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Downtown Phoenix loses an advocate and other comments
- Jon Talton is reportedly moving to Seattle. Not sure whether he will continue to work in journalism up there or pursue some new adventure, but I already miss his work in the Arizona Republic. I disagreed with Talton's national political views, but I loved his Phoenix-oriented columns. No one else at the Republic kept downtown at the front and center of discussions the way in which Talton dared. While his negativity regarding Phoenix bothered some people, I believe he wrote from the viewpoint of someone who loved this city with his whole heart and had subsequently had his heart broken many times as Phoenix made mistake after mistake in destroying its downtown.
- On a happier note, yesterday Girlfriend_of_Downtown_Resident and I stopped into the Mosaic sales office and learned that KML, builders of the Mosaic project in Tempe, have plans for the block bordered by Roosevelt Street, Third Street and Fourth Street. Their project, tentatively called the "Gateway" development, is to feature a condo tower, apartments and a grocery store. While this location is a crucial piece of the redevelopment of downtown Phoenix, as it would(hopefully) bind together the Roosevelt Arts District and the emerging urban life around the parcel, it's a long way off. We were told the sales team would start moving on selling that project in late 2008. But, as this parcel is probably the most embarassing one of all the vacant parcels in downtown Phoenix, this could be a great project.
- Three words: Let's go Suns!
1 comment:
Talton gave a talk at the ASU breakfast series a couple of months ago where he mentioned that he had an offer in Seattle prior to coming to Phoenix. He chose to come to Phoenix because he wanted to chronicle what he assumed would be our big downtown boom. His disappointment about the scope of that "boom" became quickly obvious. Talton started to piece together the various obstacles to downtown redevelopment, along with a kind of ongoing jeremiad about the civic health of Arizona. He offended many people because boosterism is virtually the default epistemology in this city. But he got it better than virtually anyone else. He hammered his points despite some very clear and obvious opposition from the real-estate sector. Libertarians loathed Talton with a passion, but he was hardly a socialist. Rather, he kept talking about how necessary power brokers and "founding fathers" were to a healthy city. He wanted rich fat-cats to take charge of Phoenix and he didn't mind if they knocked a few NIMBY heads in the process. In the end, he made too many enemies and repeated himself once too often. Still, his writing was a marvel of clarity and economy. I doubt we'll ever read someone as good in the Republic again.
The KML property on Roosevelt was, I thought, a kind of bookend to their 4 acres at McDowell & Central (NWC), which they dumped for a healthy profit last year. Since they didn't have much of a track record, I assumed they were just speculators and flippers. But Mosaic appears to be quite real, so I'm chastened a bit in my cynicism. The rendering I saw for "Gateway" is dramatic and improbable: a huge but flat arched assemblage that looks like a giant magnet. Not radical so much as unfortunate.
The downtown condo market is floating face-down in the water. I'm not sure if there's something coming along to restore our faith in urban cliffdwelling, but if there is, I've yet to detect it. The big problem is that there are so many other projcts in queue that I'm not sure how KML could muscle its way to the front. How is CityScape going to sell its 500 units? Or Omega its 200+ units? Nevermind that Tempe and Scottsdale already have tapped into the urban market rather deeply.
At any rate, there is some yapping going on since they put up that fence around the property. I'll assume it's something to keep the hippies away in tandem with liability concerns. Would a condo tower fit in with Roosevelt? Kinda doubt it! But that area is so woebegone that I'd almost be happy to see Wal-Mart.
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