Downtown on Top: ABC documents the growth of Downtown Phoenix from 2004 to today

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The foundation for downtown has been in existence for well over 100 years. There was actually a time prior to about the 1960s when downtown Phoenix was a very bustling area complete with all the major department stores at the time. What happened between approximately the 1960s & 1990s was all the major retail went to the suburbs, and the central core became a place where people went to work in the office towers, but it was left pretty much for dead after 5 PM every day.

Many large cities went in that direction during the latter half of the 20th Century (especially the ones in the western U.S. including Dallas, San Diego, Denver, etc.): push everything off to the suburbs because people wanted their cookie cutter slabs of stucco. But look at all the progress those cities have made in their downtowns during the last couple of decades. Dallas, Denver, and San Diego now have downtowns which are points of pride. Phoenix has made some positive strides, and there is significant improvement compared to 20 years ago, but it still lags behind those cities.

I believe that in order to make downtown more of a job centric area, corporate tax breaks could be provided to reputable businesses in order to lure them in ... and by reputable businesses, I mean the ones which offer high paying competitive jobs. Even as conservative as Arizona tends to be, we still don't have a very low business tax rate which is discouraging to business owners, and that's one reason why a lot of large corporations are hesitant to establish their HQs here.

Agreed, we do lag behind all those cities.

I think what you're saying is kind of in place, with what they call the "Quality job tax credit" I've heard this referenced a lot lately with some of the higher profile company relocation announcements we've had recently. But an example of where we couldn't compete for quality jobs was the Tesla deal, but I'm actually kind of okay with that based on the sheer amount of money Nevada had to give away.

Arizona Incentives - Quality Jobs Tax Credit for Businesses in AZ | Arizona Commerce Authority

[BoiWonder13]

Originally Posted by sargeant79

This is a great point. Tempe really does seem to be ahead of the curve here. I think it is somewhat out of necessity as the university creates a high-density pocket right in it's downtown area. So in a way, they've had a bit of a head start. But Tempe began to embrace the urban growth a few years before people really started to get on the downtown Phoenix bandwagon and there doesn't seem to be much, if any, resistance to it. Plus, with so many of the "residents" of the downtown area of Tempe being college students, many don't have cars. Thus, you have a legitimate need for much of the core population to have a walkable area and several public transit options...something that isn't quite as prevalent of a need anywhere else in the valley.

I would tend to agree with this assessment of Tempe's urban area being actively populated with young college students and working professionals. The downtown Phoenix boom that we are experiencing now is basically the tipping point that many in the Valley have been waiting for.

Since ASU basically started Downtown in 2008 there has always been hope of a building boom and now they will have Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, School of Nursing and Nutrition and the new Law school currently under construction. Frankly lot of people are interested in the appeal of being around the action of Phoenix. Tempe has been a magnet since about 2009 in attraction businesses, hotels, and new residential infrastructure. Phoenix was playing in the background, and now the city's spidey senses are coming around and its exploding.

There may be a whole new +5,000-7,000 residents by 2018 in Downtown Phoenix, and that's a remarkable thing any way you put it from how the vibe Downtown was say just three years ago in 2012.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by locolife

I think what you're saying is kind of in place, with what they call the "Quality job tax credit" I've heard this referenced a lot lately with some of the higher profile company relocation announcements we've had recently.

Tax credits are somewhat different than tax breaks. I can't understand why the Legislature hasn't considered lowering corporate taxes ... unless they were just too busy trying to get their abortion restriction bills passed & what not. Making the cost of doing business even less than what it is now would be a further attraction for reputable business to start up and/or locate here. Eliminating corporate taxes for a certain period of time, or lowering them permanently for businesses that locate downtown would be even more of an incentive.

Think about this too: as it stands now, it might be cheaper for companies to be housed in suburban office parks, but they usually end up paying the price to add on site amenities which aren't readily available in the area, such eateries, gyms, etc. Where I work in downtown Tempe, we don't have any kind of cafeteria on site, but it's no issue because we're so close to Mill Avenue where just about any kind of food can be accessed within walking distance. Saves my company money by not having these extra things.

Originally Posted by BoiWonder13

There may be a whole new +5,000-7,000 residents by 2018 in Downtown Phoenix, and that's a remarkable thing any way you put it from how the vibe Downtown was say just three years ago in 2012.

We can only hope so ... and furthermore, we can only hope there will be more basic amenities (grocery & drug stores) downtown. There also needs to be more jobs, the higher paying competitive jobs which belong in the central core anyway. Downtown already has a good share of these jobs, but it definitely should be on par with other cities our size so that Phoenix can be more of a national & global competitor in the corporate world.