| combusean |
Oct 5, 2012 5:55 AM |
VERY nice to see the Mayor's office working on a proactive solution...
Historic downtown Phoenix hotels may be razed
City, Suns discuss buildings' future
by Dustin Gardiner - Oct. 4, 2012 08:45 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Quote:
A block away from US Airways Center arena in downtown Phoenix, the vintage brick facade of the Hotel St. James contrasts with the gleaming lights of soaring high-rises and billboards.
Plywood covers the hotel's windows, but its early 20th century architecture and neon signage hint at a more significant past, before it became known as a flophouse and, now, another vacant urban relic slated for demolition.
Although the St. James and its older sister, the Madison Hotel next door, aren't ornate, they're a rarity in Phoenix -- a city critics say has few historic buildings to show for its storied past. The hotels are among a handful in the Valley that date to around the time of statehood.
But that history could soon turn to rubble if plans to replace the buildings with a parking lot move forward.
Suns Legacy Partners, owner of the NBA team and the property, has pulled a permit to raze the structures. The Suns want to construct a valet parking lot and hope to begin generating income from the land it bought before the recession for about $7 million, city officials said.
Historic-preservation advocates are fighting the demolition, though no legal barriers to the developer remain. They say losing the hotels would once again show Phoenix's preference for pavement over posterity.
"It would be a historic loss, but economically understandable if it was done in the context of redevelopment" said Brendan Mahoney, a senior policy adviser to Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. "But simply scraping it is a hard pill to swallow."
The Mayor's Office is attempting to broker a solution that's attractive to the Suns' investors and preserves at least a portion of the hotels. His office has proposed a temporary fix: Lend the team nearby city parking space for games, so the buildings can stand until they find a permanent use.
As of Thursday evening, the Suns and city officials had not announced an agreement. A team representative declined to discuss details.
"The Suns continue to engage in discussions with the mayor's office in hopes of coming to a mutually agreed upon solution, and out of respect for those discussions (we) feel that any further comment would be inappropriate at this time," spokesman Casey Taggatz wrote in an e-mail.
The dispute speaks to the difficulties of historic preservation and redevelopment in downtown Phoenix, which is experiencing a cultural and economic renaissance. Companies that invested millions of dollars to snatch up land and vacant structures often aren't inclined to pursue the type of smaller-scale projects that utilize old buildings.
In the case of the hotels St. James and Madison, located at Madison and First streets, the Mayor's Office and preservation activists envision some form of development that incorporates the structures. They say the downtown area already has more than enough parking lots.
Mahoney said it's unlikely the Suns could make a profit by operating the hotels, which are mostly single-occupancy rooms that lack private bathrooms and other amenities modern guests expect. Renovating the buildings would cost an additional $8 million or more, he said.
But Mahoney said by that preventing demolition, the Suns could save some elements of the buildings and incorporate them into future projects. For example, he said the striking lobby and facade of the St. James could potentially become part of some future building, though some advocates decry the idea.
The National Register of Historic Places has listed the St. James since 1985, though the Madison is not listed. Attempts by the city to give the properties a historic-zoning overlay have failed; the previous property owner opposed such a designation in 2000.
Mahoney said the hotels were never luxurious and didn't host notable guests, but are "treasures" nonetheless because of their age and the rarity of historic buildings in Phoenix. Both hotels initially catered to tourists and working-class travelers coming into the Valley on the railroads.
The Madison opened in 1909 and is one of four territorial-period hotels still standing in Phoenix's central business district, according to the Phoenix Historic Preservation Office. Its brick facade has since been stuccoed over and painted white.
In 1929, the St. James followed. Designed by prominent Phoenix architect Lloyd LeRaine Pike, the hotel is by far the more visually appealing of the pair, with its original Spanish Colonial Revival influence facade, classic awnings and neon lighting.
The hotels eventually fell into disrepair, and in more recent decades gained a reputations as cheap boarding houses for transients and drug addicts. A Phoenix New Times piece from 1996 described the St. James' vibe, noting marijuana plants and a plastic syringe could be seen in the alley next to the hotel.
But preservation advocates are optimistic somebody could restore the St. James and Madison to meaningful use. Jim McPherson, president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation, said the hotels would join the ranks of businesses thriving under historic roofs in the surrounding warehouse district.
"Let's be creative about these buildings," McPherson said. "Why does history have to be the victim in this? Preservation is an incredible economic-development tool."
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