There goes the neighborhood. If a dingy liquor place gets saved while the historic house gets demolished, Phoenix really needs to some introspection on "historical" preservation. At least part of the home will be salvageable and it won't be all carted off to the dump.

I agree with you on this. I am a historic building lover and hate that incredible old house is being torn down, yet the ugly Melrose liquor store is being saved. I just don't get it, but I understand it. It's people taking a stance in the light of all the past destruction of historic properties. Hopefully the home's bricks and other architectural features can be salvaged and reused. And, if P.B. Bell does incorporate the liquor store into a little pocket park and bring it back to some of it's past glory, I guess that's a win for both sides.

I don't think it's a sure thing that the liquor store will be saved. I believe the commission voted to initiate an historic preservation process, but even if that proceeds, there are limits to what the city can do when private property is concerned. I do agree that a rehabbed building surrounded by some greenery would be nice, but I'm appalled at the number of petition signers who seem to think that the store is wonderful exactly as it stands today.

I could do without both buildings, honestly.

I think I was trying to tell people few months ago they are tearing the car wash down to build Starbucks, I was told there is no way and I was wrong. The car wash was torn down today and I pulled the permit.

http://i.imgur.com/InjlfbV.jpg

ASU seeks community input for downtown Phoenix development
 

Exit2lef - they could use your input!

This will fill a huge gap/eyesore Downtown once it's developed. I hope ASU nails it.

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

What are you talking about? This has been known for months lol

I knew too....and it was actually demo'd yesterday lol

Yeah I've known it for months but everyone in my circle told me there's no way and it will be a circle k. Never thought to pull up a building permit.

That part of 7th Avenue always felt more befitting of a highway running near the outskirts of some dusty desert outpost rather than the border of such a large city's downtown.

Development of that corner and the recent installation of the HAWK light will do well do reinvent the area.

1.5 million square feet with 250,000 to be delivered in 2.5 years.

That's pretty good! The only thing I'm concerned about is if its all going to be like the Bioscience Institute in Tempe that isn't really the best for downtown. They are nice buildings but also dead zones.

The design for the Nova District looks good so hopefully that bodes well.

I had a conflict with another event yesterday. If anyone attended, how did the meeting go? I think there's room for some good community feedback here, especially about the placement of garages and loading docks in a way that does not harm the area's walk appeal. On the other hand, I think many downtown advocates have unreasonable expectations of academic institutions in terms of being wide open to the public and completely undifferentiated from the surrounding city. I hope the results will land somewhere in the middle.

I would recommend ASU place some retail on the corners of the periphery (Filmore/ Garfield/ 7th) and at least one street or "mall" dedicated as a connection between Roosevelt and the Bioscience Campus through the interior of the site. Also wasn't a "learning" hospital part of that land? Has it been scrapped?

I think some sort of mall to connect the campus to the adjacent neighborhoods is a great idea. I would not be opposed to having Catellus oversee and develop these future projects.

I hate how in the article they mention that the first building has to be completed by end of 2019, I don't want anything to be rushed. Are all those parcels needed anyways? I would love to see one of those 4 blocks developed for something else and just increase the height/density.

I'm guessing existing Holiday Inn will be demo'ed on some point. Perhaps some sort of land swap deal? Just throwing out ideas here.

Planned Phoenix restaurant tied to sex offender files for 'termination'
 

Bummer! All social media accounts are gone too.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/enter...ion/417098001/

The amount of land taken by the city for the PBC was a huge mistake that promoted lowrise, sprawled development and prematurely ended a residential boom on 4th st. There is no need for it to extend this far north.

These lots were planned to become a pharmacy school, and cancer research/treatment. The latter, for example could have easily integrated with the Cancer Center. But, with that partnership ended, it seems to be a blank sllate. I believe UA is still planning a teaching hospital, BTW. They need to redefine what the mission of the campus is and adapt it to its urban setting. There is no reason health and wellness, as well as sustainabilty, cannot be within the umbrella of the PBC.

1. The triangle lot should become a demonstration urban garden within a pocket park, with health/wellness uses of the two homes.
2. The NW lot should be developed with housing that incorporates new green practices and innovative amenities geared toward a healthy lifestyle. At the four corners, there could be a locally-owned Pharmacy, something like Orange Theory, Hi-Health, and health-conscious cafe. 4th Street and McKinley should have live/work or office space for a dentist, pediatrician, chiropractor, etc.
3. In dream world, the next lot south would have been used to relocate either the Parsons Center or the senior housing from the Westward Ho. But, I would love to see ASU partner up and open a Vet school -- again, in dream world this would go on the Mercado site with the Phx HQ of Petsmart, flagship Petsmart, adoption center, and dog park. The rest should be a mix of office, schools, research, and things like mixed income housing, with an attraction such as The Museum of Desert Sustainability within a greater center dedicated to that very topic. And, the Holiday Inn needs to be replaced with a hotel and conference center to attract continuing education, etc.

The most important things are a) not allowing any lot to be used for a parking garage; all lots should have a min of 2 underground floors with the remainder integrated into a podium, b) respecting how downtown has changed; that means not bulldozing those historic homes, and retail/community oriented spaces on at least 4th Street, 7th Street, McKinley, and Fillmore. c) bringing in more diverse use of the land and not creating an office park on prime real estate.

4 design, architect teams to build out technology, office space at revamped Renaissan
 

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...echnology.html


Another story in our series on the renaissance of Renaissance Square in downtown Phoenix.

Can you see you or your company in downtown Phoenix offices?

Mark Jacobs wants to make that easier to envision and even move into.

Jacobs is managing director of Oaktree Capital Management LP.

Oaktree and Cypress Office Properties own Renaissance Square — two office towers in downtown Phoenix.

They are in the midst of a $50 million modernization of the 28- and 26-story office towers.

Part of that effort is to show prospective tenants visions of new and revamped offices at the downtown Phoenix development at Washington Street and First Avenue.

Jacobs is bringing in four architecture and design firms to build out four different speculative suites showing tech companies, law firms, financial firms and nonprofits what their space might look like.

Tenants even have the chance to look and even move into the speculative suites.

“Markets with similar trends to Phoenix, such as Houston and Los Angeles, have successfully experimented with this concept. Renaissance Square and the teams involved created the perfect project scenario to bring collaboration like this to Phoenix,” said Jacobs, who came up with the idea for the downtown towers. “We’re not just changing the outdated image of Renaissance Square – we’re showing the community and tenants that existing spaces can offer ‘blank canvas’ opportunities to create new and trend setting environments for today’s workplace, and we’re also allowing leading, local architects free reign to show us what future office interactivity and functionality will be in the next five to 10 years.”

The four designs include:

• McCarthy Nordburg designing financial space

• RSP Architects designing nonprofit offices

• SmithGroupHR putting its designs on law firm space

• Evolution Design building out some technology offices.

“All teams are designing spaces that will allow flexibility so that any future tenant in any industry can easily operate,” said Alissa Franconi, senior associate at RSP Architects Ltd. “Each space incorporates features that have never been seen before, not just from a design stand point, but in how they function as the workplace evolves.”

The four speculative suites will be on the fourth floor at Renaissance One at the downtown development. They will be unveiled in October.

Cypress and Oaktree are already renovating lobby and common areas at Renaissance and have plans to turn the office complexes tennis courts into conference and amenity areas for tenants.

Jokake Construction is the general contractor for the ‘Project Future’ suites. Lee & Associates handles leasing at the office towers.

Cypress and Oaktree bought Renaissance Square from Hines Interests last year for $152 million.

Nice tool for my skyscraper friends
 

Hey guys,

I created a google chrome extension that I hope is helpful to us when we need to get info from the PBJ but don't have a subscription.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d.../related?hl=en

Add the extension, visit a PBJ premium page and click on the extension icon in the browser's extension toolbar. Poof. Requirement to subscribe is gone and you can read the article.

Only cost me $5 to submit this to the google!:notacrook:

It's awesome, thank you!

Poor man's B&J
 

So, the extension should persist with your browsing so that once you've clicked it on a premium article you don't have to do it again!