Depending on the angle, this is what it would look like.

https://ak5.picdn.net/shutterstock/v...ze(height:160)

This area has a ton of potential and the preservation of Welnick and Levy venues have kept that possible. WVB is zoned for the highest buildings, and is an important connection from Central Station to Grand Ave and Capitol. All of WVB, Monroe, and Adams are filled with historic structures that would offer something really unique if blended together by highrises. On WVB, Sun Devil Auto and Firestone being restored into restaurants, and the restoration of the 5th-6th Ave block of warehouses would be awesome. If the Personnel Building on Monroe works out, there'd be action through 2nd Ave, picking up again at 4th Ave. I hope the Church gets multiple tenants and is more than an event space; and the Masonic Temple would make a great Arts Center, maybe in the middle of a college?

Unfortunately, anti-urban fortresses like the Federal Court, ATT Building, Fox5, Comerica, and garages like the one eating the Masonic Temple break up the connectivity. And, MCCCD owns the majority of 5th-6th Ave warehouses, so their uses will likely be underutilized. But, one day, wider sidewalks, parallel parking, a center median, and Streetcar down WVB past towers of Best Western, Sprouts, and Coldstone would be great amongst the historic buildings and residential towers.

P.S. There is a bar opening next to ACME Print on 7th Ave in the TAX building. Love the small projects in that area helping to make 7th Ave a viable walk between the Arts Districts.

Signage and patio are up for NCounter at Union@Roosevelt. Good to see retail already moving in unlike the years we had to wait for one shop at Roosevelt Point. Hopefully this snowballs into other retailers moving in sooner rather than later. Always checking on the retail spaces at Portland on the Park, doesn't seem to be any yet.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...e-monocle.html

New bar and restaurant going in next to Songbird.

The momentum right now is great:tup:

What is an 'American fusion full-scale restaurant'? I thought it was supposed to be serving French food.

I'm confused myself. The guy working on the landscaping said it would be French.

Maybe there was concern that French food is stereotyped in terms of formality and heavy cream sauces -- even though that's not even close to true. Still, I think "modern French" would sound better than "American fusion." The latter is overused.

The tallest buildings take incredible capital, risk, and are long-term investments. Sometimes they're more statements or dick-waving contests between other property owners than anything that has a more tangible or safer ROI.

Phoenix's highrises were all built to be sold. The exception to this is Chase Tower, which was built as the long term home for Valley National Bank.

http://i63.tinypic.com/2anm9y.jpg

I noticed this was posted yesterday. Now that the sale of the adjacent city bus terminal land is finished it seems they're looking to move forward with a new project on the southwest corner of Central & Camelback. They apparently need a new zoning variance to undo the previous variances granted for the pre-bubble-burst project that was originally proposed there. By the variances requested they appear to still be planning to develop a hotel within the project. Some of these requests sound quite discouraging however, such as:

8) to allow non-clear windows along the building façade length fronting onto Camelback Road and Central Ave.
9) to not provide a main building entry oriented toward transit platform.

I will try to withhold judgment until I see what is proposed. Maybe someone here can find some more information on the project?

In 2016 there was a vague press release about a 7 story apartment development related to the sale of the bus terminal land, which makes me think/hope the hotel will front the street corner and go tall, and be flanked by shorter buildings like the apartment development. I believe the property is currently entitled to 250'.

Would the non-clear windows be so that people can live there without the world looking in on them? If I was living or staying there, with all the traffic, I would want some privacy, without having to have curtains always drawn.

I could be wrong about non-clear windows, so I am simply speculating.

It seems like the variances would undo so many urban aspects. Allow for 150% parking, shade requirement eliminated (if I recall, it's hot and sunny on that corner, too), reducing the frontage percent facing the street, the window tinting, etc. Frustrating.

I generally presume anti-urban malice, given the history of development here, so I figured it probably has to do with some sort of faux facade, but it could be a perfectly logical request. It seems discouraging for potential retail spaces to face Central or Camelback. Hopefully that's not the case, the area is becoming a pedestrian friendly retail hub, even the mid-rise apartments proposed for Central & Pierson include retail on Central and facing the light rail station.

Bingo, this is the root of my concern. Maybe we will be surprised in the end.

If the shade variance is because the building is so tall, that might not be a crazy request. If they're building a large retail component and hotel, 150% parking might not be crazy either. Reduced frontage could be because of a smaller footprint than the previous proposal. These zoning hearing notices are always too ambiguous without any other context.

The press release you mentioned states that Davis is supposed to do the architecture. Their site (which doesn't work very well for me) shows renderings for two ~30 story buildings at "Central & Camelback."

http://www.thedavisexperience.com/life-in-place/

https://snag.gy/l1oBOt.jpg

Anyone know if these are old renderings? Or new?

those are pretty cool!!!!!! I would love to see them there!!!!!!

Looks like they designed Portland on the Park, so that's definitely encouraging! I'll see if I can dig up the old proposal renderings from 2007.

Here's a closer look at the rendering used currently on the Davis website:
http://i67.tinypic.com/dc69w3.png

I was about to rage at that rendering and then I realized its just all of their designs lined layered on top of each other :haha:

Also A couple of interesting other projects, RoTwo? A rendering for Phoenix Central Station? W Phoenix?

Eh, probably a false alarm. It looks like more or less the rendering from 2007, which Davis also did.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...nCamelback.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=74733&page=23

It definitely appears to be more humble than the 2008 renderings which called for three 400' towers. Upon counting the floors on the rendering we found on Davis' website, it definitely shows the same 33 floors. The website rendering looks like the two 'rear' towers without the corner tower. In hindsight the W Hotel and Central Station renderings are also of that era, I guess I was thrown off by the fact that some of the buildings on the Davis website skyline have actually been built as rendered post recession.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Camelback3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Camelback2.jpg

They seem to be trying to reign in some of the less-humble facets of that project (check out those pools), which had proposed things like integrating the bus terminal into the basement to create a transit hub. Did the project ever get full zoning and variance approval from city council for 400'? I wonder if it's still limited to the original 250' entitlement? Could the original 3 tower proposal still be in play after all?

Well, I think it's a false alarm. My bad.

It appears they're just looking to extend the expiration date on the entitlements they were granted back in October 2006, all of which are listed on the posted notice. #8 and #9 might be new requests though. No wonder those variances sound so anti-urban, they were.

Strange.