The Facebook invite referenced redevelopment into a 244 ft building with ground floor retail.

only 17 floors :(

thats only like 180 feet what happened to 244?

Ah, I see I’m late to the game and don’t have to upload the photos I took!

Alas, I’m not sure we’ll get a final height on this building until it’s determined to be offices or multi-family. I was hoping for a cross of uses like the Cityscape tower 2 or Freeport building, but the architect seemed certain it would one OR the other rather than both.

Looks to be 18 + parapet? That can make 244'. Block 23 is 232' with 17 floors and Aspire will be 240' with 19 floors.

I didn't think we could get a supertall. But I was hoping for at least something in the 4 to 500' range. Bummer...

I hope this turns out to be office. We have been saying there's a nonexistent pipeline of new office construction in phoenix. A mix of both would be nice, but office developments typically shoot up out of the ground faster and find their way through planning at a quicker pace. For that reason I'd love to see high quality office get built here and soon before the market starts to dip. Plus high rise multifamily rents are just now starting to gain traction or at least providing data to other developers if it justifies the crazy high construction costs. Offices usually have 12+ floor to floor plates so this can easily rise up to the 244' mark.

Was walking past the Knipe House and saw a hearing sign posted from the Historic Preservation Office for the lots South and East of the Knipe House for a ‘new 5-story mixed-use office building.’ Hearing is set for July 25th.

This should be the first of 4 structures for the RO2 RFP aka Knipe Village (2 five-story, 1 19-story, and not sure of what the other structure is - parking?)

"Preliminary plans include a four-structure project with 32 residential units, 1,200 parking spaces, 305,000 square feet of commercial office space, and 77,000 square feet of retail space. Of the four structures, one will include 19 stories and two will include five stories." - https://www.neighborhoods.com/blog/m...moving-forward

Here is are some renderings I found online (not sure exactly how accurate they are) for Knipe Village - start at Page 10:
https://a.storyblok.com/f/43638/x/22...st-ro2-opt.pdf

Also, this is my first post, so apologies if I'm not doing something correctly.

/\ 2nd to last page... the existing office buildings with the new bubble/circle skin looks hideous. I really hope that's not in the plans... just keep the existing in that case.

The rendering shows the billboards will be incorporated into the building face. I didn't think they would be able to get rid of them easily.

Mysterious Project on Fifth Street
 

I've been noticing this construction over the past few weeks, but no one I've asked knows that the structure is going to be. Apparently, the New Times couldn't find out either:

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts...oenix-11328598

To me, it almost looks like it could be another Churchill -- a sort of open-air gathering spot with food, drink, and maybe live music.

I'm not normally one to side with the anti-development voices who see gentrification as ubiquitous and harmful, but I will agree that Desert Viking has been proceeding at a glacial pace and with minimal transparency as it has transformed Fifth Street.

A possible market according to the Blocks homepage...
http://www.theblocksroosevelt.com/wp...MAIN0004-1.jpg
http://www.theblocksroosevelt.com/project/

Looks like they are making good progress. The street is full of boarded up homes covered in graffiti. Would love to see redevelopment continue to happen here to extend the first Friday events further down Roosevelt to more nightlife/restaurant destinations.

Jobots was the anchor of 5th street. Too bad the landlord got too greedy causing them to move. 5th street died once they left.

Do love the lost leaf though.

I think the irony is that 5th St was once the center for the First Friday festivities and completely organically grown. All the homes were occupied with businesses (even if some of them were a bit gritty.) Now Desert Viking is trying to bring that focus back although they are in part responsible for killing it in the first place. This isn’t some anti-Desert Viking triad, I hope they succeed in bringing back life to 5th St (I’m thinking something ala Rainy Street in Austin), but with the untimely closure of Rise Coffee and the bloodletting of businesses from the street, it’s become a place for homeless to hole up and an itch some pyromaniac might eventually scratch.

Busy bees
 

Walked by there at 5 am, and the workers were out there working away.

Sorry guys if there is already a thread on this, but what is being constructed on 4th street and McKinley/Garfield? Left the D-Backs game today and noticed a crane and construction going on here. (4th Street & McKinley / Garfield)

Did they put up a crane for Link Phase 2? That would be the only logical answer with the properties in that area.

Phoenix Bio Medical campus, the Wexford building

Loma Linda Home Depot
 

Interesting article about a neighborhood activist keeping a Home Depot store out of the Loma Linda neighborhood, which is around 20th Street and Indian School. I'm no fan of big box stores, but the activist profiled sounds almost sociopathic in this quote:

“The guy who owns that complex really wanted the sale,” she said, then shook her head. “He was really happy about the money he was going to make, and when I shut down the Home Depot sale, I know I really wrecked his day.”

My biggest question is why would Home Depot be looking at this site in the first place since the existing store at 36th Street and Thomas is not much more than a mile away -- unless of course they were planning to abandon the Thomas store once the new one opened.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts...linda-11331098