Only in Phoenix: Hatred of downtown and the urban life

What is wrong with some people in Phoenix? Why do they despise downtown (and probably, city life in general)?

Having a moribund downtown Phoenix doesn't help our region. Lots of talented people who would help us build a better city choose to live elsewhere because of our lack of urban life. I know this for a fact because a lot of those people are my friends-- many of them Phoenix natives.

What confounds me about the attitude of the letter writer above, and many others, is that this isn't an either/or situation. Dozens of American cities have strong downtowns and strong suburbs. The Phoenix area has the suburban part down pretty well, and now it would benefit by giving the large number of people who would like an urban experience a CHOICE.

Desert Viking update

A few more details are beginning to emerge about Desert Viking's condo development at 3rd Avenue and Portland Place. According to a notice for a November 16 hearing before the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Officer, the condo will have 27 units in four stories, with parking on the first level. The project is unnamed as of yet, and Desert Viking was looking for suggestions for the building's name.

Roosevelt continues to surge forward

The area centered around 3rd Avenue and Portland Streets continues to emerge as a true, pedestrian-oriented urban environment. Pictured here is the Sun Dee Building, located at the southeast corner of 3rd Avenue and Portland. The building is being renovated by Desert Viking Co. (whose credits include the nearby Gold Spot Market and Lamar Building). The building will be a single family-home supposedly selling for more than $1,000,000. Meanwhile, Desert Viking is moving ahead with plans for a condominium on the northeast corner of the same intersection. The property was fenced off this week and a hearing on a city variance is upcoming.

Central Phoenix still has a football power

While some other central Phoenix high schools have seen their sports programs decline during the past 20-30 years, Brophy still remains a powerhouse. Brophy won its first state football title last season. Congratulations to the Broncos for their big win over archrival St. Mary's last week.

Downtown tidbits

A few musings on downtown Phoenix happenings:

* Portland Place has sold 46 of its 54 condos as of yesterday. Another condo may open up, but this is still encouraging news for the downtown condo market, particularly after the investors jumped ship. The picture here is the rooftop at Portland Place. In the foreground is what will become the pool deck, looking south toward the downtown core.

* Weitz may yet be the builder for Portland Place's second phase.

* I brought up a comment that appeared on the forums at skyscraperpage.com, courtesy of the poster Soleri, that construction at Artisan Haus may be delayed or the project may be cancelled altogether, and a Weitz official told me he had "heard the same thing." While I was not a huge fan of the Artisan Haus design, particularly the way the building turned a mostly-blank wall toward Central Avenue, the thought of having another vacant lot in central Phoenix is much less appealing. I hope this project still works out.

* Speaking of vacant parcels on Central, there was some promising news today about the sale of the land at Central and McDowell. Hopefully the entity that purchased the land is serious about developing this parcel across from the Phoenix Art Museum, and isn't simply a speculator. AmLand Development, one of the partners in this resume, has a couple of impressive-looking projects in Philly and in Las Vegas, according to the company's web site. Construction is underway on the Vegas project. How great would it be to have a similar four or five-tower complex built at Central and McDowell?

Yes, we have great winter weather. Is that all there is to life in a city?

The Arizona Republic ran its annual piece, coinciding with the first major snowfall back east, in which it basically points out to the locals that 'it's warm here in the winter, and cold in other places!' The added bonus this year was that Buffalo, N.Y. was the metro area that was blasted by snow, so the Republic got to gloat about that area's shrinking population versus the Phoenix area's population explosion.

I lived in Buffalo for two years. Admittedly, it has a lot of problems. But it has a host of assets that Phoenix could only dream of: several major public and private universities, world-class architecture, true urban life in its core (some downtown, most along Elmwood Avenue-- think Central Avenue but with cool shops, restaurants, and people), real neighborhoods, a theatre district, distinct foods and a shared culture. I went to a wedding in Buffalo a couple years back, and at one point several of the guests started chanting "Let's go, Buffalo!" as the DJ played Lloyd Williams' "Shout" (it's played after touchdowns at Buffalo Bills games and featured in the movie Animal House). Try to imagine Phoenicians ever having enough pride in our city to do something like that.

So, while I'm glad that my city is warm in the winter and isn't dwindling away like a few places back east, there's a lot more to life than nice weather. Ignore what the civic cheerleaders at the Arizona Republic would have you think; Phoenix can learn something even from much-maligned (and cold) places like Buffalo.

Ghetto?

A recent post on a message board discussing Phoenix referred to downtown Phoenix and environs as "ghetto." I've had a couple visitors to my place insinuate the same thing. Yeah, well, browse this list of recent downtown home sales and try to make that argument. Keep in mind that the median resale price of a home in the Phoenix area is $257,000.

Gentrification: really an issue?

The latest protest against the "gentrification" of downtown Phoenix is profiled in this week's Phoenix New Times. Basically, some of the artists who helped colonize this area fear a wave of yuppie lofts and chain stores overrunning the neighborhood. I think these fears are a little ridiculous. It's one thing when gentrification of a neighborhood drives lower-income residents out of their homes. But while that happens a lot in other cities, there's not much evidence of that happening in Phoenix.

Here, most of the new condos and lofts are being built on what were previously dirt lots or underutilized properties (as in the case of 44 Monroe, Artisan Village, and Portland Place). No residents are being forced to leave because of the construction, and it doesn't appear as though rising property values have changed the composure of nearby neighborhoods like Garfield. And thus far, the retail that has come with the new developments has been organic, non-chain type fare such as Cheuvront and Tammie Coe/MJ Bread. True, if the new developments bring more standbys like the generic P.F. Changs (as promised by the CityScape development) that would be a bad thing. But there's no worries of downtown Phoenix becoming another chain-infested Mill Avenue yet.

What downtown needs is more residents. Yuppies, artists, families...there's room for everybody. And what is the alternative to the development...downtown Phoenix remains filled with vacant dirt lots?

Pluses, Minuses

While much of the attention downtown focuses on the "big" issues like ASU Downtown, just as important is what's going on at the "micro" level on the street. There are pluses and minuses here. A minus: Retail Laboratory, a fun (although expensive!) gift boutique on Roosevelt Street, has closed its doors after just a few months to concentrate on its sister store at the Biltmore Fashion Park.

A plus: permit application signs at Canvas (criticized by me just a few weeks ago in this blog) on Third Street and Roosevelt indicate that a restaurant known as the "Gallery Bar and Grill" is in the works, featuring outdoor seating. Looking forward to that.

Misplaced Priorities

I hate to pick on anyone from downtown Phoenix's artist community. Without local artists serving as downtown pioneers, there would be no First Fridays and the rejuvenated areas along Roosevelt and Grand Avenue would still be as dead as a doornail.



But that doesn't mean they do everything right. Case in point is Canvas, a gallery on Third Street and Roosevelt that comes to life once a month on First Fridays. The owners of this gallery, for some unknown reason, chose to build a parking lot (as if Phoenix needs any more of those) on Roosevelt at about Fourth Street. This forecloses development on a great location on what is probably downtown's most promising street. But it also makes no sense when you look at the Canvas building itself, which is still covered in particle board that has been tagged. From my vantage point, Canvas would have been better served finishing the exterior of the building as opposed to building another unnecessary parking lot.

Fillmore 555: Another Roosevelt Development

Here's a rendition of the Fillmore 555 project at 5th Ave. and Fillmore. According to the Roosevelt Action Association, the Phoenix City Council will consider its approval in August or September. The first floor of this project is slated to house retail development, and the city may allow on-street parking (which I sincerely hope it does).

This information was taken from a City of Phoenix powerpoint presentation focusing on adding retail to downtown Phoenix.

Urban living alive and well

With the real estate downturn, it's hard to say what will become of the fledgling condo/loft market in downtown Phoenix and other urban areas of town, especially in a market that historically is totally single-family housing driven. But last night's open house at Portland Place seems to show that there's still a lot of interest in urban living. The sales center was jammed with buyers from Phase 1 of the project, prospective buyers, and real estate professionals. They even had to valet cars on a nearby dirt lot. And, judging from the upscale food and beverages provided, the builder, Crescent Communities, appears to have some deep pockets to continue to back this project.

Other tidbits: According to Portland Place sales reps, the first phase is not totally sold out (despite what some realtors have believed). In fact, while the permitting process for the 10-story second phase is ongoing, groundbreaking can't occur until the requisite number of sales take place in Phase 1. The sales reps seemed to indicate that they are still short of that figure.

Life on the Highway: 7th Street

I had a chance to cruise by the interesting collection of businesses on 7th Street yesterday: Trente Cinq, Drip Coffee and Lisa G Wine Bar. Down the street is mainstay Coronado Cafe. There are quite a few urban destinations along that road, just as there are on 7th Avenue. And a lot of these places are fairly new. But while these are all promising signs of rebirth in Central Phoenix, they can only go so far in creating real city life because for all intents and purposes, they sit on highways. 7th Street and 7th Avenue each are six or seven-lane highways that serve as virtual walls cutting off one side of the street from the other. Pedestrians trying to cross these highways are taking their lives in their own hands.

While Phoenix is putting some money into narrowing 24th Street between McDowell and Washington as part of the recent bond package, it appears nothing will be done to narrow these streets in the immediate future. If Phoenix is really serious about bringing pedestrians to central and downtown Phoenix, a big start (bigger than adding shade, in my opinion) would be to narrow streets like 7th Street and 7th Avenue (and Third Street, and Third Avenue, and so on...) by expanding the sidewalk and even allowing vehicles to park on the street. I know this will never happen, but one can always dream.

Phoenix and Scottsdale- culture wars

"Sorry, Scottsdale.
-Phoenix."

This statement, captured on a t-shirt selling at the Red Dog Gallery on 3rd Street during July First Fridays, summed up the current state of affairs in the metro area. Phoenix seems to have aimed for a more serious approach to culture, while Scottsdale is currently epitomized by the Tuesday Night Book Club, plastic surgery, and prominent civic leader Jenna Jameson. And no, Scottsdale, hosting the second location of the Pink Taco Restaurant is not a symbol of sophistication. You wouldn't see something like that in a classy city like Boston or New York...

Hopefully Phoenix never steers toward this path.

Shade, shade, shade

The current buzz in downtown Phoenix is about making the area an "oasis of shade." The Downtown Phoenix Urban Form project has made shade a major priority. And the Downtown Voices Coalition has talked about using shade to make downtown more walkable for years.

But I wonder if this concept, while important, isn't being oversold. Yes, downtown Phoenix has a lot of barren, shadeless areas. And certainly, much more should be done to add trees to the sidewalk, for instance, and use building codes to encourage shade from buildings as the Urban Form project plans to do.

But the lack of shade-- and the summer heat-- are not the reasons why people don't mingle in downtown Phoenix or walk much in the area. If they were, Phoenix would come alive with pedestrians in the cooler winter months. It doesn't. People still stay in their cars. So while adding some relief from the summer sun would be a welcome change for downtown Phoenix, that alone won't bring life to downtown. I wonder if it will change things much at all.

A Downtown Phoenix Partnership idea that actually makes sense for downtown?

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership recently hired a consultant that recommended raising parking rates in downtown and suggested there will be a need for 27,000 additional parking spaces downtown in the next decade. And while complete details have yet to emerge, it seems possible that DPP might actually 'get it' this time.

At first, the idea that downtown could actually need any more parking seems ludicruous when the Garage Mahal is losing $3M annually and it's been reported that downtown already has as many as 50,000 parking spaces. The fact that parking in downtown Philadelphia, for instance, is eight times as expensive as here also suggests that the supply of parking is dramatically overbuilt.

Still, my overriding objection to the glut of parking downtown is the manner in which garages here have been built. Generally parking structures in Phoenix are stand-alone, space-killing buildings that in some cases occupy entire city blocks. Most have no street retail and deaden the surrounding areas. Not to mention they're just butt-ugly.

But the DPP plan actually seems to understand all this, and, perhaps with the urging of Phoenix officials, claims to make "a priority to build mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes and buildings. " This includes underground parking.

So, while I continue to question the need for all the additional parking given what exists now and the fact that light rail is on the way, at least it may be that we've seen the last of the construction of the Soviet-style parking garages that currently dominate downtown.

The Five Best Things To Happen Downtown in the Last Decade

I can sense progress downtown in that I had an easier time putting together the list of the five best things to happen here since 1996 than I did compiling the list of the five worst. Of course, a couple of the "best" things are actually things that didn't happen, so maybe my initial reaction was a little deceptive. Anyway, without any further ado, here are the five best things to happen to downtown Phoenix since 1996:

#5: Cardinals Stadium goes to Glendale: I'm a big sports fan, and I think that downtown arenas and stadiums, when done right, can be tremendous catalysts for redevelopment. But putting the Cardinals Stadium in downtown Phoenix would have been a disaster.
First, while the Diamondbacks play 61 home games per year and the Suns have 45 (or so) home dates annually, the Cardinals would have played only 10 games in the stadium per season. That's only 10 extra days on which people will come downtown, for a far more minimal overall impact than the Suns or D-Backs have.
Second, downtown Phoenix has hit the saturation point as far as sports-oriented events go. Another arena would have been overkill for a downtown that would have had little else besides sports.
Third, relatedly, and perhaps most importantly, the suggested location was right in the middle of the Roosevelt Arts District. Had the stadium been built, the burgeoning scene on Roosevelt (where real urban life now exists in the form of places such as Modified, Fate, Artisan Village and Made) would not exist. For that reason alone, it was a major victory when downtown backed out of the stadium race. (I still think the stadium should have been in Tempe, but that's another story altogether...)

#4: Arizona State University launches its downtown campus: ASU Downtown gets the number 4 slot on my list because of its potential. The addition of as many as 15,000 students in the heart of downtown has the potential to generate a lot of life in downtown Phoenix. More high-rise developments and accompanying retail, like a bookstore and grocery store, hopefully will follow. But there is still reason for caution here. ASU hasn't been as open about its plans as it should be with current residents and has pulled some behind-the-scenes strings in order to tear down part of the historic A.E. England Building on Central in order to build a park. Nearby historic districts could be overrun with student rental housing-- and I can tell you as someone who grew up in Tempe that students are not the best neighbors. In addition, if the campus walls itself off from the rest of downtown, it won't have much of an impact at all and Phoenix's $200M investment will be wasted. So, while there's a lot of potential here, the jury's still out.

#3: Urban residential developments appear: While the new housing built in and around downtown Phoenix is just a drop in the bucket compared to the growth the Valley of the Sun has seen in the past decade, there is genuine cause for optimism as downtown Phoenix finally has sprouted true urban residential development. Led by Roosevelt Square in 2000 and Artisan Parkview in 2003, and followed rapidly by Artisan Lofts on Central, Stadium Lofts, Artisan Village, Orpheum Lofts, and, soon, Portland Place, 44 Monroe, PRD 845 and the Summit, downtown Phoenix has gotten its first taste of high-quality "city" housing in which residents can walk to restaurants and entertainment in a real urban environment. The key will be adding more affordable housing units to this stock and making sure that future construction integrates retail (Artisan Village is a great example of doing this right).

#2: Light Rail: Yes, all it's done so far is rip up Central Avenue (so much for that expensive European brick the city added to the street 20 years ago) and downtown, but the Metro system will knit together downtown Phoenix, uptown Phoenix, and downtown Tempe and for the first time allow Phoenix residents to leave their cars at home. The presence of light rail has already driven millions of dollars of private residential development along the planned line. Commercial real estate brokers are reporting that businesses want to cluster themselves along the line. So, despite the ignorant comments of suburban naysayers, light rail will be used by more than just homeless people. And it already-- even two and a half years before completion-- has helped spur downtown growth.

#1: First Fridays: The urban street scene that is First Fridays gets the top spot in this poll for one simple reason-- upon seeing it for the first time, I have yet to hear anyone say anything other than, "I can't believe I'm in Phoenix." First Fridays has managed to do what the sports stadiums, theatres, convention centers and other public investment couldn't do, filling restaurants and retail stores and getting tons of people to walk the streets of downtown. While the art is hit-or-miss, the popularity of this event has given hope to downtown advocates that the city can, one day, have a thriving downtown scene every night of the week. And while it's just once a month right now (although "Third" Fridays seem to be getting more and more popular) it's a great start.

Honorable Mention: the appearance of great independent restaurants around downtown (Matt's Big Breakfast, Cibo, Carly's, Fate, Cheuvront and Pizzeria Bianco); Phoenix Futures-Jerde Projects (another "best thing that didn't happen" downtown).

The Five Worst Things to Happen Downtown in the Last Decade

Downtown's come a long way in the past 10 years. But there certainly have been some missteps along the way. Here's a review of the five worst things to happen in downtown Phoenix since 1996:

5. The Civic Plaza Garage, a.k.a. "Garage Mahal": The last thing downtown Phoenix needs (ever) is another ugly, space-killing parking garage. Especially with Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field right next door, the block at 7th Street and Jefferson was a prime redevelopment spot that could have been filled with retail or residential. Instead, we get a massive garage that looks ugly, destroys the streetscape, sits lifeless when there isn't a game going on next door, and best of all, cost $91 million dollars of public money to build.

4. Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field: This is really more of a missed opportunity. Bob/Chase wasn't built to blend into the downtown streetscape like Coors Field in Denver or the MCI Center in D.C., but is instead another downtown fortress that, like the Garage Mahal, is pretty much lifeless on non-game days. This would be higher on the list but for the fact the Diamondbacks play inside, and 2001 was obviously unforgettable.

3. Sheraton at Phoenix Convention Center: Sensing a theme here? Another publicly-financed megaproject that is, at best, sterile and disappointing. I can't describe the hotel any better than the classic comments of letter-writers to the Arizona Republic: "it looks like the underside of my boat," or "that reminds me of Las Vegas buildings of the 1970's that are being demolished." What was especially regrettable is that the Phoenix City Council passed over a daring, cool architectural proposal from a local group in favor of this retread.

2. "Copper Square": There's only one saving grace to this ridiculously stupid attempt to "brand" downtown-- absolutely no one ever-- ever-- calls downtown "Copper Square." (Well, except the people who came up with the name and are paid to repeat it.) The idea that a city's downtown would be known by some other name is just conceptually false. Maybe they could have renamed some portion of downtown as "Copper Square"...but not the whole thing. Hopefully the Downtown Phoenix Partnership cuts its losses and drives a stake through this one.

1. The continued demolition of historic buildings: Since 1996, downtown has lost Madison Square Garden, St. Mary's Elementary School, several warehouse district buildings when the county built its awesome jail/morgue complex, and has set the stage for the total compromise of the integrity of the Sun Mercantile Building and San Carlos Hotel. In the works is the continued tear-down of historic buildings in the Warehouse District thanks to a recent Phoenix Planning Commission decision to make it easy for developers to carve up the overlay in that area.

Downtown Phoenix needs to realize that its competitive edge over the suburbs or even an area like 24th Street and Camelback is its history. Other downtowns across the country have leveraged their history as an economic development tool, but Phoenix for the most part hasn't figured this out. Of course, this problem may "solve" itself, because at the rate things are going pretty soon there won't be much history left to tear down.

Coming next: The Five Best Things to Happen Downtown in the Last Decade...

Matt's Little Tavern?

Good news- Another restaurant is on the way for downtown Phoenix, as the owners of Matt's Big Breakfast are planning to open a tavern featuring American bar food. The yet-to-be-named tavern will be located at 3rd Street and McKinley, around the corner from Matt's.

Matt's is one of the best things to happen downtown in the last few months, and if this new restaurant is anywhere near the same quality-- which I fully expect it will be-- "northern" downtown will have one more small business building block.

I wanted to start this blog with some positive news...

Welcome

This site will be a forum for people to discuss downtown Phoenix and urban Arizona and the issues facing the city and metropolitan region. Finally, it seems that downtown has some real momentum, but as always in Phoenix, there exists the possibility that the opportunity to create a real "city" will be squandered.

Hopefully this site will be a clearinghouse for information and discussion as our city moves forward.