:yeahthat:

With Circles, the building had not been used in years and fell into major disrepair making adaptive reuse a tough sell. Macayo's was old, but was 1 ugly building IMO.

With the building that houses Hula's, it has a great character, good vibe and draws people to the area (whether or not it's the restaurant that draws the crowd is not what I am debating). There are times when Phoenix should save a little history and I think this is an instance that should be considered as part of an adaptive reuse plan vs. full demolition.

Actually...funny story. Last week I checked into Hula's on FB and posted a pic of the patio area. My dad immediately took a liking to the building (equating it to an old gas station garage that was redeveloped into a restaurant). I'm not sure what was there before, but when someone notices the building like that, it says something. :yes:

Just because it was built in 1965 doesn't mean that it needs to be preserved. I think historic preservation efforts in this city need to be within reason. The Central Avenue highrise where I work was built in the 1960s. It is hardly historic. I hope the urban enthusiasts 50 years from now don't rally to save the neighborhood Filiberto's or Walgreens just because it's old. There are many vacancies along Central. Even Burger King recently closed up shop on Central and Virginia. These businesses can easily relocate. Everything doesn't need to be frozen in time.

The pink drive-through liquor store at 4321 N 7th Ave might be torn down for a pocket park.

And in a new level of absurdity, a fight begins to save it. A dilapidated, non-historic, single-use, auto-centric piece of crap that by nature encourages drunken driving should not be saved, especially when a green space is proposed.

https://www.change.org/p/mayor-stant...-melrose-curve

This sounds like something out of the Onion, but knowing the person involved, it's probably serious. I haven't seen any of the historic preservation groups I follow take this up, and I hope they have the good sense not to fight this battle. Just in case, I'm going to send emails to Mayor Stanton and Councilwoman Pastor urging them not to intervene.

The worse part about the fight to save that building is that delegitimizes actual historic preservation efforts in Arizona.

If you want that building saved, you may as well coat the entire state in shellac and put it under glass. I'm sure some people would like that, unfortunately.

New Restaurant in former Duck & Decanter space
 

Good to see this space being filled. Coleman & Finch sounds like a law firm, though. Then again, there's a pub in Atlanta called Holeman & Finch.

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

Where? Aside from a few vacancies in Midtown between Indian School and Virginia, there is a severe shortage of available retail spaces on Central Ave. Midtown hasn't been able to sustain many restaurants because it's still office centric and filled with empty land-banked lots. None of those available spaces are comparatively small scale either, and come at a significantly higher cost.

The fight is to save the building, not the business. The greater issue here is that when the developer sold their proposal to the surrounding neighborhoods and the village planning committee itself, they promised to save the building for adaptive reuse. This was one of many stipulations included in the rezoning agreement.

In that case, maybe it could rehabbed as a coffee house surrounded by a pocket park -- sort of like Birdhaus (fka Rollover and Shine) in Willo. Although I find the building rather ugly, the greater sin is the asphalt that surrounds it. That degrades the pedestrian experience immeasurably. Reading the comments on the petition, though, it appears a sizable number of people jumping on this bandwagon want to keep the Melrose Curve exactly as it is.

I concur wholeheartedly. The building is horrendous. If that's what this group is trying to save the integrity of "the curve," it's a sad state of affairs. Trying to preserve a building like this is a slap in the face to any real preservation efforts taking place elsewhere. A pocket park would be so much more aesthetically pleasing and a welcome addition soften a near freeway of cars passing by.

...and now it has been made official that Quicken Loans is moving into the same building:

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...-100-plus.html

Here's more on a project already discussed.

Infill apartments, townhouses, creative offices coming to light rail stop in Phoenix

Hunt Cos., Tilton Development Co., Civitas Capital Group and Ryan Cos. are developers and owners of the 1.56-acre site. They announced today they’ve received financing for the project via a construction loan from Johnson Bank. Terms of the loan were not disclosed. Construction will begin in earnest later this month with the development scheduled to open in 2018.

There are scores of apartments and some condos already built or being built or planned along Central Avenue in downtown and midtown Phoenix. “This transit-oriented development fits into Hunt’s nationwide portfolio of high quality, multifamily projects meeting the strong demand for well-located apartments in vibrant, central urban districts,” said James Dobbie, executive vice president of Hunt Investment Management. That is an arm of Hunt Co.

The Phoenix development includes 227 apartments, five two-story townhouses and two creative office suites.

More multifamily developers are trying to incorporate townhouses into their apartment developments. The urban project will have a 24-hour fitness center “amenity desk” with a pool, outdoor cooking areas and bocce ball courts. Studio Meng Strazzara of Seattle is the architect. “Our office is committed to being an integral part of the downtown Phoenix story of continued smart growth and diversified choices of urban living,” said Daniel Tilton, manager of Tilton Development Co.

Tilton also developed the Proxy 333 apartments in downtown Phoenix.

The new development is south of the Phoenix Art Museum and McDowell Road and next to a CVS store and north of the Burton Barr Central Library. Ryan Cos. has already completed demolition and utility infrastructure work is underway.
“Ryan is eager to expand our multifamily experience into Arizona,” said Tyler Wilson, director of real estate development at Ryan. “Our team is thrilled to collaborate with such experienced partners to bring this transit-oriented, urban infill, mixed-use development to life.”

Mike Sunnucks writes about stocks and financial markets, real estate, government and sports business.

Behind the paywall. Can you give a quick summary?

All I can see is

"Developers have received financing from Johnson Bank."

followed by a subscribe button.

There is too much to keep track of.

It's the Hunt/Tilton apartment project on Central/Willetta and it's breaking ground at the end of this month.

I cut and pasted copy above...

Thanks. I was sorry to see the old bank building there go, but I'm glad there's momentum on new housing.

I'm more excited about Quicken moving into the neighborhood than another box that is exactly like the rest...

1,100 jobs is a huge plus for downtown phoenix and another giant step forward in downtown's growth.

Also we'll have to see if the Fry's building lands a company as well. Huge momentum happening GPLETs or no GPLETs.

Practically the whole intersection at 5th St and Roosevelt is a mess of cones and construction equipment. The Blocks at Roosevelt has dirt moving behind the Flowers building. The Flowers building itself has its front facade covered with scaffolding. Across Roosevelt, of course, is the massive new apartment complex and whatever the empty lot on the NE corner will become. Beyond Block 23 breaking ground, I'm most excited to see this area in its competed form.