I took the "!?" at the end of the sentence to mean you were pissed. Maybe that just meant excited/interested?

Interest

I believe thats the new W in Austin (which is mixed hotel/condo/new Austin City Limits studios).

At least its one of the three or so renderings before they finalized this one:

http://78701lofts.com/downtown-austi...el/primary.jpg

cool, I will have to check that out. Do they have a large bottle selection?

I agree... I guess if this is like an unofficial four peaks downtown location it would make sense, but i would prefer an "ale house" to have a wider variety of drafts. Honestly, I appreciate Four Peaks as a local brewery, but I'm sort of undecided about their beers. Some are fine, some are bland, not sure there are any I really love.

I don't like parts of this map. Certain areas are just overdone/redundant. "Government" makes sense, as does "Warehouse". However, "BioMed" shouldn't be a separate region, it is part of the "Business Core" of DT. "Roosevelt" is interrupted by a huge man-made canyon, therefore, they should be completely separate. "Roosevelt" should also cross over Central to the East, create a Roosevelt corridor. "Business Core" includes the sports facilities, and "Light Rail Corridor" is just stupid. Lastly, "Park Neighborhoods", sounds great, like possibly a Central Park esque destination lurks down there, but we all know that those neighborhoods are ghettos/blighted dusty lots and will always remain that way because of the flight paths of Sky Harbor.

I hate the map simply because they lump my home in with Van Buren. Why would you stigmatize ANYTHING with that name? It will forever be linked with prostitutes and low-rent motels. Call the space between Van Buren and Roosevelt "SoRo" or something like that and let it be. Once you hit Van Buren, it becomes government buildings anyways.

I think the map has looked pretty much like that for about two years. As Hoover pointed out it is part of the Urban Form project. The city may think you are tardy if you want to change it at this point. But I guess it isn't final until it passes...

Yeah, what the hell? The Roosevelt neighborhood's boundaries have always extended south to Van Buren.

THey need to open up a Yardhouse downtown.. love that place

^Why? We don't have enough in the Valley? There are like 12 of them.

Because DT Phoenix should provide all the amenities of north Scottsdale. Isn't that obvious?

I went into the Main Ingredient again this weekend for a late lunch on Saturday. FYI, they have happy hour every day from 11am - 6pm, which means half off beer. So a pint will only set you back 2.50. Pair that with the hot dog (which uses a local sausage company for their dogs - can't remember the name) for $6, and that's a sweet lunch.

^^Good news about the BioMed. While the economy is in the pooper itll likely be the only thing we have to nerdily follow around here.

I totally disagree, if you read the entire Urban Form PDF you'll see the way they've done it makes a lot of sense. The BioMed needs to be different than the Business Core, itll have different densities and a different look.

Its not as if the City is going to try to create a "Light Rail Corridor" neighborhood or expect anyone to use that phrasing, this is just for zoning purposes.

Id hope everyone would read the entire Urban Form document before levying any criticism, they did an excellent job.

Well I think the stigma of Van Buren has already begun to shift a bit in the last 5 years or so. Most of the whores have seemed to move out to Maryvale or somewhere because VB isnt what it used to be.

The reason its grouped that way for the Urban Forms purposes it because that VB gateway is going to have the highest buildings in the city, up to 600 feet. Plus Van Buren itself is hopefully going to be where large scale retail and department stores will go, so it needed specific zoning and designations to reflect that.

Like I've said before, hopefully one day when Downtown really takes off and if it gets the 20K new residents the plan calls/hopes for, West Van Buren will be our Michigan Ave. If the envisioned Heritage Trolley running on Grand Ave runs a bit down VB and connects to the Central Station, that section of the street could end up being something really special.

EDIT: In the good news Department:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...n-2012-ON.html

I really hope we get this thing, it would be huge for us. I hope McCain and Napolitano are in Washington putting pressure on whoever to try to make this happen. Especially McCain who has historically done so little for his 'home' state, he's a high powered Senator now. I hope they play up the 2012 Centennial tie in as well, thats clearly an edge Tampa & SLC wouldn't have.

Why? You like shitty chain restaurants?

I wouldn't say that I love the Yardhouse, but I did want one downtown. In fact, a marketing firm for Cityscape conducted an online survey seeking input on my desired retail tenant mix. I specifically mentioned a Yardhouse. I much prefer the Yardhouse over what we are supposedly getting instead: a Tilted Kilt.

And, like it or not, some chain restaurants might do downtown some good. I often walk past a packed Hooters at the AZ Center... and then notice Hannys being completely empty just a couple of blocks away.

Of course, a Yardhouse is less relevant to me now because TMI opened up a short while ago and it just kicks ass. I agreed with some of the earlier comments about the draft beer selection being less than perfect, but I did read that they tapped a keg of the Odell Red Ale yesterday (perfect timing too - my kegerator is empty). So that's promising in that it might occasionally rotate a few of their taps.

I still don't like the map. The entire DT region should be built with LRT in mind.

So we need every little area in the CBD to be micro-managed? I would say that this is THE problem with DT. Create these zones with numerous rules/regulations/zoning laws, that differ from one to another, and expect it all to work together in the end. We'll end up with mid-rise construction on one side of the street and an old bungalow across from it, as you cross the line on the map.

The entire Downtown is designed with Light Rail in mind, its all within half a mile of LRT stops, and the entire plan promotes walkable, shaded streets.

Who says the entire area is going to be 'micro managed'? The Urban Form code makes zoning VASTLY more simple than the current zoning by variance system. You aren't creating a confusing system this way, its much more clarified than the current system. Theres not totally different sets of rules for the different character areas, its all the same general rules with little tweaks and differences in the different character areas.

The plan calls for stepping buildings down to historic single family home districts. With Urban Form we'll have less of situations like the Embassy Condo tower thats out of scale with its neighborhood.

Again, please read the entire Urban Form document before commenting, it really seems like you haven't done that.

I don't know if the negative stigma that Van Buren has will ever go away, but it certaintly still exists today. So much, that 1CPE recently changed its address from 50 E Van Buren to 333 N Central.

Ya, I didn't get that. The Freeport entrance is on Van Buren. How can they just change their address? I can see the hotel being on Central but I don't get the other entrance.

I'm sure, one day, Van Buren will change. But what's that song about getting shot on Broadway? Isn't that about South Phoenix? I can remember making jokes about the hookers on Van Buren when I was in Jr. High - well before I had ever been to Van Buren. While it isn't a "bad" street, the west side (everything in the "Van Buren" corridor) looks like ass. I guess that new building on 7th Ave would be the exception, but VB is one ugly, blighted drive from Central all the way till it ends. There isn't one nice part of it on the west side.