Block 23 is fenced off again and they were unloading an excavator this afternoon.

Block 23... nice! Any construction update on Barrister, beyond the ground work update from few weeks ago?

Maybe it's time for Block 23 and Barrister to get they're own feed? Pretty significant projects :yes:

Two observations from this morning's commute:

-- Workers were putting a fence around the old bank branch next to Blue Fin. Perhaps this is a precursor to demolition? It's an attractive mid-century building that I hate to see go, but I will be glad to see an apartment project there to fill the gap between the Burton Barr Library and McDowell Road.

-- An excavator was at work at the Derby site.

We are going to need 5 threads
-Barrister
-Block 23
-Central Park East
-Derby




-Stewart....maybe:yes:

I just made 3 new threads....Barrister, Block 23, and Derby. :)

Speaking of new threads, isn't there a 10,000 post limit to these things?

I guess not :haha:

Image update. Overall good progress. Nice to see ground moving on Block 23 & Barrister. Worth noting that another piece of heave machinery showed up as I walked away (not in images).

Marriott does look great from up close - even the top half. But from any measurable distance away, it looks like the architect forgot to design the upper 15 floors.

Renaissance Hotel has really come together. My only compliant is the lack of trees on Adams street. There's still a (large) planter that needs to be filled on the south side of adams... hopefully they put some there.

Block 23:
http://i.imgur.com/CISivb8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zTGpfBx.jpg

Barrister:
http://i.imgur.com/s7DODI4.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qWpNYJc.jpg

Marriott:
http://i.imgur.com/7jkewi1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HEPLTTL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/x1lGGZk.jpg

Renaissance Hotel
http://i.imgur.com/eR7aFdT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RpOl006.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/REycYQ8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wMxp2c1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/kHpYI2K.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4v2rpte.jpg

Thanks for the update. I agree, the Marriott looks really good up close. I was surprised by those pictures. I like the brickwork - the style matches the Luhrs Tower to the north.

NHL, Coyotes threaten to leave Arizona
 

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

Good riddance if they leave. I'm all for having 4 sports teams but who's to say that they won't get pissed about the next sales tax-funded stadium and then demand a new one a few years down the road.

Sales taxes in AZ are already too high, and the government and education is under-funded. Sales tax revenue should not go to a sports franchise. Further, there is convincing evidence indicating that having sports teams does not increase consumer spending and tax revenue, rather, the presence of sports teams just re-distribute existing consumer spending and tax revenue.

Although I agree that the Coyotes shouldn't have ever made Glendale their home, if the organization wants a new stadium, they need to pay for it themselves (whether that's in Phoenix, or Seattle, or Canada- I don't care).

Edit: Here's the AZ Central Source too: http://www.azcentral.com/story/sport...atum/98902480/

tl/dr: Until the Coyotes start giving me free beer and tickets, my taxpayer dollars aren't paying for the stadium.

That whole debacle is ridiculous. Is it in a crappy location relative to 75% of the Valley's population? Most likely. Is there anything wrong with it structurally? Hell no. I was just there in December to catch a game against the Blue Jackets. It's a very well-designed arena that still feels mostly new.

And this is in addition to Sarver wanting a new Suns arena (or public money to renovate America West) and the Diamondbacks throwing a fit about repairs to BOB that I reckon Kendrick and company could easily pay for themselves if they so desired.

And then there's the Cardinals, who are likely to to start bitching about University of Phoenix Stadium being outdated within the next couple of years. Well, that or the NFL refusing to let Glendale/Phoenix host another Super Bowl unless Glendale taxpayers agree to dump insane amounts of money into upgrades that the NFL and/or the Bidwells could easily pay for themselves (the NFL did this to the Chargers after Super Bowl XXXVII and frankly, I"m surprised they didn't move to LA sooner).

10 years from now the "Big 4" will be the NBA, NFL, MLB and MLS. I'll take a Phoenix Rising MLS franchise over the joke that is the Coyotes any day.

Amen. Could honestly care less if the Coyotes leave.

While I totally agree that any franchise in the valley wanting to spend taxpayer money on a new stadium is ridiculous, I'll at least give Cardinals credit for actually being a halfway competitive the past decade. The dbacks, coyotes & suns have all been garbage the last decade. Also it's important to note The Cardinals have sold out every game since opening their stadium back in 07. That's impressive. Don't think they will be looking for a stadium.
Coyotes leaving is 80% likely IMO.

The Cardinals won't be looking for a new stadium, but they and/or the NFL will demand upgrades to University of Phoenix Stadium in order to "remain competitive" once the Rams' new monstrosity opens in LA and to have any hope of hosting future Super Bowls. My earlier reference to San Diego was that after the 2003 Super Bowl, the NFL told the Chargers that they wouldn't host another Super Bowl unless they dramatically improved Qualcomm Stadium (granted, Qualcomm is kind of a dump) despite San Diego, like New Orleans and Miami, being an almost perfect host city. Frankly, I'm amazed the Chargers stayed in San Diego for as long as they did (not that I see the Cardinals moving any time soon). Long story short, the NFL used Qualcomm as a bargaining chip to deny San Diego any future revenue generated from hosting a Super Bowl (the Spanos are also awful people, so there's also that).

That said, Michael Bidwell has done a hell of a lot in the past decade to improve the team. They're the only sports organization in the Valley (I'm not convinced Sarver wants to do anything to make the Suns competitive despite their youth) that actually seems to give a damn about putting a decent product on the field, and I can't fault them for that (I just really hate the NFL as a whole right now, but I'm a Bengals and Cardinals fan).

Left for work early today so I had some time I made a detour through downtown.

Its nice to see both Barrister and Block 23 dug up as dirt, the Rennisance is a MASSSSIVE improvement holy cow, Completely changes the character of that block.

circles (stewart) is still not moving, but the excavator and truck are gone from a few weeks ago, something is happening there but Im not sure what.

Broadstone on Third looks surprisingly big. Portland, 1st/central, Enhance, Shipping Container and the 3rd street apartments all look done, cannot wait for the influx of population.

The Hotel and Derby both had a lot of activity going on, the courtyard Marriot also looks like its finishing up exterior work, I still hate it they should brick the whole thing:yuck:. The whole character of downtown finally feels alive with people walking around, I hope to see this growth continue if projects continue at this pace in 3-5 years downtown will be completely transformed.

Bring on the cranes!

I'm guessing Block 23 will take 2, Barrister 1, Derby 1 and the hotel 1. So we should see at least 5 cranes downtown in 2-3 months!

Also, nobody has brought it up recently, but the new hospital tower is MASSIVE! It topped out weeks ago, but then they began adding to the width and building that up!

Good point. I was recently riding my bike up 12th Street through Garfield and wondered for a moment what the massive project I saw to the north was. It's going to make Banner University Medical Center Phoenix (fka Good Samaritan) much more visible.

I'd like to take a moment to say the apartment building on the NWC of 3rd and Thomas is leaps and bounds ahead of the ones on Roosevelt in terms of interacting with the street and being part of the city instead of turning its back on it like a fortress.