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.