7th Street is already a barrier between Downtown and Garfield. The street is managed as a six-lane thoroughfare for fast-moving commuter traffic with no on-street parking for businesses, minimal amenities for pedestrians, and no accommodation at all for bicyclists. If 7th Street were re-envisioned as a true city street, reduced to no more than two lanes in each direction with the addition of the features mentioned above, then it might be appropriate to worry about the kind of buildings that line it. Since the city council has consistently been unable to muster a majority in favor of taming the 7s, it doesn't really make much of a difference if big campus buildings dominate the streetscape. It's a higher priority to focus on what goes on between the 7s and how any academic buildings address the blocks to their west, rather than their east.

I guess I was being too vague. Over the past few years the space between 5th and 7th has been built full of giant structures with nothing to offer anyone outside of those who work/learn in them and has therefore created a giant dead zone between Garfield and downtown. It didn't have to happen like that.

Couldnt disagree more. The biomed campus is fantastic for downtown. I hope they keep building.

Have you ever attempted to use downtown as a playground (as so many wish it could be) and go out for a drink or dinner on foot if you live on the other side of 7th? It was never delightful but before we at least had the possibility and likelihood that the area could have been used by private developers but that's off the table. It will forever be a two block wide moat across the entire east end of downtown phoenix.

I'm not suggesting the biomedical campus shouldn't have happened, I just wish it could have been done in a way that better embraces the community and integrates itself into the fabric of the neighborhood. As of now, it's no better than the blank walls of the convention center.

There was already a dead zone there due to the combination of vacant lots and the hostile environment of 7th Street. If we had a time machine that could take us back decades so we could prevent the demolition of so much of the housing stock in Evans Churchill and the widening of 7th Street to six lanes, perhaps there could be an outcome more in line with your vision. Without that technology, it seems best to acknowledge that having big walls and loading docks along 7th Street hasn't killed street life because none existed there to begin with.

Those private developers are now beginning to step forward, but they probably never would have done so without the population brought by higher education. An increasing number of students and university employees are choosing to live in close proximity to campus. As a result, there's more demand for housing in the area, and more support for local businesses.

Some of the most outspoken urbanist critics of the higher ed presence in downtown Phoenix seem to hold unrealistic views of how universities interact with cities around the country. Some of the opinions I've heard wrongly suggest that most urban universities blend so seamlessly into the surrounding urban fabric that it's almost impossible to tell where city ends and university begins.

That may be true for NYU and a handful of other institutions, but for the most part, even the most urban universities have defined campuses. They blend into the city on their peripheries, but at their cores there is an area that is clearly aligned with the university. Having such a differentiation is helpful both for security purposes and in terms of creating institutional identity and pride.

And like I said I'm not suggesting they shouldn't have built it, just wishing it would have been done in a way to create such a vast dead space.

I totally agree that the biomed campus has been poorly planned. The Cancer Center should have been built twice as tall and left the south side of the block for supportive housing and retail uses along Fillmore.

Putting predominantly single-use large buildings on entire city blocks is just bad urban design. My biggest gripe when I lived downtown is that it didn't feel like a neighborhood, just a catch-all for a variety of kitchen-sink civic uses that were hostile to people that actually lived there. The apartment buildings coming up, while bringing in needed warm bodies, are even adding to the disjointedness with so much ground floor amenity and leasing space.

All of downtown was once considered a crack haven/blight, that mentality puts us where we are now. Is it really so much to ask for UA to spare 4 buildings that take up a quarter lot and build their future facility on the remaining majority?

Not next year, but I could envision 7th street as a centerline BRT corridor. Add in greenstreets improvements and it would have a whole different, dynamic feel.

BTW, since Friday was the first day of fall here's to Autumn Leaves.

I just read an article about UofA's new president and he explicitly talked about expanding the UofA medical school.

If we have to lose those old abandoned brick buildings for a full blown medschool campus downtown its completely worth it.

Yes, 7th Street would be a good corridor for BRT or a streetcar route. Unfortunately, the city council has for the past decade been unable to pass any proposal that would tame the 7s -- not even an elimination of the reverse lanes. Every time the issue comes up for a vote, north Phoenix council members, even ones who normally support Downtown, favor the interests of their commuter constituents who want a fast ride in and out of Downtown, no matter how negative the impact on Downtown itself.

So I am one of their constituents who wants a fast commute to and from the city, I honestly don't think removing the reversible lanes would make a noticeable difference.

I hate the reversible lanes and would love to see them gone tomorrow, but they don't begin until north of Downtown anyway. I just offered them as an example of how the city council can't move forward with changes to the 7s because council members from the north side have consistently forged a majority in favor of the status quo.

https://azbigmedia.com/stadium-impro...opportunities/

There shouldn't be any surprises in this article. Upgrades are coming to Avondale's Raceway and whether the new Phoenix Rising stadium in Tempe will be built, pending, of course, if the team is accepted into MLS. It doesn't commit to any side on the stadium modernization or relocation front. Still an interesting read.

44 Monroe is locking the balconies off to all residents in every unit. The railings have been deemed ‘unsafe’. They have started the process of hiring a contractor. Estimated time to complete is 3+ months.

Building had a meeting with residents today. HSL brought in their VP - sounds like there are a large number of residents looking to break their lease over the issue...

I've been on the balconies before. The railings didn't inspire a lot of confidence. but locking tenants out? That's ridiculous.

There are no legal grounds to break a lease over lack of a balcony.

Huh? Anyone can simply buy out of any lease agreement.

The owner has no obligation to accept any less than what's in the contractual agreement.

Historic monroe abbey update: Dreams of a mixed-use community space take shape
 

Wow this project is going to be amazing. Sneak Peak on Oct 6th as well during First Friday.

http://dtphx.org/2017/09/29/historic...ce-take-shape/
http://dtphx.org/wp-content/uploads/...nes-studio.jpg