PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix will buy the former Wells Fargo tower in downtown Phoenix, which will house multiple city departments, including police and 911 operators.
At its July 1 meeting, Phoenix City Council voted 7 to 2 in favor of buying the 27-story building for $46.5 million. The building, located at 100 W. Washington St., totals 525,000 square feet and includes an attached parking garage totaling 253,640 square feet. Councilmen Jim Waring and Sal DiCiccio voted against the measure.
According to city documents, the city will lease back the main branch space to Wells Fargo while the bank transitions into a new space. Much of the Wells Fargo office staff had already moved out of that building. A new corporate center for the bank was developed in Chandler along the Price Road corridor and the bank has another large office presence in Tempe.
“It's not often in the real estate world that an opportunity comes along that is ideal in terms of location and needs while also making smart financial sense," City Manager Ed Zuercher said in a statement. “This building shares a campus with Phoenix City Hall on the same block as the Phoenix Municipal Court and the Calvin Goode Building. The new office tower will allow us to further bring city employees and the services they provide to a single location in money saving consolidation move so those dollars can be used for other community needs."
At the meeting, Zuercher said the current police headquarters was undersized and portions are unusable from water damage. The existing police headquarters opened in 1970.
