Quote:
Originally Posted by ASUSunDevil
No one gave enough of a shit to preserve Circles until a "dreaded developer" wanted to actually make use out of it's decrepit existence.
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This isn't a fair statement by any stretch of the imagination, efforts to encourage the preservation of the building have been ongoing since at least 1984 when the building was identified as a significant historic commercial property by the Phoenix Junior League. The Arizona Opera explored buying and renovating the building years back, but didn't find it financially viable. The former owners of the building were encouraged by numerous organizations to get the building listed under state and federal historic preservation, but they refused to do so because it would lower the value of the property. The current outcome is what they were holding out for, because their asking price wouldn't have allowed for anything other than a massive development.
$2,650,000 is what it sold for.
The former owners had every right to do what they did with the property, but to say no one tried to save the building until now is disingenuous.
It's crazy to imagine that efforts to have more of the building preserved might ultimately cause the entire building to go. Personally I was content with the original proposed design, it's better than nothing and it adds a little character to otherwise ho-hum modern construction and keeps the street level less monotonous. This whole situation shows the pitfalls of rallying the community behind a preservation issue without that community understanding just how little leverage the city has to demand preservation of private property. All it did was push the developer to act before any more creative ideas came along to slow them down, and it got everyone pissed off with the city for issuing a demolition permit, because they don't actually understand how these things work.
What a mess!