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Posted Aug 15, 2019, 4:20 PM
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self-important urbanista
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 3,024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RonnieFoos
Was that the entire article?  |
No, just the location, which was I though you wanted to know most. Here's more. There are a lot of interruptions for ads and photos, so this not necessarily the whole article, but it captures the essence:
Seven houses in the Coronado Historic District could be razed to make way for new development — triggering alarm in the neighborhood and beyond.
The houses, built between 1917 and 1928, are modest bungalows along 11th Street between McDowell and Coronado roads.
Utah-based PEG Cos. is under contract to buy the houses but is still working on plans and hasn't requested any demolition or other building permits, the developer's attorney Stephen Anderson said.
A partnership called Eleven Residential currently owns the houses, according to property records. The group is led by the children of Dr. Wallace Reed, a longtime advocate for the Coronado neighborhood.
After hearing the story of an uninsured barber who said it would take 125 haircuts to pay for his child's surgery, Reed opened one of the nation's first freestanding ambulatory surgical centers in Coronado near 10th Street and McDowell Road in 1970.
Reed, who died in 2014 at the age of 97, purchased the houses near the surgical care center in the late 1980s and early 1990s for $40,000 to $60,000 each.
The houses have been rental properties for years, but recently one of the tenants was told they could not renew their lease, according to Sherry Rampy, a local real-estate agent and the chair of Phoenix's Historic Preservation Commission.
The tenant was told that the children planned to sell the houses to a developer that plans to demolish the houses to make way for something other than single-family homes.
Coronado is a popular historic neighborhood, right next to downtown Phoenix. But it remains one of central Phoenix's most affordable areas.
The 85006 ZIP code, where the Coronado and Garfield historic neighborhoods are located, saw home prices jump 21% last year.
The area's median went from $211,500 to $255,000 during 2018. But that's still below the Valley's median of $280,000.
Phoenix has few protections against demolition of historic homes. State law tends to favor homeowner rights over historic preservation.
"It only delays demolition. It doesn't necessarily prevent it," Phoenix Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Dodds said.
Anderson said PEG wants to work with Coronado neighbors and the city's historic preservation groups on any development proposed for the area.
He also said the deal for the historic homes is not expected to close anytime soon.
Historic-preservation advocates say they plan to fight demolition of the homes however they can, claiming destruction could set a precedent for all of Phoenix's historic neighborhoods.
"It's been shown time and time again that retaining historic properties is beneficial to developers. We just have an abundance of ignorant opportunists, I will say, because I can't even call them developers," Rampy said.
Dodds said that if an owner wants to demolish the homes, the process can play out one of three ways:
The owner can apply for a demolition permit, which Dodds would deny because the home is part of the Coronado Historic District. However, the city is only able to deny demolition for one year. After that, the owner can level the homes.
The owner can try to avoid the one-year waiting period by claiming the homes present an "economic hardship." The owner would have to prove that it's not cost effective to maintain the homes in their current condition.
The owner could decide to go through the rezoning process, asking the city to remove the homes from the historic district and allow the owner to build something other than a single-family home on the property. The Phoenix City Council would have final say on the zoning change.
Since a new owner is likely to want to build something other than a single-family home on the property, Dodds said it's likely they will go the rezoning route.
However, the owner could choose to demolish the homes first and apply for new zoning later.
Regardless of the route the owner chooses to take, they will face public meetings and likely substantial public pushback.
"Either way, they're in for a fight on that," Dodds said.
Although any formal action on the properties is likely months away, the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission will discuss the possibility of demolition at its meeting at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 19 in Phoenix City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St.
Similar modernized home sold for $727,500
Joel Contreras, a local real estate agent and designer, is hoping to convince the potential buyer that the homes are worth more standing than as rubble.
"The houses are all really cute. They've got great bones," Contreras said.
Contreras has specialized in making modern additions to historic homes. He thinks that can be done with the seven houses on 11th Street for a handsome profit.
Contreras recently designed a modern addition for a 1946 ranch-style home near 15th and Hubbell streets, adjacent to the Coronado Historic District. It sold in July for $727,500.
"I can't think of a scenario where tearing these homes down would be more profitable than keeping them," he said.
'Horrible precedent'?
It would be unusual for a developer to attempt to remove homes from a historic neighborhood and rezone them for a different use, Dodds said.
"I just don't recall anybody trying to do anything like that before. I don't recall anybody ever thinking that's okay," she said.
She also cautioned that if the developer's plans go through, it could set a precedent for all of Phoenix's 35 historic neighborhoods.
"If that happens there, what is there to stop that from happening at any neighborhood?" Dodds said.
Rampy said the demolition of the houses would set a "horrible precedent" and threaten the houses on the outer boundaries of all historic neighborhoods.
"It would jeopardize all border blocks," she said.
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