Downtown in Pictures: June 2007

Downtown Phoenix is in the midst of an unprecedented construction boom. Here are a few pictures of the goings-on, with commentary:

Rebirth
Some of my favorite downtown projects are the restorations of the old, forgotten buildings in and around downtown. Those projects are every bit as much of a sign of the downtown comeback as the big deals. Here are a couple of those:

The bar next door to Fate (924 N. Fourth Street, just south of Roosevelt) looks just about done. The patio out front and the tree-like structure in the middle should be a fun place to hang out.


Since Matt's Big Breakfast opened in late 2004, two of the neighboring single-story buildings have been rehabbed-- one holds an architecture firm and another is the sales office for KML, the company developing Mosaic in Tempe and the "Gateway" project at Roosevelt and Third Street. This building, a little closer to the downtown core at 705 N. First Street,

is poised to join its neighbors as a restored, useful structure.

This little house on north Second Avenue is one I've spotlighted for a while. Its exterior is just about done, although the tagged-up door is kind of a cool vestige of the building's former dilapidated self.

The New, but Smaller, Stuff

Light rail will be up and running (supposedly) in just under 18 months. Here you can see the "sails" that will provide shade to the Metro stations have been installed at the station at Central and Van Buren.

Odyssey Homes is building three small communities north of Roosevelt Street. This one is at the northeast corner of Second Street and Portland Street; I think the project looks nice and urban the way it faces the street. A twin development is being built at the southwest corner of the same intersection. The new residents here ought to supply nearby Carly's Bistro with a few more customers within walking distance, although judging from the looks of things Carly's is doing pretty well all by itself right now.

The Portland 38 project is moving forward in the Garfield neighborhood east of Seventh Street. I love the view of the cranes in the background of this picture. I don't love the site plan for Portland 38, in which it appears the buildings don't face the street. That causes the development to act a little more like a suburban apartment complex, which is too bad.

ALTA Phoenix construction is rolling along. This project is supposed to feature retail and supposedly will have some gallery space for First Fridays. It's a cool development that will link together Roosevelt Row with the downtown core (Arizona Center is just across the street).

The BioScience high school is finishing up over at Fifth Street. While the building is a little fortress-like, especially from the back (not pictured here) I love the colors they used.

The twelve condos at 215 McKinley are just about finished. I like this development, although I think it was built one story too tall. This project will also have street-level retail and is within a five-minute walk of The Roosevelt, Matt's Big Breakfast and the shops at Artisan Village.

Finally, Roosevelt 11 is also under construction in the Garfield Neighborhood at Roosevelt and Ninth Street. Just five years ago it would have been unthinkable to see upscale condos being built in the once-crime-ridden Garfield district, so this building is a great sign.

The Big Guys.

Everybody knows about these high-profile projects-- you can see them driving by on the freeway, for one thing. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here:


Portland Place, the best of all the new downtown projects (in my unbiased opinion)...

Summit, using some very daring color schemes. I kind of like it, but I hope their HOA doesn't hesitate to remake the colors in a few years if the colors start to look outdated. Note the weird contrast of styles with Chase Field in the background and a cool old warehouse in the foreground.

44 Monroe, which is just about topped off. I think it looks awesome the way it helps to fill out the downtown skyline.

Whither the Phoenix Urban Form project?

The Phoenix Urban Form project may be a victim of timing-- it got under way just after the last election cycle in which its doom was set up. The project, which promised to revamp downtown zoning laws to provide for a better city environment (including better pedestrian "connectivity" and shade), may not see the light of day if Phoenix's legal counsel has its way. The City Attorney's office has told the council behind the scenes that enacting the Urban Form recommendations will put the city at risk of a Proposition 207 lawsuit, and, consequently, the attorneys have advised the council not to go ahead with Urban Form. It will be interesting to see whether the council has a stomach for risk. If not, this worthwhile project will become a (silent) victim of the Prop 207 land use law passed by voters last year.

Fenway West

Wanna-be New Englanders celebrate at Chase Field after Red Sox player Julio Lugo's first inning home run. By the way, my guess is 1/3 of the people cheering on the Sox in Phoenix yesterday are bandwagoners that have never set foot in Massachusetts.

Photo Credit: David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic.

Sports teams are sources of civic pride and help foster a sense of community. People's love for their cities is often reflected in their love of the local sports team-- look at Chicago with the Cubs or D.C. with the Redskins, for instance.

That's why it bugs me to attend sporting events in Phoenix. Fans of the home team in every sport are sometimes outnumbered and frequently outshouted by fans of the opposing teams. And, for the most part, the people cheering for the visiting teams are residents of the Phoenix area.

The scene was no different yesterday at Chase Field, where in my estimation at least half of the 40,000 fans on hand were there to cheer on the Boston Red Sox against the Diamondbacks. To me, this just shows that many of the people who move here never really see Phoenix as "home," and that their loyalties continue to lie elsewhere even when they moved here to escape some frigid place back east.

Having half the (local) fans cheering against the home team would be unthinkable in places like Chicago, D.C., New York, and of course Boston. Maybe someday I'll get to see the same thing happen here. In the meantime, go Diamondbacks (and Sun Devils, Suns, Coyotes, Sting, and yeah I guess even the Cardinals).

Downtown's one thing, how about redevelopment off the beaten path?

If you really want to get discouraged about the Phoenix area, take a drive along Grand Avenue (northwest of McDowell) or go to any one of the neighborhoods to downtown's immediate south, east and west. At least downtown is the focus of redevelopment efforts, but you have to wonder whether some of those areas will ever turn around.

That's why it was really great to see this week's announcement in the Arizona Republic about Yourtown, a $12M redevelopment of an old Smitty's restaurant at 16th Street and Buckeye in one of those no man's lands. Sloane McFarland, the guy who helped get Lux Coffeebar and Welcome Diner going and sparked redevelopment in the areas around those spots, will bring both of those concepts plus an urban farm, a building supply store and art and music venues to this blighted corner. (McFarland's also a Brophy grad. Go Broncos.)

When this gets going, it'll be a great place to take people for coffee or breakfast after picking them up at Sky Harbor. And it brings some life to one of those places that seem like they'll never be found by redevelopment.

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!

Adios

These little bungalows on Taylor Street near Second Street aren't long for this world. Soon, an ASU-powered wrecking ball will deal these 90-year old buildings their fate. While preservationists are aware of this, there won't be any Sun Merc-style lawsuits or A.E. England-type behind-the-scenes politicking to save these low-profile buildings. So I figured I'd put a picture of them in this space before they make way for two ASU dorms.

For those keeping score, ASU has now taken out at least six single-story downtown Phoenix buildings while the downtown Phoenix campus is constructed. It's too bad a few of these couldn't be integrated into the campus as a reminder of the city's history. They're functional and could be used to house small businesses or ASU offices. But that's not ASU's model.

More updates and links

* According to the Roosvelt neighborhood newsletter, opening on the second floor of the building at 701 W. McDowell (the former Emerald Lounge site that will soon house Pei Wei and Starbucks) will be a wine bar and lounge tentatively called the "Second Floor Lounge." The lounge is to open in the fall.

* Here's a thoughtful, though depressing, link arguing that Phoenix will never have a real downtown. I'm not sure when the article was written, but I believe many of its contentions-- that Phoenix is too "car-addicted," afflicted by zoning, or just too hot-- are undermined by the rise of successful downtowns in places like San Diego and Denver. San Diego is car-afflicted and a product of a zoning regime, and Denver has those problems plus frigid weather, and both have built quality downtowns. If it can happen there it can happen in Phoenix as well. And can we stop using weather as an excuse for Phoenix's downtown? Has anyone ever spent time in Boston or New York in the winter, or in DC at any time of year? The weather sucks, and yet those downtowns are thriving. So weather by itself isn't a factor.

* Citing the proximity to the arts district, light rail, and the burgeoning condo market, upscale Layers Furniture has opened its showroom at 824 North Central Avenue in the spot formerly occupied by Greta's Pet Boutique.

* Downtown restaurants get a thumbs up on a web review site, but meanwhile on another site downtown Phoenix in general gets a thumbs down.

Where was my byline?

Maybe I'm seeing something that wasn't there, but the opening paragraphs of the Arizona Republic's cover story on downtown sounded a lot like something I wrote about six weeks ago. Here's what I mean:

On February 25, in my post 'The Old Guard Reacts in the Wake of CityScape,' I wrote, '...Every few years some developer comes along with a project that is going to "save" downtown but fails in that colossal task. In the seventies, it was the civic plaza convention center. In the late 1980's, after the Boston Globe called downtown Phoenix a "surreal nightmare," we tried to save it with the Mercado and Arizona Center. In the nineties, it was US Airways Arena and Chase Field...CityScape is just the latest variation in a series of megaprojects billed as the downtown savior.'

On April 8, the Republic ran a story called 'Multiple projects key to downtown's revival.' It opens like this: 'First it was the Phoenix Civic Plaza. Then it was the Arizona Center. Later it was the sporting venues - America West Arena and Bank One Ballpark - that were to provide the spark. More recently, it was a new Arizona State University campus that was ballyhooed. It seems every few years - for the past three or four decades - city boosters anointed one venture or another as the savior of downtown Phoenix. But each time, the project's actual impact has fallen far short of the lofty projections.'

Maybe I'm mistaken-- but it seems like there are a lot of similarities here-- the use of a list that names the civic plaza, the Arizona Center, the arena and ballpark; the use of the same word, "savior," to describe the projects; and of course the overall thesis are pretty much the same.

Anyway, I'm not mad. The notion that downtown Phoenix tries to reinvent itself every so often through some "silver bullet" megaproject was hardly novel when I wrote it. And I also know that someone can read something, forget it, and then weeks or months later, the subject of the reading comes back into one's mind and the person innocently uses it as their own thoughts. My only beef is, hey, if you liked the concept, give me a byline, or quote me!

Bar Smith: worth a visit

I stopped by the brand-new Bar Smith last night with my girlfriend. It's a quality spot, but it's got some challenges ahead. The restaurant is wedged between Burn and the Sky Lounge on Washington Street-- you know, the spot where Oregano's failed. (When a place such as Oregano's, where 60-minute wait times are the standard at its other locations, can't make it, that says something about downtown.) The place was pretty much empty on a Friday night. Still, it's got some good things going for it-- the ahi tuna sliders were really good, the scene inside could be hip and it's a got a very cool rooftop patio. It could be a fun place to hang out when the downtown core comes to life during the upcoming Suns playoff run.

'Broken window' theory at work downtown

You could see another sign of the rebirth of downtown Phoenix this week after some guy who calls himself 'Detox1' tagged a bunch of buildings in the Roosevelt neighborhood, including the historic Gold Spot Market. Ten years ago, my guess is that the graffiti would have stayed there for months. (In fact, the Gold Spot was a vacant building just 5 years ago.) But the handiwork of Detox1 (which sounds like an Instant Messenger screen name to me) was gone by mid-week at the latest, and in at least one instance had been painted over in a few hours.

Coming soon...

Downtown Phoenix continues to add the fine-grained development that will give birth to a real city:

* GS3 Condos at Third Avenue and Portland Street continue to move through the city's permitting process, seeking several variances in April.

* The "Gallery" Bar and Grill at Third Street and Roosevelt (at Canvas) received variances to allow outdoor dining and live music.

* Sister's Express Cafe apparently will open at Artisan Village in the live/work space along Roosevelt and nearest Seventh Street.

* Portland Place is moving forward on its second phase. It's hiking the prices in the few remaining condos in the first phase to match the second phase's prices.

Leadership needed

Omega Condominiums: At first blush anyway, this proposed 32-story condo looks great. It has ground-floor retail, the parking is part of the building and not a stand-alone garage, and it respects its downtown Phoenix environment (i.e., it doesn't require the destruction of any historic buildings or parks).

Unfortunately, a potential roadblock has emerged in that it will sit atop the parking lot currently in use by the residents of nextdoor Orpheum Lofts. The Orpheum residents claim they were promised parking when they purchased their condos, but once the Omega tower is built their only option will be to purchase parking at $30,000 per stall in Omega.

This problem seems solveable. If there's one thing downtown Phoenix has an abundance of, it's (not people or entertainment options) parking. There are numerous surface and garage parking lots near the Orpheum Lofts that are unused at night. And here's where we need leadership-- if Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is really serious about downtown housing, his office should step in and broker a solution with the Orpheum HOA to find an answer to the parking problem. Hey, I hear the city wants to add a couple more floors to its already-monstrous garage on 3rd avenue (Heaven help us), so maybe there could be some spaces available there?

Orpheum Lofts and new residences. As a side note, it's interesting how the Orpheum Lofts homeowners begged the Parks Board to approve CityScape because they were so desperate for new residents and options downtown (a few so-called "urbanites" even said they were frightened by their downtown environment), but now that a proposed project threatens their own self-interest they're opposed to new development. This is bad news and there's got to be a compromise if downtown Phoenix is to succeed.

Updates and links

Odds and ends:

New Residents. Central Phoenix's population will swell a little bit more as closings just occurred in the second building in Tapestry on Central (the portion of the complex facing Central). Meanwhile, closing is supposed to take place in mid-July in the first phase of Portland Place.

Sun Mercantile/W Hotel suit. The lawsuit filed by various groups in an effort to save the Sun Mercantile building is now rolling into its fourteenth month of existence, and still going strong. The case is now in the discovery phase. I'll say it again: developers, do quality urban projects and respect the buildings and parks that are already in place, or you will face some powerful resistance. (See 44 Monroe as an example of doing it right.)

Light rail as economic development tool. Even light rail advocates like myself will admit the project is partly about economic development. Read a libertarian response (starting on page 4).

Fellow bloggers. After perusing the sites of various downtown Phoenix-related bloggers, I have to wonder: am I the only one who's not a real estate agent?

More ideas on improving Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue

Last July, LIDP reader Steve posted a lengthy comment on one of my posts regarding the "highways" of Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. It contains some great thoughts and it's worth the read.

I'll let you check out Steve's comment for its numerous useful points, but one take Steve had should be highlighted: he noted that the three-quarters of a mile distance between lights on Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue was too long. It's so true-- the short distance between lights in real city environments really slowed down cars and made life more pleasant for pedestrians. In Phoenix, drivers can reach top speeds even on its most urban streets. At least light rail has led to the addition of many more street lights on Central. Love to see that on Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue.

Another parking garage?

New 26-story downtown tower at Central Park East. Check.
Ground-floor retail. Check (although this should now be a given).
Parking for 600 vehicles. Ugh.

While it’s always great for downtown to get a new tower, we don’t need another parking garage in a downtown where garages and buildings seem to exist on a 1:1 ratio. Hopefully the garage can be built with retail or housing masking the garage as in Roosevelt Square, the proposal for the new Solomon Tower or Tempe’s Centerpoint Condos and Grigio Apartments. However, this is downtown Phoenix—not Tempe or even the Roosevelt neighborhood—so I won’t hold my breath.

And isn’t there a light rail stop within a block?

The old guard reacts in the wake of CityScape

The CityScape proposal is nothing new for this city. Every few years some developer comes along with a project that is going to "save" downtown but fails in that colossal task. In the seventies, it was the civic plaza convention center. In the late 1980's, after the Boston Globe called downtown Phoenix a "surreal nightmare," we tried to save it with the Mercado and Arizona Center. In the nineties, it was US Airways Arena and Chase Field. This decade, the powers that be shoved Dodge Theatre down our throats and really wanted to jam the Cardinals Stadium downtown too. CityScape is just the latest variation in a series of megaprojects billed as the downtown savior.

Howeve, this time around, there was a difference. There was a mobilized opposition that had a major effect on the process. And it's been noticed: there's been chatter about it on the message boards and today the Republic's Doug MacEachern spends 25 column inches complaining about the public daring to insert itself in a process that he apparently believes should be left to the developers.

You can read MacEachern's column for yourself, but frankly I think he disqualifies himself from discussing the issue with any authority when he makes this comment: "on various Internet blogs...the opponents [of CityScape] argued that CityScape's design is just too suburban for them. I'm not entirely sure what this means..."

(MacEachern is the Republic editorial board's designated expert on downtown. I guess we really should expect nothing less from a newspaper that doesn't even employ an architecture critic.)

Anyway, MacEachern is essentially complaining about a breakdown of the old paradigm in Phoenix development, that LIDP reader Walt accurately describes as "accepting the developer's vision without complaint or suggestion." MacEachern argues that the message is being sent to developers that downtown is too difficult a place in which to do projects. (He ignores the fact that big-ticket projects such as Orpheum Lofts, 44 Monroe and Portland Place cruised through the city approval process with no opposition, because they were quality urban developments.) I agree with MacEachern that a message has been sent, although I'd phrase it differently: developers need to realize that they need to do true urban projects and be willing to listen to the residents, or they will face a firestorm of difficulty and criticism.

CityScape aftermath

The Parks Board voted 5-2 to adopt the conceptual master plan for CityScape. My initial reaction and observation following last night's meeting:


A lightweight board. "New York might have Central Park, but New York also has a lot of other things that I wouldn't want," said Parks Board member Laura Bell in casting her vote to turn over the park to RED. Huh?! Even CityScape supporters would have to admit the board's comments in electing to abdicate their roles as stewards of a park to the private sector were pretty much insipid. Jim Holway was the lone bright spot among that dismal crew.

Class warfare. The young professionals in the room, many of them residents of the Orpheum Lofts, generally supported CityScape (while in general the opposition was older and less well-to-do). I don't get it- haven't any of these young professionals lived in other cities? Don't they realize that trading away the public park for a PF Changs doesn't make our city better, it just makes it generic?

Nobody buys RED's "park." In its presentation on CityScape, RED Development tried to make the claim that the little grassy spot in the middle of the AJ's/B. Dalton's/PF Chang's complex was Patriot's Park. They even tried to say that 20,000 people could attend an event there (even though their diagrams showed half those people would be unable to see the "stage" because their view would be blocked by PF Chang's). But nobody who spoke on behalf of the project tried to defend RED's ploy. Aside from the developers, even the supporters of CityScape seem to concede that Patriot's Square is gone.


Streetside Retail? It's hard to say whether there will be streetside retail. Yes, one of the development team pledged in the meeting that all parts of the project will have street-fronting retail. But earlier in the presentation one of the RED guys mentioned only "retail along Washington and Jefferson." Holway brought up the fact that RED hadn't received any commitment from the proposed tenants to have street-facing retail. And RED's own plan points out "street side retail" only on the new east-west street, and nowhere else in the project (see below). Hopefully-- at least-- there will be street-fronting stores.

Summary. In all, this was no surprise. It's Phoenix! The developers generally rule the day. But they did have to make some concessions. And maybe the people in attendance-- who seemed so desperate for new development-- will get over their civic inferiority complex and not be so desperate the next time a developer proposes some crappy deal to the city.

It's the little things

Amid the battle over CityScape and the eye-catching construction taking place at 44 Monroe and Summit, it's easy to lose sight of what really makes a city: the small stuff. In spite of the city bureaucracy, which hinders small business expansion, downtown Phoenix is doing pretty well on that front (part of the reason why I believe we don't need CityScape).

Here are a few more pictures of what's going on downtown on the human scale:

The owners of Fate, the pan-Asian restaurant on Fourth Street, are expanding their ventures. Pictured here is Fate (on the left), and its neighboring structure to the right at 901 N. Fourth Street, which is being gutted for remodeling as we speak. My understanding is that this building will house a bar and tavern. I'm also happy that Fate has gotten rid of the crappy asphalt parking lot that used to sit in front of the restaurant-- it looks like patio seating will replace the parking. (That's fine, in cities you parallel park on the street).


To the east of the 901 N. Fourth Street structure is this cool, two-story building that also is being renovated by the Fate owners. This is the back of both buildings, with 901 N. Fourth Street on the right.

Here is a two-story building at 1017 N. Central, just north of Roosevelt. It was a gallery a few months back, but has since been converted to a very modern-looking office building.

Just up the street from Matt's Big Breakfast is this formerly vacant building at 818 N. 1st Street, which is now the sales office for the KML Mosaic project in Tempe. (Interesting that the sales office for a Tempe condo is here...)

And finally, for good measure, is the historic home at 830 N. Second Avenue that I pictured just a couple weeks back. Check out the progress...

Cityscape: No thanks

I've held off on addressing the CityScape proposal for a while. But the final proposal has come forward, and it's time to comment. Here are my pluses and minuses about this proposal, and my conclusion.

Pluses:

No more parking lots. If built out, the CityScape development would replace parking lots with residential, office, and hotel towers. Obviously, eliminating surface parking lots at the heart of the city would be a good thing.

Grocery Store. CityScape has signed a letter-of-intent with AJ's to build a grocery store downtown. Such a store is of vital importance if downtown is to support residents, and AJ's is a quality place.

Residential/Office. CityScape could bring as many as 1,000 residential units downtown, if built out. That is a lot of people, although residential development better be affordable in light of the slow condo market. The office space is really needed as downtown has the lowest vacancy rate of any metro Phoenix office submarket.

Minuses.

Patriot's Square Park. The current plans for CityScape would see a two-story PF Changs and a six-story building housing Borders and AJ's replace downtown's public square. This is an absolute travesty. Simply put, the citizens of Phoenix should not have to give up a public park-- particularly the only one in the middle of downtown-- in order to get generic retail and services that can be found in numerous locations in this city and in others. On top of that, RED Development is seeking a city subsidy!

(And don't believe for one second that the little grassy area between Borders and PF Changs makes up for the loss of Patriot's Square. It's a tiny, token gesture on the part of RED.)

(More!) Blank walls in downtown. While CityScape representatives have stated that their development will have street-facing retail along Washington and Jefferson Street, there appear to be blank walls facing the street along First Street, Second Street, and Central Avenue. How do I put this? No, no, no. We simply cannot repeat the mistakes of the Arizona Center and Collier Center.

Questionable Obligation. In exchange for a city subsidy and the city's relinquishment of Patriot's Square Park, RED only must build one office building and develop the retail on Patriot's Square. So, one building and some uninspiring accompanying retail...I have a name for that: Collier Center. We don't need another Collier Center, particularly one we have to pay for.

Submerged Streets. The CityScape plan plunges Central Avenue and First Street underneath pedestrian overpasses. I'm not a fan of this. Real urban development interacts with existing city streets and doesn't try to separate pedestrians and cars. This is one step above a superblock!

Chain Stores. Borders is everywhere. PF Changs is everywhere...and it sucks! Of course national chains will want to be a part of the revived downtown Phoenix, but do we have to pay for them too?

Summary: I'm really disappointed by all of this. The public process related to Patriot's Square Park was a farce, as RED and the city came back with essentially the same design as the original proposal. More importantly, this looks like a huge missed opportunity to develop prime city blocks the right way. I'm all for more towers and new residential and office-- but not at the expense of our public park, and particularly not for what is effectively another suburban development plopped in downtown.

Let's not act out of desperation. Downtown Phoenix looks like it was built out of desperation-- with project after project that hoped to "save" downtown and flopped. That's not the case anymore. Downtown has a lot of positive momentum: the office market is booming; the Jackson Street Entertainment District has a lot of promise; First Fridays are spurring new restaurants and housing. Basically, we don't need to be desperate anymore. Let's encourage the City of Phoenix to vote down the city incentive for CityScape and the plan to give away Patriot's Square so we can wait for another, better urban development that is fitting of the city's heart.

Monroe Street -- Downtown's best street?

Sadly, while downtown Phoenix has a lot to do, its entertainment options are spread out. Other cities do a far better job of concentrating bars, restaurants, stores, and other urban amenities-- downtown Phoenix has unfortunately been carved up by too many superblocks and parking garages.

So, downtown's best street is undoubtedly Monroe Street (solely because of the little stretch between Central and 1st Avenue). It's got the cool historic hotel, the San Carlos, plus Seamus McCaffrey's. Across the street is more nightlife with Monroe's (the only basement bar I'm aware of in downtown). This street should get even better when 44 Monroe finishes up and the Professional Building is renovated. There are plans for ground-floor retail in both buildings and 44 Monroe will bring 200-300 more residents downtown. Glad to see it continue to rise.