NE Corner of 7th and McDowell
 

Boutique Solie is going in between T-Mobile and Sernas Dry Cleaner.

http://boutiquesolie.com/

http://i40.tinypic.com/5nsxhc.jpg

EDIT:

Interior of Boutique Solie:

http://i41.tinypic.com/1zyimme.jpg

do those awnings actually provide any shade? it doesn't look like they do in the image.

NE Corner of 7th and McDowell
 

I'm somewhat impressed with the NE corner, and somewhat dismayed. As was noted above, the T-Mobile store looks great but the after-hour bars in the windows are disheartening as this is not a bad neighborhood. Moreover, the half-lit cheap-o sign and the banners really do not live up to the quality and historic character of the building.

http://i44.tinypic.com/34yqw78.jpg

On the other hand, the heavy doors and nice hardware look and feel really good:

http://i53.tinypic.com/23hsjti.jpg

No, at this point there are just metal frames. I'm not sure if there will be awnings in the future (I hope so!).

Yes, the NW corner of Jackson and 5th Ave.

View of downtown from the top of Summit at Copper Square. (Taken 3.22.12 with my cell phone).

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4352/imag0332rz.jpg

Anyone have any more info on PURL moving out of the Security Building
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jac...ch_lab_pur.php

or the new "temporary" dog park at MTH Park?
http://downtowndevil.com/2012/03/16/...-t-hance-park/

Never been to this place but it always sucks when a place downtown closes...

Long time Phoenix restaurant closes its doors

PHOENIX - The Matador has been a staple of downtown Phoenix for 47 years. 

After struggling with the economy, rising lease rates, and expensive renovations, owner Mike Anagnopoulos decided to call it quits.

"I used to spend seven days a week here," he said sadly.

The Matador Mexican Restaurant has been at 1st Street and Adams for almost 30 years. Before that Anagnopoulos ran "The Little Matador" for several years. 

"Once we moved here we knew it was going to be great," he said. "I remember even 10 years ago, this was the place. We had lines out the door."

On Saturday regular customers trickled in throughout the day to say 'goodbye' to a man who had become part of the family.

"I've been coming here since I was four," said Mike Lowery. "I don't know what I'll do without this place."

"I doubt I'll survive a year," said Anagnopoulos. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

There's no word at this time if there are any other businesses planning on moving into the location.

Always sucks when a place closes, I'll echo that statement. Matador was some of the worst "mexican" food I've ever had, though.

^Yah it was pretty awful food. The bigger loss is that the place turned itself into a Mexican dance/night club at nights which I imagine attracted quite a few people to Downtown in the evenings which is always nice.

Thats a pretty huge space, I kinda hope its subdivided and we get at least 2 new places of the space.

yeah losing the gangbanger crowd that used to frequent that place at night is a blessing in disguise! Now just to get rid of PHX, Bar Smith, and Sky Lounge..... those places are a cause of a lot of downtown's crime.

A few years ago there was a shooting linked to a fight that started in the Matador (at least I believe that was the scenario). No one was killed but a couple of people were shot. That happened in 2008 or 2009.

PHX closed as well. It went under recently and the sign removed from the facade. I saw some folks in there looking at blueprints last week. Perhaps a new club owner/promoter?

No more Matador...now where can I find a restaurant that combines shitty Mexican food with shitty Greek food?

Good news, PHX is closed and gone. Rumor I heard is the city wouldn't renew their liquor license. Not sure if that's the case, but it does seem the city is trying to push these places out. A couple years ago they closed Bar Smith and Silver for a period of time over fire marshal concerns.

Also, regarding Matador, this comes from New Times "the city of Phoenix, who owns the building, would not renew its lease despite months of negotiations".

Weird, I walked by PHX about two weeks ago and it was open, with lots of blacks in line. Must have just closed, but good riddance. There have also been several fights in the past couple of years that have stemmed from those bars. The gross trash on the weekend mornings after parties, the dried gum on the sidewalks, just everything about those places is trashy and bad.

Mi Patio on 7ave and Osborn.

That's actually a pretty nice pic for a cell phone, nice :tup:

Comparison of Coors Field to Chase Field
 

...

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/job...-stadium/1593/

It's an interesting read but I disagree that Chase Field was a bust. Chase Field did what it could do with the downtown we have.

Some of the comparitive stats they throw out about Denver County and the City of Denver vs Metropolitan Phoenix are terrible comparisons. You can't compare Denver County to Maricopa County in the way they did:

Are they seriously comparing the City of Denver (ie, the city-county of Denver) to the entire Metro Phoenix area (Maricopa County, which is HUGE and hugely unpopluated and a desert in many areas and not at all similar to a County like Denver County)?? WTF? Apparently they don't know Denver has a metro area and suburbs too.

How stupid can this "stat" be? Denver County's boundary basically is only 10 miles around downtown. If they want to use Maricopa County (Metro Phoenix), they'd have to use Metro Denver (which includes a ton more than just Denver County). I'm sure the percentage for Denver would likely be a little bit higher, but no where near the 99% vs 41%.

Aside from the ridiculous stats and comparisons in the article, it's true Chase Field really didn't have as much benefit to downtown Phoenix as did Coors Field. IMO, in a perfect world, Chase Field and America West Arena would have been built at some other perifery location around downtown Phoenix, maybe just east/southeast of 7th Street and Jefferson, but still within walking distance of downtown and the (future) light rail. That way they wouldn't have destroyed blocks and blocks of great dense historic buildings (warehouses, the old Chinatown, etc.), which could have been upgraded/renovated and would have more likely become a great "new" urban neighborhood... filled with bars/restaurants/residences in the historic buildings with new developments scattered about, similar to Denver.