Quote:
|
Originally Posted by fawd
Only other thing I would add is: Jerry Colangelo. He is/was a major advocate for DT development - especially when downtown was at its most 'dead'. His fingerprints are all over the place.
IMO, he was just as instrumental to what downtown is today as the ASU/Biomedical campuses etc.
|
My attitude of Jerry has soured less over the years, I just wish he had a decent urbanist design chops, but then again literally nobody did in Phoenix until Post Roosevelt winded in. They actually created a new zoning district for that project which was groundbreaking for Downtown. Jerry did not inspire residential growth for downtown (in fact his Disney-esque proposal would have been a nightmare) but did provide some of the amenities that it needed to be a premium neighborhood compared to, eg, Scottsdale or the Biltmore.
FWIW, I'm kind of glad downtown's boom came after Urban Form zoning because all of these apartments would otherwise look like low-density crap--see the Met, amongst others. Downtown would be like everywhere else in Phoenix, just more hellish.
I can point to one of the weirder parts about downtown's was the failed creation of a French Quarter there in the late 1980s--St Croix village and the rehabbed ASU Nursing building--certainly nothing to write home about--were the only byproducts of that. And the Mercado and the corrupt influence of Symington--for a crummy two block retail building--will always be one of the weirder footnotes in Arizona history as well.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mr.RE
Not to get political, but that is something we can thank the current administration for Phoenix's revitalization!
Another big part of this is wage growth. Will we see taller buildings? perhaps but it really comes down to the developers feasibility to justify costs to rents or projected sales for condos to achieve a return. Areas like San Diego, Denver and Austin all have much higher wages - and rents therefore developers can build big beautiful skyscapers can charge a premium high enough to fill the building up. I hope to see that we can continue to attract top talent and 6-figure earners to the downtown phoenix workforce. As lots start to get filled in around the downtown area, the only place to go is up.
|
Downtown's boom started before then in 2014 thereabouts (curiously around when SF peaked and started sending their customer service reps out to the Valley) but sure it really kicked off since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Act also accelerated gentrification and affordability and to some extent homelessness, the extent of which is unclear and the discussion largely academic and certainly not limited to Downtown.
Affordable housing and the Act aren't mutually exclusive, as downtown improves maybe the Council will grow some cajones and say no to projects that don't have community benefits--I don't really think 5 - 10% affordable/attainable in a new development or an in-lieu fee is too much to ask for. GPLETs will very likely be illegal by then and hopefully cities won't need them.
The city is not going to sacrifice Sky Harbor. Those buildings are going to be where the FAA is not going to complain too much so a 700ish footer on Thomas like what was originally proposed by Toll is probably most likely.
You also have to consider that Phoenix buildings are almost always built to be sold with one notable exception--Chase Tower. The developer, Valley National Bank, intended on staying there a while. Hitting height limits like a couple projects is a good thing tho.
I would really rather have a new tallest be an office building, with a semi-public use like an observation deck near or at the top, but all that is obviously going to Tempe midrises.