Filling in

In the 2000s boom, central Phoenix saw many proposals and promises — including 60-story towers in Midtown — but hardly any private development happened. It took years of heavy lifting to get WilloWalk/Tapestry and One Lexington.

Finally, even though the local economy has yet to fully recover from the Great Recession, the central core is seeing major infill. One prime example is Lennar's Muse apartments, built on the long dormant empty lot at the northwest corner of Central and McDowell, once home to AT&T's offices.

Just south, and also near the light-rail (WBIYB) station is a massive apartment complex under way near the Burton Barr Central Library. The north side of Portland Park has a tall condo building. More apartments are complete around Roosevelt and Third Street, while a crane hovers over the former site of Circles Records, erecting Empire Group's 19-story apartments. South of One Lexington, the long construction of the Edison condos is nearing completion.

This is transit-oriented development and it's finally happening.

An aside: Why does the announcement on trains say, "McDowell and Central, cultural district" instead of "Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix Central Library," and "Roosevelt and Central, arts district" instead of "Roosevelt Row arts district"? 

I'm not sure where the money is coming from. Some hot Chinese investment is surely at work, although the slow pace of construction compared with Seattle, Portland, Denver, or Charlotte makes me think some of these developers are working from bridge loan to bridge loan. The big driver is the growth of ASU's downtown campus, although the central city has seen more corporate investment, such as Banner taking over the skyscraper at Thomas and Central.

Downtown and Midtown Phoenix are no longer dotted with enormous swaths of empty lots, land-banked in real-estate investment trusts as far away as Tel Aviv. Preservation has suffered. The Circles building is gone. So is the mid-century bank building just north of the library. In Seattle, Paul Allen's Vulcan preserved numerous historic buildings and facades in the transformation of Lake Union into an innovation district anchored by Amazon.

And there's the rub: Phoenix lacks major corporate headquarters with thousands of high-paying jobs — anywhere, much less on light rail. Thus, it's impossible for most Phoenicians to enjoy the true live-work-play life without the burden of a car, as I do in Seattle. Rents are high because wages are so low in the metropolitan area. And most have suburban values — I know people living in the historic districts who wouldn't set foot on light rail.

Although the Downtown Biosciences Campus continues a slow build-out, Phoenix missed the meds-and-eds, bench-to-bedside promise of T-Gen. With more focus, capital, and support, this could have been another Texas Medical Center, with research outfits, medical schools, and a new county hospital, all on one site. The hospital was sandbagged by Banner, which built a new tower at the former Good Samaritan, far from light rail. Density, with high-skilled talent and urban amenities, is essential to innovation.

One of the biggest disappointments of the infill is lack of shade trees. Phoenix should be making the water investment in cottonwoods, mesquites, willows, ashes, and acacias. Many are native to the Salt River Valley. They would provide essential shade and cooling, as well as mitigating CO2. Instead, we see hundreds of skeleton palo verdes and — gah! — gravel. This only makes the heat island worse. Most Phoenicians today have no memory of the oasis that was once here. "We live in a desert!" they smugly say, throwing down the bounty of the Arizona Rock Products Association. No. If you are in central Phoenix, you live in a natural oasis.

Two big challenges for downtown are the future of the Diamondbacks and the Suns. Big-bucks owners will blackmail the city (or county) for new stadiums with the threat of taking their teams to the rez. Chase Field's future is especially threatened. If even one team is lost, this would be an immense blow to the revival of downtown.

I rode light rail from the stop by my Midtown condo to a book signing at the Mesa Convention Center. Downtown Mesa remains sleepy, despite all the hype of revival. It has good bones. It lacks a population with urban values. Some of the circa 1970 civic center survives, and I was reminded how Mesa had its city hall, library, police headquarters, and main fire station in attractive, human-scaled, and complementary designed buildings — all set in a park with grass and shade trees. This was a grand civic statement for a city of 63,000. Now, the newer fortress-like library looks like the abandoned home of a bankrupt logistics firm. The mid-rise city hall is bleak and uninspiring. With a population of 485,000 — larger than Cincinnati, St. Louis or the city of Atlanta — Mesa has little to show for it.

Finally, I continue to be baffled by the "shade structures" that are metal beams or metal coverings with holes in them. They provide no shade at all. No wonder metro Phoenix is America's skin-cancer capital.

Gallery — Click on photo for a larger image:

Shady Portland Parkway in 2022. It's taken decades, but this lovely remnant of the City Beautiful Movement is back to where it was in the 1960s, now surrounded by new apartments. Roosevelt Row is a block south and light rail stops nearby. The Moreland Parkway, a block north, was lost to Papago Freeway inner loop (Jon Talton photo).

Tapestry on Central just north of Encanto Boulevard was the first major infill project, begun in 2002. It was originally called WilloWalk because of its proximity to the Willo Historic District to the west. The developer went defunct, but the project was revived and completed around 2007. Mary Coyle's Ice Cream Parlor is in the building.

Park Central revived with the Creighton University medical school, apartments, restaurants, and a hotel under construction. It's convenient to light rail.

Seventh Avenue and McDowell reclaimed with restaurants and offices (City of Phoenix).

The old Circles Records is now the Stewart apartments on Central Avenue.

This view from Fair Trade Coffee at Roosevelt at the First Avenue split from Central shows new mid-rises.

A 2022 view of downtown looking over the ASU Civic Space Park.

Hanny's was the first downtown department store built after World War II. Now it's been restored as a restaurant at First Street and Adams in this 2022 view.

This long-lens photo shows the dramatic infill that has taken place downtown, as seen from the Willo Historic District in Midtown looking south (Logan Seninski photo).

A nighttime view of downtown in 2022 looking southeast over the skyline.

Rooftop dining at the downtown Westin, northeast corner of Van Buren and Central. It sits where a surface parking lot was located for decades.

Downtown looking southeast over CityScape, the ballpark and arena, and Luhrs Building in 2022.

Looking west across the parking lot at block 23 in 2019 (Brad Hall collection).

Block 23 construction in 2019, with a mixed-use building including a new Fry's grocery store (Brad Hall collection).

The downtown Fry's grocery outside...

...and inside (Jon Talton photos).

Midtown in 2020.

The Downtown Biosciences Campus continues to expand from the modest initial TGen building (green window sashes on right).

A slice of ASU's Downtown Campus.

The Thunderbird School of Global Management, under ASU's wing, was moved downtown to 401 N. First Street to this new building.

Civic Space Park with its centerpiece "Her Secret is Patience" by sculptor Janet Echelman.

The transformational power of light rail, with new apartments north of the Burton Barr Central Library. This is the McDowell Road station.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[terry dudas]

Yup - went to Mesa once. That was enough.

[soleri]

I have a good friend who just moved from Scottsdale's upscale McCormick Ranch to midtown Phoenix's Villa del Coronado. After years of worrying there wasn't any "there" there, he decided central Phoenix was now worth the risk. Of course, this area was created in a time when there was an organic city with great design and legacy greatness. You don't find wonderful museums, a nearby symphony orchestra and opera, along with historic districts in master-planned developments on the fringe. The good life is available now but if it's something deeper than great rooms with giant TV screens, you necessarily look for it in an older city.

Phoenix may be a shaky lattice to grow roses on but the fact it is coveted now is great news for the urban warriors who curated hope in our long dismal night of mindless sprawl. If Arizona has a better future ahead, it's going to come from the historic city because that's where a real civic conscience resides. You don't realize how interdependent we are until you live in real communities with real histories and values. Consumers might get more bang for their buck in Surprise and Gilbert but you won't find much if any soul there. Maybe someday in the future, people will build and preserve their neighborhoods from love rather than carnal pleasure. Until then, places like central Phoenix remain the best bet.

[phxSUNSfan]

During my recent trip to Phoenix the biggest surprise for me was the actual construction of the long-awaited grocery store in downtown proper. Block 23 is being built on the former Penny's Department Store site. It will include a Fry's Grocery store, street level retail, over 200,000 sq ft of office space and more than 330 apartment units. 2 large cranes stand over the site. You can see a time-lapse of the construction site and current view here: https://app.oxblue.com/open/WhitingTurner/Block23

[Cal Lash]

Aint that just wonderful?

[soleri]

Cal, in lieu of destroying the Sonoran desert with more schlocky faux-Tuscan villas, yes it is wonderful.

[Mark P]

I have been a fan of Jon Talton since his days at the AZ Republic back in the '90's and have been reading his Rogue Columnist's blogs since he moved on. I appreciate the Arizona history and perspective Jon provides in his articles. Jon's constant messages about urban sprawl and the benefits of moving back to the city is the main reason I moved out of Anthem after 18 years north of the valley and back to Phoenix. I really like living in Muse and I enjoy the area (museums, restaurants, bars, light rail, etc). Just wanted to drop a note to Jon and let him know he is the reason I moved!

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated.

[Cal Lash]

Soleri, with all due respect, I disagree. You can build all the Trump high rise buildings you want in “downtown” Phoenix and it will not stop sprawl. It may even accelerate such.

Next time you leave that Isle of tranquility and are in the hood of Slope rent a vehicle and drive any direction to a border. Try 202 or 60 east and note that up against the mighty Superstition and her wonderful blossoming Sajuaros are hundreds of apartments, condos and houses under construction. Drive east on 10 into the ever expanding Marana and all the communities of the Tucson area and see the expansive building and paving into the Tucson Mountains and Mount Lemmon. Drive on towards Benson where the “Developers” have planned a community of thousands of houses. Believing High-rise enterprise and housing will stop sprawl is a fantasy on the scale of the myth of gods.

I have read many nerdy techno statisticians and philosophers that keep trying to dispel the words of Thomas Malthus. They too, as others here, live in that same Utopian Idealistic overly optimistic world. Human Sprawl will continue until the planet brings it to a screeching halt.

And giving the current drill baby drill greed monsters running the country it will come even sooner.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/02/06/a-key-part-of-earths-ozone-layer-is-failing-to-recover-and-scientists-dont-know-why/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e074b9953de8

But then maybe Donald who thinks he is Genghis Kahn and his Macho cop like mustached Attila the Hun will end it very soon with a brilliant scorched earth plan

[Tom Lane]

Jon, I am not a fan of high density downtowns, but I'm really glad that you pointed out that Phoenix needs more native shade trees, and that gravel (gravelscaping) looks terrible.

[Tom Lane]

Sun City Mesquite (NV) and Sun City Anthem (AZ), use native plants in abundance. They are car dependent, but certainly provide examples of native vegetation that could be used in downtown Phoenix and downtown Scottsdale. Search Tom Lane Facebook Scottsdale and I'll put up some photos of Sun City Mesquite native plants.

[soleri]

Cal, I was in Arizona in January and I saw the horror show up close. Good cities, however, mitigate the damage humans do to the planet. The per capita carbon expenditure in New York City is significantly less than that of the average American. Cities perform a critical civic function, too. If you live in dense cities you understand the importance of other people. Their well-being is no longer an abstract concern. It's why the consciousness-level of city dwellers is higher than that of don't-tread-on-me exurbanites. This translates politically to a respect for complexity, science, and empiricism.

Imagine if Phoenix were a truly vibrant city. This would mean Arizona would likely be a blue state (a function Portland performs in Oregon, Seattle in Washington, Denver in Colorado, e.g.). This would mean better land use planning along with fewer land swaps benefiting real-estate hustlers. A progressive Arizona would not allow developers to offload the costs of their environmental vandalism on the rest of us.

There are seven and a half billion people crowding this blue dot in a vast cosmic void. The trick is to get them to understand how finite the planet's resources are. Good cities are absolutely critical for this reason. There simply isn't enough space for everyone to live as if other people and future generations don't matter. Keep connecting with others and explain to them why this matters. Chances are you'll find more willing listeners in central Phoenix and Tempe than Sun City and Mesa. There's a good reason for that.

[Cal Lash]

Soleri, I agree,
however
"no one's listening"!
well not many!

[soleri]

Cal, you are a unique blend of message and messenger. It's not many retired cops who revere the Sonoran Desert to the point that you are now politically "woke". Most lefties are not authentic in this way - we overintellectualize and tend to be impatient and dismissive of "real Americans". I urge you to exercise your gifts for the desert you love and a planet that needs all the help it can get. You've got an interesting story to tell. Please tell it.

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks for your eloquent words, Soleri. I agree.

Cal, lots of people are listening. The "back to the city" movement nationally is one of the most profound changes in the past 70 years. Young talent, empty-nest boomers, and companies are moving into great cities. This is happening despite cheap gasoline and continued subsidies for suburbanization.

It's even happening in Phoenix.

[Cal Lash]

Thanks Soleri, I have “liked” the desert since 1950. In the Gobi desert I would be short 17 months of being 80. I hope to spend my remaining days in a desert. All morning I have watched the many southwestern birds that eat and wash in the food and water and mist that I provide outside my motorhome. I listen to the coyotes on the hunt at night. And cruising the blacktop I watch the hawks that sit atop APS light poles looking for a kill.
The following quote from Mezcal by, “Chuck, Charles C Bowden, sums it up for me.
“ The desert, the big empty where humans do not dominate, is necessary to slow down my velocity, to rid the clutter from my brain. But it is too late for me, I am too long out of the Stone Age and I can only visit the past.”

[Cal Lash]

Jon, I have read such that you speak of. Maybe Dune is the answer. I really admired Fran Herbert’s series but like Abbeys book the Monkey Wrench Gang, no seems to be able to bring it Strongly to film. I hope you are right but I fear the plan may eventually require Soylent Green and then there is….. https://www.economist.com/briefing/2015/05/09/rise-of-the-machines
and https://www.nationalreview.com/2013/12/minimum-wage-and-rise-machines-jonah-goldberg/

[Cal Lash]

For followers here if your interested there are new posts on Phoenix Confidential OCB.

http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2017/11/phoenix-confidential-ocb.html

[Jon7190]

The Texas Medical Center in Houston was mentioned as a positive example. Since I work there, I can tell you first hand it is an impressive place. Six large hospitals, a few more smaller ones, two medical schools/research centers, and a nursing school all in a few square miles. It appears larger and taller than many cities' downtowns.

And it does have a light rail running north to downtown and beyond, and south. It seems to be well used, which is good because limited parking in an issue.

[soleri]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/opinion/populist-populism-fertility-rates.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront

This article in The Times explains why the Back to the City movement is so strong now in America and, on the flip side, why it might be driving so much of our political dysfunction. In fact, this dysfunction is a global phenomenon because of falling population rates.

[Cal Lash]

I'm not able to read that site.
I do know that the worlds population is still growing. Ruben and i likely will not be around to see it shrinking(depending on The US and Korea actions). What little i know about populism seems to id Bernie and Donald?

[Cal Lash]

Side note: i see Trump finally sorta won a war on NFL protestors, particularly black players. However since i consider American Football and Hockey felonious activities i will not witness this on and off field continuing stupid soap opera between a moron and overpaid thugs.

[Cal Lash]

FILLED IN:
For you optimists
I suggest a new book by Gary Krist, The Mirage Factory.

LA “used less water in 2015 than in 1970 despite gaining one million additional residents. The mirage in the desert has become indelibly real. It’s up to a new generation of urban image makers to ensure it continues to flourish.”

Dorothy Parker once described LA as “seventy-two suburbs in search of a city.”

[Rogue Columnist]

Today's LA is quite misunderstood, especially by Zonies:

http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2018/02/another-los-angeles.html

[Randy Vogel]

I agree with you on the ridiculous metal shade! People throw in gravel and then expect trees to live without water. Fascinating!