Yeah that's the new W hotel and condos here in Austin

http://www.block21residences.com/

http://www.austintowers.net/at/condo...o/w_hotel.html

Why not? Why not open one up downtown as well? People in this city are addicted to chains.. it's familiar and people know it. And what's wrong with their food? I think it's delicious. I think Downtown needs more chains.. Obviously I like independent restaurants as well, but I'm sure a few familiar chains would draw people...

The unfortunate thing about what you just said is (except for them having delicious food) you are completely right.

People flock to corporations because there is a notion they are better quality. We all know that can be either right or wrong at any place at any time.

Hey is Hops brew pub still open out there? went there a few times it was pretty good can't remember which one I went to think it was on Scottsdale Rd. and there used to be a Carmelo's Italian Restaurant like we have here in Austin it's closed I know.

As far as I can tell, the TGI Fridays downtown and the Hard Rock aren't nearly as busy as Matt's, Biancos, or even Portlands. We don't need any more chains downtown and we don't need a shitty Yardhouse. I'd rather a real brewery go in to the warehouse district and make their own beer.

Yeah but we do need to put oir personal wants aside if we want to bring in the "masses."

True, however, who goes to Hard Rock anymore? And, Front Row isn't the standard TGI Fridays...they close at 7pm most nights and most people looking for food aren't going to walk to a ball field unless its on game night.

BTW, I'll take Cibo any day over Bianco. IMO, better all around experience from the food, to the atmosphere, to the seating.

Some very condescending bitches on this board, and I am not a fan of The Yardhouse. . .

It also goes without saying that there is a "perceived" quality with independent restaurants that is also right or wrong at probably the same, if not a higher, rate as corporate chains.

I would even replace the "quality" perception at chains with the words "predictable" or "familiar"

Either way, it's not like downtown is limited for space for future restaurants, retail etc

Channel 12 could move to The Arizona Republic's building

Gannett Co., Inc. parent company of The Arizona Republic and Channel 12, may move the television station into the Republic's downtown Phoenix mid-rise.

Under the plan, the ground floor of the Republic's offices at 200 E. Van Buren would be reconfigured so that visitors walking in downtown Phoenix would be able to see KPNX's studios.

The plans are just preliminary, said John Zidich publisher of The Arizona Republic. Gannett is working on a feasibility study to determine if the move makes financial and logistical sense, he said.

"We think there are great synergies for both of our platforms," Zidich said. "We also think that it could be a really exciting, new draw to downtown as we position the studios so that the outside world can see inside."

Another reason the media company is probably considering the move: both the TV and newspaper staffs are smaller. At its peak, KPNX had 190 employees, now there are 160, according to the general manager. Layoffs and downsizing have also shrunk the newspaper's staff.

Zidich didn't specify how much The Arizona Republic's staffing has changed at its Van Buren building, saying the possible move isn't motivated by efficiency.

"The reason to do this is strategic," Zidich said. "Having available space makes it easier but is not a reason."

The news involves two key pieces of downtown Phoenix real estate. KPNX occupies two buildings at 1101 N. Central Ave., a key intersection along the Central Avenue corridor.

"It's attractive in the sense that it is on the northern border or downtown, directly on the light rail," said John Misner, president and general manager of Channel 12. "It's next to the (Hance) park, it's not too far away from ASU's downtown campus. You have good access to the I-10."

The Arizona Republic sits at Second and Van Buren streets, steps away from the Phoenix Convention Center and the Arizona Center complex of shops and offices.

Gannett has been working closely with Phoenix city officials to iron out logistics of a possible move. Gannett plans to issue a request for proposals from contractors this month.

KPNX has been at the Central Avenue site since 1956. The television station's two buildings -- a 45,000-square foot office building and a former fire station that stores news vehicles -- are not officially for sale. But rumors of a potential sale have peaked the interest of about a half dozen parties, Misner said.

That includes Arizona State University, which opened a downtown Phoenix campus in 2006.

"We took a tour at the invitation of the Channel 12 management, but we do not have any plans to pursue the building," said Julie Newberg, an ASU spokeswoman.
Other television stations and newspapers have experimented with mingled operations, said Rick Edmonds, a media consolidation expert at Poynter Institute, adding that Florida's Tampa Tribune and Channel 8 (WFLA) have shared the same building for several years.

If Channel 12 moved into the Republic's building, it would be the largest such operation "that I know of," Edmonds said. --- Jahna Berry

^That would be great if it happened for 2 reasons. If Im reading it correctly it sounds like they'd plan to have their studios have a window to the street a la the Today Show which could be very cool. The Republic building is obviously in an area where lots of tourists and convention goers walk by and it could create a lively and interesting street scene as people watch broadcasts being taped.

Secondly and more importantly Id hope it would mean the awful anti urban fortress that is the current Ch 12 building would be flattened. Its a really prime piece of real estate and I wish it had a better use. When the economy recovers and if Phoenix ever decides to redo Hance park like it needs to, that would be a great place for more midrise condos like Portland Place across the street.

are there any good jobs in phoenix yet? theres like three great looking chicks there that i would move back for but, damn, last time i was there i could basically flip burgers as a sole career option!

No.

that's what i thought. damn that one trick pony economy arizona built itself on!

GOP convention
 

If Phoenix gets the GOP convention it would be nice to have both channel 8 and 12 with Downtown sidewalk studios.

I hope they move their studios. I love seeing news studios in action when I am in Chicago or NY.

Um...Id be happy to keep the seat warm for you while you look for a job with any of the 3 :P

EDIT: VV You mentioned their gender, so it goes unsaid.

did i mention they are all psycho??? :D

So I was downtown today with my department from work to attend the "Get Motivated" business seminar at US Airways Center. It was a great seminar with many speakers such as Laura Bush, Rudy Guliani, Colin Powell, Steve Forbes, Kurt Warner, Tamara Lowe, Zig Zeiglar, and a few others. I shot some quick shots of downtown with my cellphone.. mostly of Cityscape and the Court Tower..

Luhrs

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...e/downtown.jpg

Court Tower

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown6.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown3.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown4.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown5.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../downtown7.jpg

Hey, nice new angles. I particularly like #6. Thanks, man.

.

New trees, benches, and other additions are being loaded into the courtyard for phase 1 at Chase Tower. The whole courtyard renovation will be completed by year's end. I recall there being 4 phases.

I think it has been discussed before, but why again (for what development) is there a tower crane on the west side of 16th street a bit north of Thomas?

^ Don't you remember? It was for a new 55-story office tower. I drive past it everyday. :D

--don

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/...n-phoenix.html

effing eff yeah!

I love this shit man. Just when I was starting to get really down about my neighborhood, thinking I spent too much money to live in a place that I put too much stock into, they announce a bunch of big time restaurants. I can literally hit Heritage square with a rock if I throw it while I'm drunk and upside down, it's that close.

If you've ever noticed the moveable letter sign out front of it, and noticed it was all word jumbled to read something obnoxious, that means I did it. I changed "motoring through time" to read "motorboating through tim" two weeks ago. This is my playground, and now my playground is starting to become awesome.

Steve Nash commercial, with scene from the San Carlos swimming pool area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdNiX...layer_embedded

On the heels of the above, Cartel Coffee Lab has the grand opening of their second location on 1st St and Washington on Tuesday February 16 from 5:00 to 9:00 PM.

While downtown has several coffee shops, none are open lateish, local, and in the core itself. Getting all three is a welcome addition.

What's up Phoenix. We miss having you guys in the Mountain West. I was just watching the video of the "Qwest Building Implosion". What's going to go in it's place?

most likely nothing but others may know more. It's too bad the senior highrise can't go through as I would think that market is affected differently than traditional residential.

There's a pile of rubble there, still present after six months.

Any ordinary homeowner would be arrested for having weeds in their yards, but somebody can knock down a building and leave a pile of rubble? Looks like Haiti there.

--don

I tried to play on that rubble... didn't make it very far before security was after me.

they can afford security but not landscaping?:hell:

Security is a corporate liability (thus necessary).

Landscaping is not.

nobody is going to sue them for getting cut on grass... but you'd better be sure if I impailed my arm on rebar debris, they would get sued.

I think it is actually the Wyndham's pool area (and entry valet court in another scene.) Funny, tho. Love Nash.

The entire film was madE at wyndham. Those are wyndham halls, rooms, pool, front drive, and their Icon lounge.

Not if you are an adult trespasser. In Arizona, adult trespassers cannot sue for injuries sustained on another property because they are not a business or guest invitee. They are owed no duty of protection, so unlike many other states, the trespasser is HML in Arizona. HML = hosed as a matter of law.

The only exception to this is if the trespasser can show that the property owner "set a trap" for them. For example, you can't rig up a 12-gauge shotgun to fire when someone opens the front door. Then and only then can an adult trespasser sue for injuries.

I write adult trespassers because children are held to a different standard. If the child was a trespasser, they generally are also HML, with the exception of the "attractive nuisance doctrine." Basically, that means if you have something that is a hazard but would attract the attention of a child and entice them to play on it, then the property owner may have some liability. The classic example of an attractive nuisance is an unfenced trampoline.

Assumption of the risk can also function as a complete bar to recovery. For children, this is tailored based on what a reasonable child of similar age could have appreciated in terms of the hazard and acted accordingly. Generally, the older the child, the more likely assumption of the risk will be used as a defense. For an adult, assumption of the risk in Arizona will likely be fatal to most personal injury claims. It would be difficult to survive a motion for summary judgment if you are the plaintiff and assumption of the risk applies. Even if you somehow make it to a jury, the defense will get a jury instruction that reads as follows:

"Jurors, if you reasonably believe that the plaintiff properly appreciated the risk and voluntarily chose to incur that risk, and then sustained injury as a result of that risk, you must find for the defendant in this case." Given Arizona juries generally don't like plaintiffs (two-thirds of personal injury cases tried in Arizona result in defense verdicts), they are often more than happy to read that and, in essence, say to the plaintiff "You get zero. Have a nice day."

Given your facts, that you would be a trespasser and an adult climbing over crumbled stone and rebar, you would have virtually no chance in Arizona of recovering a dime for your injuries. Even if you could somehow get around the trespasser issue, the fact as an adult you could see the debris and voluntarily chose to go climbing through it like an idiot, the jury would slam you for assumption of the risk. Basically, Arizona has a pretty practical personal injury system. You can't collect money in this state for being a moron, generally speaking.

--don

so after you put up a good, high, sturdy fence and post signs to keep out what are your requirements to have live security on site 24/7?

Hm. I guess arizona has one thing over other states.

Assuming they ignored Don's very thorough legal opinion (thanks Don), you'd still think grass or gravel would be cheaper than continually paying for security... especially since it'll eventually still have to get cleaned up.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...ntown0215.html

I'm glad the city got the Ramada Inn on the cheap, it'll be interesting to see if ASU does want to move the Law School. The Ramada in is part of of a 3 block span (Monroe to Taylor, 1st to 2nd streets) thats just total crap, giant structures that take up entire blocks, it'll be nice to see one of them replaced with something hopefully more urban.

The Ramada has a whole side of street-front retail spaces that are all locked up at the moment.

It will be a parking lot for a long time before it is anything else. For some reason, I don't think this is a good thing.

--don

A parking lot will suck, but in the long run, another addition to DT ASU is a great thing.

The Native American Community Service Center is at Central and Campbell so I'm trying to figure out where this thing is going to go because 350 units is a pretty large building.

Are they going to demolish the buying at Central and Minnezona? I remember a while back there was talk that the building would be demolished and something built in its place.

http://nitnelav.com/CentralandMinnezona.jpg

The west half of the Ramada property should be saved for now. Get the top units rented out affordably and the street-front retail spaces in business. It would do a lot to draw interest to the site so ASU can find a good private partner to build an academic mixed-use complex as a replacement when the economy allows.

Does anyone know if this is a real historic building or just a newer building made to look old? Either way I've always liked it and thought it brought something to the eclectic mix of structures around that area and would hate to see it go, especially with so many dirt lots nearby.

That building was made to look old in the fifties and they didn't do a particularly good job. What gives it away are the windows: they look to be the wrong size for the period ithey're trying to emulate. They're metal too, and would look like absolute garbage if they were wood.

The design and slope of the roof with no attic vents makes it appear distinctly modern. I would be very surprised if this building was pre-WW2, and will eat my hat if I'm wrong. Fortunately, I don't wear a hat.

As if that area isnt over run with drunk indians already. Oh well, north midtown = newest ghetto

^I hate to say it but ever since they built that Catherine Arms navajo breeding ground on Fillmore, that ghetto Circle K across from my house has become more ghetto. I'm seriously pissed about all of the drunk indians I see standing on the corner every day now.