This is Good, This is Pregress
 

:cheers:

In the "day after" analysis of securing Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, there's an interesting perspective from the Phoenix Business Journal. http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/m...-downtown.html
It has taken Phoenix a little longer to develop its core than some other places, but this city's CBD will yet rise in stature, becoming vibrant and a focus of the Metro area. Others here,
can better list the logistical assets of downtown, which will become more important and more prominent as we move into the future.

I think a special tribute is due to all those who pushed for and made happen, all the achievements of the last decade.

:tup::tup::tup:

In addition, to the smilies I, would like to, add unnecessary commas to the irritation, list, thank, you!

" In addition, to the smilies I, would like to, add unnecessary commas to the irritation, list, thank, you! "-KEVINphx

Too funny!!!! Though I am also an English teacher, I don't really read for correct mechanics on this site. Your comment style was funny, though!!!!!! :) :) :)

looking for proper grammar and spelling on an internet forum is a good way to set yourself up for frustration.

and insanity!!!! Forums are for ideas and not grammatical learning. LOL!!!!

I understand, I just found it to be a little hard to ignore! I don't look for the mechanics in particular but his use of the comma was just a little overboard.

I understand that but I was just poking fun - I could really care less. It was just hard to resist after someone else pointed out the emoticons lol

While we are correcting grammar and spelling on a message board, I'll add that your post should read, "I could really not care less."

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but Mountainside Fitness is opening up a location downtown at Chase Field.


Mountainside Fitness to open new gym in Chase Field
Phoenix Business Journal by Mike Sunnucks
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 1:49pm MST

Chase Field

Mountainside Fitness Centers is opening a new location inside Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. The 12,000-square-foot center in the Arizona Diamondbacks home ballpark is likely the first fitness center to be located inside a major U.S. sports stadium, according to the team and executives with Tempe-based Mountainside.
The fitness center will be located in the former Peter Piper Pizza Playhouse area in the outfield section of Chase Field. That area previously housed a video game arcade. Mountainside is taking over that space with plans to have the new center open by March 1, said company president Tom Hatten.
Hatten said the idea was hatched after Diamondbacks executive vice president Cullen Maxey approached him about building an in-house health and fitness center for D-backs employees. The team’s offices are located within Chase Field.
Hatten said that original idea morphed into his company locating a fitness center for its members inside the stadium.
The Chase Field location will include exercise bikes and various fitness equipment. Mountainside’s suburban locations are usually about three times larger, Hatten said.
“Adding a state-of-the-art fitness center within the walls of Chase Field is a positive for our employees, fans and people downtown,” said Maxey. “The convenience to downtown and light rail make it an ideal spot for Mountainside Fitness, and when you consider how unique this is for Major League Baseball in general, it is really exciting.”
The downtown Phoenix ballpark location is open to Mountainside members, but they will have to pay an extra $4 monthly fee to use it. The center will have a private entrance on the north side of the ballpark and private parking will be available to Mountainside members.
The company is already a marketing partner with the D-backs, and Hatten said this will give Mountainside a presence in downtown Phoenix and allow suburban members who work downtown to work out in a unique environment.
“We’ve always been a suburb-oriented business,” said Hatten.
There are a handful of other gyms and fitness centers in downtown Phoenix, including a Gold’s Gym at CityScape, the Renaissance Athletic Club inside the Renaissance Center office complex and the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA.
Mountainside has 47,000 members and 11 facilities spread across the Phoenix area.
Hatten said Mountainside will offer some shuttle services from its other locations to the Chase Field facility. Mountainside will also have some kids exercise equipment outside its center on the Chase Field concourse for fans to try, There will also be windows from the center onto the concourse of the stadium. Hatten said Mountainside members who have tickets to D-backs games will be able to park in a private lot for the center and enter the stadium through the new facility.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n....html?page=all

Work is moving at the My Florist corner. They had taken out some windows last week or so. As of 5:45am today, they were tearing down the awning over the sidewalk on McDowell. They also appear to have gutted even more stores in the brick building (the fat bride store remains).

Hopefully they replace all the shading they have now removed (trees and now the awning). There's also a fair amount of equipment sitting on the vacant lot next door so hopefully they are starting to build on that/those lot(s). There was an approved site plan for the previous owner, and I assume that the new owner is doing all this work under that previous site plan. Can anyone access that to see what we may be getting? Any idea if they are planning on keeping some historic integrity to those buildings, or are they just planning on making it look like a typical suburban strip mall like they are doing in the old Tom Horne building?

Don't know about the structure but I heard "Habit" burger and a T-Mobile store are going in along with the NYPD.

In the Arizona Republic article quoted a page or so back it said

Hey! I can speak a English. You are kinda too funny, huh?

I'm guessing the lot to the east of the building will be surface parking. There isn't much parking for the building as it stands.

A few years ago, Lawrence and Geyser produced a picture that showed the existing building extending eastward towards 5th Ave.

That picture was produced a few years ago when they got the site plan approved through the City to build at least one (I remember maybe 2) small buildings on the vacant lot along with additional parking. The whole project is supposed to extend to 5th Avenue where the mariscos place used to be. I know there were stipulations about no outdoor music and no outside seating past 10pm to appease the neighbors in Willo. They were blading that lot this morning and there's a free dirt sign, so it looks like site prep is going on.

I thought the exact same thing as I drove by there late this afternoon. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is only a parking lot.

I guess two makes a quorum

Just was trying to add some color to a thread that seemed to lack life at times, but after a couple lethargic days, my need to ad zip was as gone
as my own zip. Besides I decided that I had enough fun for at least this year.

Not to mention that my kid would remind how "not cool" it is to be "uncool." :D

If it were only a parking lot it would have to be zoned and approved as such. If the site plan is approved by the city as part of a rezoning, and the applicant starts construction, it's more or less guaranteed that if they finish it's going to look like what they're approved for. If they build a parking lot and they don't have the authority to do so, there are legal remedies citizens or the city can undertake to ensure compliance with the site zoning through I believe Neighborhood Services.

There are technicalities, like being in general or strict compliance with a submitted site plan, and parking lots can hang on under a temporary use permit that has to be re-approved every year.

Here is the document that I was referring to:

http://www.lawrenceandgeyser.com/7th...l-Brochure.pdf

Perhaps I missed an amendment that got approved, but that brochure depicts the site plan that was approved by the City a couple years back. So yes, there will be parking, but there is going to be a building too. The Willo people had stipulations included to prevent outdoor music at what is identified as "Italian Cuisine," which at one point was going to be a wine bar type place.

Combusean is right about parking lots hanging around under temporary permits, but I don't remember seeing that with respect to this property. Then again, I wasn't really looking either.

I drove by 3rd Street and Earl this morning and they were loading up the remnants of the old Qwest building on the SEC.

EPA seeks designer for Lower Grand Avenue streetscape in Phoenix
Jan Buchholz, Phoenix Business Journal

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Latest from The Business Journals

Office Depot HQ gets Energy Star certification
Phoenix newcomer helped clean up BP oil spill
Canadian company pulls application for controversial Florence mine

Follow this company is soliciting price quotes from local design firms to come up with a plan for the Lower Grand Avenue streetscape near downtown Phoenix. It’s part of the EPA’s Greening America’s Capitals program.

Lower Grand Avenue has become an increasingly creative environment. It’s home to an annual art festival and several venues that are featured in the monthly First Fridays event.

According to the EPA, “the firm selected will produce designs to improve the Lower Grand Avenue streetscape, making it more environmentally, pedestrian and bicycle friendly, while maintaining the neighborhood’s aesthetic character. The design team will explore options that use green infrastructure techniques suitable for arid climates to capture and treat stormwater runoff. Options might also include improvements to pedestrian crossings, transit shelters and bicycle paths.”

Phoenix is joined by Montgomery, Ala.; Lincoln, Neb.; Washington; and Jackson, Miss., in participating in the program.

Greening America’s Capitals is a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a joint effort of the EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. It’s designed to develop a “vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods. In addition to helping the selected state capitals build civic pride and a greener future, this assistance will help create models that many other cities can look to in creating their own sustainable designs.”

Design firms interested in applying can learn more at www.epa.gov.

Southeast Corner of 7th Ave and McDowell
 

http://i54.tinypic.com/2eltgyw.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/sy09yq.jpg

Northeast Corner of 7th Ave and McDowell
 

Irish Cultural Center at Central and Portland
 

Lofts at McKinley
 

McDowell and 7th Ave infill
 

New article on AZ Central

Article

Pictures

Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS renovating old Gannett building
 

When I talk to friends/family about the development at 7th and McDowell, the first words out of many of their mouths are "oh, where My Florist is". That sign is iconic. I was bummed when the restaurant closed their doors. They always seemed to have a decent amount of customers when I ate there, so I was surprised to see them close their doors. On the other hand, I'm excited that they are renovating that corner. I think the buildings on the SW corner have shown them the light (pei wei, starbucks, side bar). Their parking lot is always full and sometimes even overflows into the adjacent building's lot.

That was a good article, all things considered. It's good to see at least some developers and lenders appreciate more urban opportunities.

For downtown this retail adds an important element of fill-in and activity to go with the new apartment construction, additional university buildings and other planned or current projects.

When you consider the current state of the Metro real estate market... yet there exists an aggressive posture for building yet more new apartment projects in many areas.

Similarly, I can envision more office/hotel construction in downtown making the radar screens before too long, given the longer lead times necessary. Probably need another three years
for more lease-up of uptown/midtown buildings but then things could start getting interesting again.

BTW, those are great pics. Always love to see visual updates. Thanks.

Retailers Rediscover the Valley

Panda Express launched a new free-standing restaurant near Ninth Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix.

Other retailers focusing on infill locations include include Nordstrom, which has announced plans to open a Rack discount store at Town & Country shopping center in Phoenix and Swedish retailer H&M, which plans to open a third Phoenix-area store later this year at Arizona Mills in Tempe.

There has been speculation in real-estate circles that Whole Foods may open a store at Town & Country, near 20th Street and Camelback Road. And LA Fitness is building a new health club near Northern and 23rd avenues next to a new large-format Circle K convenience store.

Many retailers are tailoring their stores to the new infill locations as well. Walmart, Best Buy, Petco and others are developing smaller stores that can squeeze into smaller sites.

Read more Here

according to this post on the Arizona Preservation Foundation's facebook page, Ben Bethel is meeting with lenders to possibly finish Hotel Monroe...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6045/...44458344_b.jpg

heres the link in the post
https://picasaweb.google.com/1088028...007HotelMonroe

That would be incredible!!! Go Ben. Go!!!!!!

Wow! Amazing! That would be huge if Ben bought it. He's done such a good job on Clarendon. Shame the state/city won't kick any money or tax breaks his way even though they've done so for the corporate downtown hotels.

^ Who says they won't? The city has subsidized damn near everything else. Even a renovation of the Wyndham (whatever happened to that, anyways?) has got a GPLET incentive.

Frank Luke Addition Redevelopment
 

Phoenix homes, part of segregated past, demolished

Does anyone know what the new building will look like? Will it be street facing and encourage walkability or will it be a suburban barracks style place that caters to automobiles?

It will probably look like the new Mathew Henson Apartments on 7th Ave. It is a medium-density, suburban styled complex:

http://www.mycheapapartments.com/Mat...40548-For-Rent

But, maybe not:

"This phase includes a 60-unit senior living project consisting of a 3-story, 67,749 SF building with activity areas, office space, dining room, and center courtyard."
http://www.a-p.com/project/recently-...senior-housing

I'm sure someone will dig up some renderings of the project soon.

Behel needs to mention the upcoming super bowl and the necessity of having the hotel Monroe finished. I can't wait.

Well that just means hotel Monroe will be an ill maintained shit hole like Clarendon. Damnit I hope this actually doesn't happen. I know a few groups with deep enough pockets are trying to make that property work, and would turn it into a fantastic place. If bethel gets involved, prepare to see card tables for bar tops, moldy carpets, and btw the windows on the units at Clarendon were never replaced. He did a complete half assed Reno there and I wouldnt expect anything better at Monroe. It would be wise of the city to block this.

This is one thing we agree on! ;) The City should take interest in this project because it is one of the few remaining historic buildings downtown. It's an awesome structure and needed to be renovated long ago. This project needs to be handled with great care and plans for this hotel must be as grand as Grace Properties' for the first Hotel Monroe project; it can't be half-assed and a "spared no expense" approach must be taken to make this a premiere boutique hotel.

And that's the problem. Bethel doesn't have access to the type of funds it would take to build something grand, with no expense spared. He would equal a budget remodel, and I would rather wait for some money to come along.

There's no way the Clarendon would provide him enough capital to pull this off, so that's why he's meeting with lenders today.

And how much do you think he will be loaned based on his collateral and cash reserves??

Well, that is a huge concern. I used the term "half-assed" because I've heard similar reviews of Clarendon even though it receives much praise in numerous publications and industry mags. Rather surprising to hear.

I thought Grace Properties and the original proposer of the Hotel Monroe project (that was to be completed by 2008) still had a vested interest in the building? If this is true perhaps a partnership can be formed. A little info for this building from last year:

"Synder says the renovation project that began and failed a few years ago is about 1/3 complete. Some of the floors are completely framed out and much remains to be done. He estimates an additional 30 million will be needed to finish the build-out. On the good news side, much of the ground work has been done to qualify for historic federal tax credits and the property is already on the both state and federal historic registers."
http://urbanconnectionrealty.com/201...new-developer/

Wasn't familiar so I took my kid to a delightful brunch at the Clarendon. Nice property.

Oops... posted before I read the comments above. Interesting....

I'm not familiar with how these projects have fared but they've been a godsend in Denver which as Vicelord John would say is a different "animal."

Denver cleared a roughly 6-7 block area formerly called Village East for a Hope VI project. Built in phases, the quality is better with sustainable features. An urban village that features several different
architectural styles and variety of affordable housing.

It is sooo much nicer than before. Denver does benefit from downtown having over 8,000 hotel rooms and over a 1,000 retail establishments many being restaurants so there is a need for nearby
affordable housing. All are within a few blocks of downtown and to light rail that goes through downtown.

In the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood Denver is specifically protecting the character of this historically Hispanic area. The former Public Housing, though, will be replaced with the next Hope VI project also
within blocks of a (different) light rail line. Great masterplan. The first phase, under construction, is a ten story senior project which the neighborhood residents "helped" design through several neighborhood meetings.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Congress doesn't kill future Hope VI funding.

Given the battering this area has taken, I remain impressed with the activity in and around downtown Phoenix.

Not so great news about Mid-Town
 

According to the Republic, downtown business groups are interested in turning the Downtown Phoenix Partnership into a "holding group" similar to what downtown Denver has that "would enable them to share some functions, such as marketing the downtown area." This could enable the groups to focus and share some resourcing on developing downtown further, luring business and entertainment to the area.

They could start by trying to jump start "Jackson Street"? :tup:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...ix-groups.html

More good news...
http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/20...gton-all-sold/

The Downtown Denver Partnership does yeoman work and some impressive stuff. There are like six major events per year in downtown and then other stuff will come up from time to time.
They also help sheppard many improvements and retail recruiting to downtown.

For me, it seems like yesterday that they started the Capitol Hill People's Fair, sort of an artsy event with many food booths. Technically it started in 1971 and after a couple of locations, it moved
to the Civic Center Park in 1987 which is where my memory of it starts. It now is a big deal and attracts people metro-wide.

Only in its second year, this years Fourth of July free symphony concert and fireworks brought about 10.000 people/families to the Civic Center.
It is intentionally held on a different day from the traditional Fourth of July offerings.

Phoenix does some cool stuff too. My point would be that with hard work, a coordinated effort, patience, perseverance, and growing financial backing over time,
these things both activate and draw attention to the downtown.

For anybody that's interested you can see the Downtown Denver Partnership's not fancy site, except for the nice rotating eye candy, here: http://www.downtowndenver.com/

Or you can see long time leader Tami Door's annual presentation to the public here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=pBc10vTc7Ew