I've always said it would be in the interest of Phoenix to narrow it's surface streets. Why make it easy for motorists to cut through the city to the suburbs? That's what the freeways are used for.

^ I agree. Phoenix's surface streets were built big in the absence of freeways long ago, as they were the only way to get around before. But now we have choices...a multitude of freeways and even light rail.

The 12 foot wide traffic lanes are too big and encourage drivers to speed. They are also the size of freeways back East. Each lane could be narrowed by one foot and that five to seven feet used to create bike lanes or pedestrian buffer zones. On roadways with three traffic lanes in a direction, one could be taken and used for on street parking or whatever between intersections. As long as we maintain the extra third lane at the intersections, any increase in congestion should be minimal.

12th Street got a road diet not long after I moved here in 1993. It used to be two lanes in each direction and now has one, with a center turn lane and bike lanes. That seems to have worked well.

--don

That's awesome.

Another bank? Maybe they should renovate one of the many that closed down during the last boom and bust.

The corner I was and still am talking about is 7th ST and Indian School. Chase bank is almost done at 7th St and Camelback.

That is the 4045 N. 7th building that was mentioned earlier as being owned by CVS.

Also, I'm surprised no one on here has mentioned the article from a while back about a Target coming to downtown. (http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/p...ore-could.html)

^^^Mentioned and talked about quite a bit weeks ago.

It was discussed in the cityscape thread here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...17961&page=347

Wyndham Phoenix Hotel is now a Marriott
Phoenix tax break helps hotel owner pay for transition
4 commentsby Emily Gersema - Dec. 28, 2011 05:55 PM
The Arizona Republic
.

A Phoenix hotel owner who years ago fought a city-backed effort to open a Marriott hotel in downtown has turned the Wyndham Phoenix Hotel into a Marriott Renaissance with help from the city.

Steve Cohn, majority owner of the Wyndham, launched an effort nearly five years ago to make the 520-room Wyndham at 50 E. Adams St., once a Crowne Plaza Hotel, a Renaissance hotel to draw bigger convention groups and increase profits.

Cohn sought assistance from the city in 2009 to ease his debt burden for the transition, which he said required an estimated $40 million in renovations to fulfill the standards set by Marriott for its Renaissance hotels.

Seeking city aid was an unusual step by Cohn, who in 2000 had sued to stop a city-backed effort to build a Marriott and Embassy Suites downtown, arguing it would have made the city a competitor of private businesses such as his then-Crowne Plaza Hotel. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge that year ruled that a city-financed hotel was unconstitutional.

In an interview this week with The Arizona Republic, Cohn bucked criticism that he had requested a city subsidy for the Renaissance transition, citing his prior legal battle with the city.

"I don't like subsidies," Cohn said. "I filed a lawsuit to stop them (the city) from doing that for a Marriott."

Cohn now benefits substantially from a tax break that the City Council approved in October for his limited-liability company, Phoenix Hotel Ventures, the majority owner of the Renaissance hotel.

The Phoenix deal known as a government property lease excise tax, or GPLET, eased property taxes for 20 years for the hotel by taking ownership of the property.

City officials said the break will ease the hotel's tax burden by an estimated $400,000 per year as it pays off loans that funded the renovations. That means Cohn's company will save an estimated $8 million in property taxes over 20 years.

School districts, community colleges and other public institutions rely on property taxes for some of their financial support. With voter approval, property-tax-funded overrides and bonds can finance needs such as repairs, new computers or new construction.

Although these institutions are not directly affected by the disappearance of a business from the tax rolls, other residents and businesses within their institutional boundaries are. They end up filling the void left by the GPLET by paying additional tax, said Chuck Essigs, interim head of the Arizona School Boards Association.

School advocates say tax increases caused by the GPLET can aggravate districts' efforts to court voter support for overrides and bonds.

"The higher the people's property taxes are, the harder it is to pass a bond and override," Essigs said.

Cohn said he is a supporter of Phoenix Union High School District. Online records show the Wyndham has given a few thousand dollars a year in scholarships to students in the district.

Cohn and his company are one of several beneficiaries of the GPLET around the state, but particularly in Phoenix, which state records show has the most GPLET properties of any Arizona city.

Phoenix has an estimated 700 or more properties that were pulled off the property-tax rolls since the mid-1990s with the goal of promoting economic development. Several businesses that have benefited are concentrated downtown, including the Valley Metro and Maricopa Association of Governments building at 302 N. First St., CityScape at 50 W. Jefferson St., and The Arizona Republic/12 News building at 200 E. Van Buren St.

Phoenix officials said there are great economic benefits to utilizing the GPLET to aid projects such as the Renaissance -- primarily, national groups that hold annual conventions.

"Hotels are extremely large tax generators. ... Their visitors spend it on the hotels, restaurants and bars, and it's a pure, make-the-pie-bigger enterprise," Deputy City Manager David Krietor said.

The city has strongly supported development of hotels downtown to sustain the recently expanded Phoenix Convention Center and build sales-tax revenues. That expansion cost around $600 million.

An analysis commissioned by Cohn in 2009 predicted that in the first year as a Renaissance, the hotel would generate $96 million in taxes, mostly through sales taxes, with $57 million going to the state, nearly $6 million to the county and $33 million to Phoenix.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...#ixzz1hwHuHRwU

What a hypocrite. Now that he got his funding, he doesn't give a fuck. Meanwhile, if he hadn't filed suit way back, we could had the Marriott at Collier Center. Selfish prick.

Selfish or smart?

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Exactly.

It was completely reasonable at the time that a pissant little convention center like the Phoenix Civic Plaza wasn't big enough to support another hotel and the owner of an existing hotel would have been worried about competition from a larger, probably better city-owned hotel.

The Marriott proposed for Collier Center was only 750 rooms. I'm glad we got the 1,000 room Sheraton instead later. It's not a zero-sum game--Collier Center ostensibly wants to build more hotels and Gordon was at one point prepared to build another city-owned convention hotel.

Just One of Life's Little Ironies
 

I certainly have come to appreciate the reporting of the Arizona Republic.
But in the bigger scheme of things this should be a very worthwhile enhancement for Downtown Phoenix.

Combine our esteemed Mayor with an $850 million bond issue, good times and Phoenix was able to re-image it downtown.
The bigger challenge remains not within the downtown but within the Metro Area.
Any positive contribution to downtown is .... well positive.

It's the Weekend
 

It's been a very Odd Year
An Oddity that only comes once a year
It's time to Even things out and cheer
A very Urban Holiday is here

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=YnsexjeaVMo" target="_blank">Video Link

Worthy of Being a New Year's Resolution.
 

I found a very good observation from Tami Door that is just as relevant for Phoenix in the Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_19636040
This area has more of an Urban Triangle between Scottsdale, Tempe and Downtown Phoenix. It is why the Mayor's push for university buildings as well as a Biotech hub were wise ones and gratefully
the bond authorization was available to accomplish these things.

The addition of light rail connects two of the triangle's points. This should encourage this corridor and connection to grow, to feed off each other.
Obviously Scottsdale doesn't need (or want) any cooperative efforts. Oh well.

In addition the new Phoenix Convention Center has brought energy and opportunities to downtown. It is why the 2015 Super Bowl will use downtown Phoenix for a hub of activities.

It is a good time to build new apartments. I'm hopeful and optimistic for some nice projects in and around downtown and along the light rail corridor.
The City should offer incentives that would encourage density and sustainability.

It's a worthy goal for the New Year.

Mostly agree, but Scottsdale does need to be part of cooperative efforts, even if its misguided leaders don't agree. No city or town can stand alone.

Change is Good
 

Even if it starts with the flip of a calendar page.

Here's to more Downtown Cranes in the New Year.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMYRch0Vf48" target="_blank">Video Link

Maybe a little update...

http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s...1/DSCN0042.jpg
So the cutural center library is starting to come together...

http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s...1/DSCN0029.jpg

http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s...1/DSCN0038.jpg
What's with the rebar, whatever you call it, going above the hotel? Another floor????

http://i508.photobucket.com/albums/s...1/DSCN0031.jpg
And for those who haven't been to Strand yet.