looks like everything there is to know about it is on that sign in your pictures.

Interesting article about Hance Park. The city is looking to finish a master plan for the park:

http://downtowndevil.com/2012/12/17/...t-master-plan/

ugghhh.
 

Councilman has vision of transforming First Street into pedestrian walkway

By Alexandra Scoville, On Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

A pedestrian-only First Street featuring grassy walkways, cultural centers like a Little Italy and an area devoted to sports legends? Such a vision for downtown Phoenix is on one man’s mind.

Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski has been visiting neighborhood groups such as the Central City Village Planning Committee with an idea: giving First Street a new purpose by shutting down traffic from Margaret T. Hance Park to the U.S. Airways Center and redeveloping the area into themed sections.

In his vision, First Street from Jefferson to Adams streets would be a sports-legends area, with an athletic theme throughout. The street from Adams to Van Buren Street would have a “Little Italy” vibe — and so on, up to Hance Park. Nowakowski also envisions pedestrian malls and shade structures along First Street. Such structures would allow the implementation of multiple layers: solar panels on the top of the structures, grass on the street and data centers underground.

“Our city has not — historically at least — had big visions,” said Will Novak, a community activist and president-elect of the Phoenix Historic Neighborhoods Coalition. “Small visions would be good in Tucson and Albuquerque, but we are the sixth-largest city (in the country), and we often forget that.”

Nowakowski’s plan is still in an early stage. His visit to a recent CCVPC meeting was an effort to start a conversation and get responses from community leaders. Responses were mixed among those who learned of his vision.

“When an elected official sticks his head out, that takes guts. I commend him for his leadership,” said John Glenn, chairman of the CCVPC and an architect for CCBG Architects Inc. “It’s an idea that’s still in its infancy, but it has the right direction, to be pedestrian-friendly and utilize space.”

Novak, however, worried about Nowakowski’s knowledge of urbanism.

“He may not know the nitty-gritty stuff on how cities work,” Novak said. “You have to be well read on the topic; things can go awry.”

Glenn echoed these concerns, acknowledging the difficulty that comes when plans like Nowakowski’s try to fit into the downtown zoning code and city policies.

Novak’s two other primary concerns were the installation of pedestrian malls and cultural centers like a Chinatown or Little Italy.

“In order to make pedestrian mall work, you need high density nearby. There’s not nearly enough density on First Street,” he said.

Novak said a Chinatown or Little Italy would be a confusing addition to the city.

“Phoenix has a really interesting history, and to create a fake one is really disrespectful to the real one, in my opinion,” he said.

Bob Graham, vice chairman of the CCVPC and owner of Motley Design Group, primarily worried about the representation of the people in Nowakowski’s vision.

“I’m concerned mainly because the things he included are things people wouldn’t like,” Graham said. ”A lot of people downtown have become sort of ‘urbanistas.’ What we want to do is capitalize on the brain power in our city.”

He also said Nowakowski’s approach echoes past failed attempts to improve downtown with one big project, like the Arizona Center.

Nowakowski could not be reached for an interview.

Contact the reporter at ascoville@asu.edu

Tonight is the City Council Meeting that will likely decide the fate of the giant new circle K at Roosevelt and 7th Street. I'm sure most (if not all) of us - being focused on promoting a brighter and more "urban" future of downtown Phoenix and the Roosevelt Row area - oppose this circle K... so come to the meeting and fill out a comment card in opposition to their liquor license request. Something much better for the neighborhood could/should/will go in at that location.

At 5:00pm in the City Council Chambers at 200 w. jefferson.

http://www.facebook.com/events/384753828262071/

Hey good news!

Circle K drops liquor-license bid for Phoenix store

By Eugene Scott The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:15 PM

Circle K withdrew its request for a liquor license for a proposed Downtown Phoenix store hours before a scheduled City Council vote. The Tempe-based convenience store chain no longer has plans to build a controversial 16-pump gas station in the area.

The Phoenix City Council was preparing to vote on a liquor license for a new store on the southeast corner of Seventh and Roosevelt streets Wednesday evening.

Supporters of Circle K said a new store would provide more gas and grocery options to residents in the Garfield Historic District while providing a more attractive, user-friendly store than the one existing on the northeast corner of the intersection.

However, critics said a larger Circle K would increase the problems at the three existing downtown Phoenix Circle Ks, including criminal activity, loitering and traffic concerns.

“They decided it would be best overall to continue to work with the community on the big issues that they had,” said Councilman Michael Johnson, who represents the area. “There was big distrust of Circle K, because of some of the stores they have in the area.”

Mario E Diaz, a spokesman for Circle K, said the company already has positive relationships with many leaders in downtown Phoenix. More than 300 Garfield residents supported of the new store, he said.

“Circle K has made a business decision to continue their operations on the northeast corner of Seventh Street and Roosevelt,” he said.

THANK GOD! A gas station there would have been horrendous for the area. We don't need any more gas stations in Phoenix (and downtown for sure).

Hopefully that is true. Somehow I don't trust Circle K.

EDIT: So it does appear that it has been confirmed that Circle K has pulled their application. Now, don't they still own that lot? What will be its future? Hopefully they don't sit on the land forever and let it rot. I somehow doubt that they'll suddenly change direction and propose something awesome.

My understanding is that they don't own the lot yet. They were wanting to get the liquor license for the lot first, before finalizing the sale.

Hopefully whoever does own the lot will either sell it to someone who's more urbanly inclined, or see the light and the demand for a real grocery downtown and perhaps works towards converting those existing warehouses to something like that.

"VP Roosevelt LLC" is the owner.

The Phoenix Popsicle!

I'm actually am kind of a fan of this project. It is a bit ugly, but I think it would add something different to downtown. Not sure how serious of a proposal it is, but it is interesting to get a world renown architect thinking out of the box for a project in Phoenix.

http://www.bustler.net/index.php/art...vZpp0.facebook

http://www.bustler.net/images/sized/...02-530x398.jpg

Even though the whole Chinatown, Little Italy, fake identity thing sounds pretty lame, it is not a horrible idea. I am not sure 1st is the ideal location. But pedestrian streets can add an awesome ambiance to a downtown, and we really need to start thinking about our core area beyond the car. I would get rid of the grass idea too, since we are a desert city and we should act like one. But having a long shaded pedestrian thread throughout the core of Phoenix is a pretty awesome idea.

Holy crap how cool is that! I like it! How real is this and what's with the location on the sidewalk of the convention center? Are they just throwing this location out there as an example of how this would look somewhere downtown or are they pretty set on that location/already in talks?

Seems like quite a few people behind it already according to the website though who the heck is Novawest? Never heard of them and not much comes up online.

Also, it's officially called The Pin. 420' tall.

http://big.dk/#projects-pho

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/2.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/1.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/3.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/4.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/5.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/6.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/7.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/8.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/9.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/10.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/11.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/12.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/13.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/14.jpg

Haha, it does look like the Pin from Google maps. Lets paint it red!

They beat us to it! I think it was Apple that had a similar looking pin...watch out, they might get sued! :P

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/15.jpg

Novawest is "a boutique real estate enterprise bringing thoughtful design, transformative development and innovative solutions to communities across the American West."

http://www.novawestventures.com/

Their development partners are: RED, SkB Architects, Hunt Construction Group, Weitz, Arizona Science Center, etc. etc. They have a complete list on their website...

"The Pin" is an interesting idea. Might take a while for the design to grow on me though. I do like the illumination of the structure at night. Would look great with a complete glass enclosure at the top.

Bjarke Ingles is all about icons. He can be tacky sometimes (pun intended). But he really is an awesome architect. I really love some of the buildings he has designed, and his conceptual stuff is also really interesting. Adding his name to our skyline would definitely be a good thing.

Some more info on the project here: http://www.novawestventures.com/phoenix-tower/

This Novawest company seems awfully small, with only two properties in their portfolio according to their website. This project seems a bit out of their league but who knows.

They also have another project downtown which they say is on hold, a very slender building along side the parking garage on Taylor St by the Arizona Center...

http://www.novawestventures.com/proj...taylor-street/

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/slender1.jpg

http://www.nitnelav.com/ThePin/slender2.jpg

OH! I remember that project, it was from 2007 before the recession hit. This company does have smaller scaled projects. This seems to be their first venture into a huge endeavor. They do have the partnerships to make it happen though. I wonder where the financing would come from...since they plan to build it on the Convention Center grounds, no doubt they will be soliciting the City for funds (and land).

Another "neighborhood restaurant hub" planned around 7th Street and Camelback. It is a Sam Fox concept:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/re...b-planned.html

Wow. love both of those projects! Not that this is even close to reality, but my first thought was this could be hance parks big attraction... No? They keep saying hance should become a world-class park... And a project like this seems very world classy :)