Downtown on Top: ABC documents the growth of Downtown Phoenix from 2004 to today (Glendale: appointed, lease)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Downtown Phoenix is about on the scale of Salt Lake City, if even that.
That's funny and as a Salt Lake City native, I couldn't disagree more. I will say SLC has also done a lot to improve their downtown area, but for someone clamoring on about how Phoenix shouldn't get ahead of announcing itself as "done" you also shouldn't be hyping up SLC to be more than it is. SLC is very dead on most weeknights after 5pm as well. And, I'll further add that SLC does not have nearly the urban competition downtown Phoenix does with Tempe really pulling in a lot of that energy and Scottsdale also has a lot going for itself. Even Midtown Phoenix is competition for DT Phoenix.
But as others have said, nobody is saying it's done, there's something like 5,000 residential units under construction or in late planning stages downtown right now. In the 10 or so years I've spent in Phoenix since 2002, I can say it's come leaps and bounds from where it was. I can also say that the level of activity happening downtown now is more than I can remember in a long, long time. And that's what we really should be comparing against, Phoenix progress against itself.
That really just scratches the surface with whats happening in and around downtown. Here's a quick project rundown from the skycrapercity website to give you an idea of just how much energy is still going into DT Phoenix.
1. The Marriott at 19 floors (under construction)
2. Central station at 35 floors (large project, slow process)
3. Circles Records building 19/20 floors (new proposal)
4. 2nd/3rd street and Roosevelt 19 floors (iffy)
5. Micro housing tower 21 floors (new proposal)
6. Portland on the Park - Habitat Metro (2nd Ave. & Portland) (under construction)
7. Found:Re - Habitat Metro (Central & Portland) (under construction)
8. Hilton Garden Inn Phoenix Downtown - CSM Corp. (Central & Monroe) (under construction)
9. ASU Arizona Center for Law and Society (1st St. & Taylor) (under construction)
10. Biosciences Partnership Building (7th St. & Taylor) (under construction)
11. Proxy 333 - Tilton Development (4th St. & McKinley) (under construction)
12. en Hance - Sencorp Development (2nd St. & Moreland) (under construction)
13. Linear Apartments - Baron Properties (3rd St. & Roosevelt) (under construction)
14. Illuminate Apartments - Baron Properties (3rd St. & Roosevelt) (under construction)
15. Union at Roosevelt - MetroWest (Central & Roosevelt) (under construction)
The momentum is building at a level we've never seen in Phoenix before, even in/around 2006 there was a lot of talk, and a few large projects actually got built (44 Monroe, Ballpark Lofts, Cityscape, Freeport McMoran) but most of the proposals fell through, even CityScape is a scaled down version of what it was intended to be.
I don't think anyone is announcing downtown is done with revitalizing, not at all in fact.
But the progress made in the last few years is pretty amazing considering how much of a deadzone it was before then.
What could really use some life is midtown, that's the place that clears out at 5:00 everyday and has very little action after hours.
Downtown Salt Lake City is nice but downtown Phoenix still has more to offer, and it should anyway because it's a much bigger city.
Good to hear. I just don't want any of our city or business leaders to throw the hands up and shift focus elsewhere because downtown has achieved some great things. It just feels odd to me that people are already patting themselves on the back when downtown still rolls up at 5 PM on most days and some businesses shutter after only months of opening because of lack of customers. Maybe I would appreciate our current downtown more if I was here when it was at the bottom. Coming to Phoenix when I did adds some perspective from a *gasp* transplant who has experienced many, many downtowns of all sizes across the US. If you look at cities comparable in size to Phoenix (Philadelphia, Houston, San Diego, and even San Antonio) and then look at Phoenix, you will see that we are still decades behind.
Downtown SLC and many downtown areas have an advantage over Phoenix. Mix in the age of building stock. Phoenix has been successful in pretty much tearing down every historical building it could find for hideous 1960s-1970s architecture, surface parking, or just vacant lots. Exceptions would be around Luhrs, the Barrister (Psycho) Building, Westward Ho, and Orpheum Lofts. This lack of architectural diversity unfortunately sets Phoenix back by just creating a significant amount of deadspace and just a general blandness that is difficult to overcome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64
This post is a boiler plate relic of the Phoenix of yore.
Besides this article is a look at progress, not saying we're done it's saying look where we've come. This city is growing up.
It's unfortunately still the truth. I lived downtown when I first moved here and quickly moved out after a year. The place is a ghost town after 5 on most days. Hopefully things will one day improve.
If you look at cities comparable in size to Phoenix (Philadelphia, Houston, San Diego, and even San Antonio) and then look at Phoenix, you will see that we are still decades behind.
If you look at the age of Phoenix and compare our population and age to where those cities were at this point in their existence were doing quite well for ourselves here in Phoenix. Also, worth noting, we aren't trying to be like those places, it's a blank slate here and things work different now.
Downtown SLC and many downtown areas have an advantage over Phoenix. Mix in the age of building stock. Phoenix has been successful in pretty much tearing down every historical building it could find for hideous 1960s-1970s architecture, surface parking, or just vacant lots. Exceptions would be around Luhrs, the Barrister (Psycho) Building, Westward Ho, and Orpheum Lofts. This lack of architectural diversity unfortunately sets Phoenix back by just creating a significant amount of deadspace and just a general blandness that is difficult to overcome.
I'll also counter your argument about the advantage of having an old stock of buildings with Vancouver, BC. An old stock of buildings is absolutely not necessary or advantageous to building a large/thriving downtown area. Checkout the city glass and you'll see why that doesn't matter one bit.
It's unfortunately still the truth. I lived downtown when I first moved here and quickly moved out after a year. The place is a ghost town after 5 on most days. Hopefully things will one day improve.
Bummer, you left at the worst possible time, it's only getting better now.
I'd contend that historic and varied buildings are essential as bones for an urban area, but I'd follow that up with the fact that most of our history took place between the 50s and now and that includes 60s/70s brutalist architecture.
The only building at real issue is the the Sheraton. It's almost brand new but looks decades old.
A decade ago I went to a Dbacks game and couldnt believe how vacant and abandoned downtown was. The difference between then and now is quite remarkable. PHX still has a long way to go, but at least we have a good start on the future!
This is great news for Phoenix. One big problem I see for downtown Phoenix is the ever increasing "heat island" effect in an already hot climate. More buildings/concrete/air conditioners= heat.
Other cities have taken the heat island problem seriously (Chicago with its "cool roof" efforts comes to mind.) And Sacramento, for example, has shade tree requirements for parking lots to reduce heat. EPA has a lot of information on the topic.
ASU has actually been very involved on this topic. Their focus is the beltloop where Sky Harbor is but this is an effort being started. A few things could go a long way.
Tucson has ordinances requiring cool white roofing on buildings in city limits
California uses light colored cool pavement
Tucson uses Olive,Mesquite and Palo Verde trees for shade which are drought tolerant and make great shade.
Olive trees are almost perfect for drought tolerant shade minus the mess but we're pretty good at keeping up with things like that. Palo Verde and Mesquite are rugged and native looking.
These three options would be the most water efficient means of fixing that problem.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,763 posts, read 23,875,307 times
Reputation: 14691
Quote:
Originally Posted by locolife
That really just scratches the surface with whats happening in and around downtown. Here's a quick project rundown from the skycrapercity website to give you an idea of just how much energy is still going into DT Phoenix.
1. The Marriott at 19 floors (under construction)
2. Central station at 35 floors (large project, slow process)
3. Circles Records building 19/20 floors (new proposal)
4. 2nd/3rd street and Roosevelt 19 floors (iffy)
5. Micro housing tower 21 floors (new proposal)
6. Portland on the Park - Habitat Metro (2nd Ave. & Portland) (under construction)
7. Found:Re - Habitat Metro (Central & Portland) (under construction)
8. Hilton Garden Inn Phoenix Downtown - CSM Corp. (Central & Monroe) (under construction)
9. ASU Arizona Center for Law and Society (1st St. & Taylor) (under construction)
10. Biosciences Partnership Building (7th St. & Taylor) (under construction)
11. Proxy 333 - Tilton Development (4th St. & McKinley) (under construction)
12. en Hance - Sencorp Development (2nd St. & Moreland) (under construction)
13. Linear Apartments - Baron Properties (3rd St. & Roosevelt) (under construction)
14. Illuminate Apartments - Baron Properties (3rd St. & Roosevelt) (under construction)
15. Union at Roosevelt - MetroWest (Central & Roosevelt) (under construction)
The momentum is building at a level we've never seen in Phoenix before, even in/around 2006 there was a lot of talk, and a few large projects actually got built (44 Monroe, Ballpark Lofts, Cityscape, Freeport McMoran) but most of the proposals fell through, even CityScape is a scaled down version of what it was intended to be.
Oh I know the new development at Central and McDowell only scratches the surface. It's great to see all the residential infill, especially between Central and 7th St. To have a successful downtown there has to be people living in downtown as that is a lion's share worth of patronage to bars, restaurants, and retail. I think downtown Phoenix will have really come around once say a store like Whole Foods (or a Fry's at least) opens up a store in downtown. Downtown Denver just got its first grocery store and it has a Whole Foods on the way.
What I think is remarkable about the development at Central and McDowell (Posh apartments going up on prime central Phoenix corner) is that it fills in a really big gap. Right there surrounded by the city library, the art museum, the opera, and the city's sixth tallest building (Viad tower) sits a completely vacant and large dirt lot. So it's nice to see they are finally infilling a big gap on a block the links downtown and Midtown.
Oh I know the new development at Central and McDowell only scratches the surface. It's great to see all the residential infill, especially between Central and 7th St. To have a successful downtown there has to be people living in downtown as that is a lion's share worth of patronage to bars, restaurants, and retail. I think downtown Phoenix will have really come around once say a store like Whole Foods (or a Fry's at least) opens up a store in downtown. Downtown Denver just got its first grocery store and it has a Whole Foods on the way.
What I think is remarkable about the development at Central and McDowell (Posh apartments going up on prime central Phoenix corner) is that it fills in a really big gap. Right there surrounded by the city library, the art museum, the opera, and the city's sixth tallest building (Viad tower) sits a completely vacant and large dirt lot. So it's nice to see they are finally infilling a big gap on a block the links downtown and Midtown.
Yeah, that's true, there are some other very visible gaps, I think the most notable one I know of is just east of City Center, where a surface parking lot lives today. Would love to see that filled in with a 400' or so tower.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
