more for the younger, more urban type of person who wanted something forward-thinking,” Haro says. “I think people attracted to living in this building and having these in-house amenities (are) embracing a new way of living. So I think these people won’t be steering toward traditional. They want something more modern and fresh.”

The units are sold unfurnished, however, Haro has received interest from renters who want to hire her design services.

“The lifestyle is good, and it doesn’t try to appeal to everybody. It’s not designed as a stepping stone toward home ownership. There is enough value there to feel like you’re not sacrificing what you might get from home ownership,” Hahn says. “What I most enjoy is I don’t feel pressure that I have to buy a house and that I can still have friends over. That was the big thing for me: Do I buy or rent? I’ll be there for two or three years and I’ll get married and move to Queen Creek and have kids, but not right now. The house I buy will probably be a step down from where I am now, which is weird to say about an apartment.”

Luxury residential communities such as GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake are responding to market demand, which begs the question: What do these projects say about us, our values, priorities and lifestyle? Even though upgrading and oftentimes living beyond our means is the dominant trend, there is also a trend in the opposite direction toward voluntary simplicity, says Rebecca Barry, Ph.D., who lectures in the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. She teaches a class on quality of life and says many people are downsizing and simplifying their lifestyle by moving into smaller, more manageable homes, which leaves them with more free time. Barry took one of her classes on a field trip around Tempe Town Lake to see the area’s development and is familiar with GRIGIO.

“There’s something very attractive about doing things simpler,” Barry says. “(Projects like GRIGIO) take away the burden to be obligated to your everyday household things.”

It’s here where residents can buy good cigars on property without having to drive to a specialty shop; a place where housekeeping picks up dry cleaning and returns items, hanging them neatly in the closet; and where a “welcome home” service has your favorite DVD cued for arrival, so you don’t have to detour on the drive home from work to stop at a movie rental store.

Research shows our values as a culture are changing, and they manifest in the choices we make about the way we live. Whether this is good or bad, there is enough interest in high-end, resort-quality living that plans are underway to establish more GRIGIO locations now that its first site is complete and successful in Tempe. Gray Development Group Inc. already owns the land for four future properties, which will be built by 2009: Desert Ridge in Scottsdale, North Scottsdale, the Esplanade in Phoenix and downtown San Diego.

GRIGIO Tempe Town Lake resident Robert Hahn admits he wouldn’t say he’s any happier living at GRIGIO as opposed to other places, but he does enjoy the convenience.

“I’m a pretty happy guy,” he says. “A lot of things people find frustrating in life are just less frustrating here.”H&D

www.graydevelopment.com
www.grigio.com
www.rutledgeharodesign.com