Chase Tower (Phoenix, Arizona)

 office building, skyscraper

201 North Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004

The Chase Tower (formerly known as the Valley Bank Center and the Bank One Center) in Phoenix, Arizona, is the tallest building in the state of Arizona. Built in 1972, it is 483 ft (147 m) tall. It was originally built for the local financial heavyweight Valley National Bank, which Bank One acquired in 1994. Bank One merged with Chase in 2005, and the building was renamed in December of that year. It is 40 stories tall but the highest occupiable floors are the 37th and 38th, where the private Arizona Club Restaurant is located. There is no observation area in the Chase Tower.

Unlike many traditional skyscrapers with zero-setback retail/lobby space on the ground floor, access through the tower is through an underground restaurant/retail concourse set a comparatively large distance away from the bordering streets.

The building was designed by the prominent Los Angeles-based architectural firm Welton Becket and Associates (now Ellerbe Becket). Upon completion, the tower marked the beginning of a renewed investment in Downtown Phoenix that would last for almost twenty years until the savings and loan crisis brought about the 1989 real estate crash. The tower was renovated in 2003 to accommodate 800 additional Bank One employees.

In March 2007, Chase Tower was sold for a record $547,900,000, the highest price paid for an office building in the Western United States.