The description in that article for the Residence Inn/Courtyard By Marriott downtown...

"Designed to blend in with the historic, neighboring Luhrs City Center, the dual hotel project towers 19 stories above Phoenix."

How does that big beige box blend in with Luhrs, exactly? hahahaha

Close your eyes and they both look alike.

Don't look up

:rolleyes: It's a pedestal with a giant cardboard box atop it.

...and it doesn't exactly "tower" over Phoenix either. These media articles read more like a brochure.

Let's chat about Marriott for a second. Overall, it's not a bad development for bringing business to the area. I have been by there quite a few times and there always seems to be a steady flow of guest going in and out. So it's successful as a hotel and successful at getting visitors to the surrounding retail establishments.

The design though...ugh. The first 4 floors actually look pretty good and does a decent job of blending old with new into the surrounding block. Everything above that however, looks like it should have been built off the I-10 somewhere between here and Tucson. It looks bland and is visually unappealing. This was one of the projects I looked forward to when it was being built. But if everyone recalls, we never got to see the top 11 floors or so of the renderings. The final product ended up looking like a cheap motel and was a big disappointment.

So this brings me to the question. What would everyone consider as the cutoff to how cheap a tower should be value-engineered versus how much business it brings to what was once a dead block? Was Marriott worth it? Do you think the city should have raised the bar for the upper floors to be more appealing? This is after all, the first tower that is passed when coming up Central from the South and it does stick out. :uhh:

For my taste it's fine--not so bad that I would want the City to require design changes. But I err towards being more liberal in these sorts of things. To the extent the City does have more stringent design review, I would rather it spend its influence ensuring good street-level design. So for me, worth it, though obviously not perfect.

I really don't care how ugly they are, Downtown doesn't have an architectural vernacular or character to keep, if you look at most cities half the skyline is made of unremarkable or ugly buildings that just blend into downtown.

Get the density then when demand is high for high-rise projects demand quality

Phoenix is not in a place to demand quality

I disagree. We should demand more from developers. I do agree that there are some dull, crappy buildings in most other cities, too.

Columbus and Central
 

Who had the story on this lot that has the for sale sign up? There is always a trailer and some shit vehicles parked on the fenced up lot. This morning there was some asshole with a beat up horse trailer and truck with a horse tied up drinking water on the lot for no apparent reason. What in the actual f???

The lot was rezoned for denser development. I do not think it has been sold yet and was rezoned to attract a buyer.

Some of the equipment there is for the Alta Central development. I have no idea what the horse trailer and horse are for. They show up there periodically. :koko:

I agree to this too. Obadno is correct in that there are crappy developments in other cities too. But, I think it also depends on the development location. Luhrs is a historic block and they razed a historic corner to build Marriott. That alone should have warranted a higher standard. If it were built in Midtown, I could see this design. But really, it should have been built better on the Luhrs block.

Either way, it's a moot point since it's already built. I was just digging for opinions on what should be considered the minimum standard for Downtown PHX.

Two notable plan reviews filed today.

First, 903 N. 2nd St.:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/90...!4d-112.070878

https://i.imgur.com/eJwHUeTl.jpg

Can't find anything about owner/developer, so tempering expectations, but good to see proposals continue.

Second, 1102 N. 3rd St.:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/11...!4d-112.069884

https://i.imgur.com/ZE8UfLtl.jpg

Glad to see this lot getting developed! Just 1 more link to move density towards Hance Park.

No idea what the tower proposal is. Maybe this will be one of those Link moments that come out of nowhere...or Evans-Churchill fights it for the height and it goes nowhere. :runaway:

1102 looks like a piece of the Ro2 development

Ro2 is the area by Knipe House and empty lots behind Carly’s

...and both being developed by True North Holdings. The Plan Review says Ro2 Cam

Wonder if it's a typo then? lol 1102 N 2nd St

https://goo.gl/maps/PAsepp8RHRP2

I don't doubt that it's not a part of Ro2, I'm just wondering if it's being developed as something else affiliated with it...who knows.

Whatever it is - its tied to ‘Cloud 9 Development Corporation’ - which has pretty much zero information on the internet about it or its projects. They have filed in Texas as well for projects as a ‘foreign for profit corporation’. This doesn’t mean its from outside the US - it can be - but mostly means its from outside Texas.

Has Cloud 9 been associated with any other projects in PHX before?

https://m.facebook.com/Cloud-9-Devel...6700109362674/

I found a Facebook but he’s in gerogia and looks to be a contractor more than a land developer