^If out of State visitors can ever find the thing. You've got to rent a car to get there and anyone in town for a short trip or a Convention will never see the MIM, its a shame.

My hope is that someday the MIM opens a branch campus in Midtown somewhere, akin to the Heard Museums branches in Surprise and N. Scottsdale. If they just had a small museum in Midtown with a rotating exhibit that would be terrific, then they could provide a shuttle bus out to the MIM in Desert Ridge.

How does it lend itself nicely to the desert? It's not located in a nice desert location, its a stone's throw away from the 101 and surrounded by strip malls and gas stations.

I tell a lot of people to go there but unfortunately it mostly falls on deaf ears. Those who do go love it, I loved it. The building is amazing and lol at them removing the lybian display momentarily when the weapons thing was going on.

Have you actually been?

rhetorical question, FTW.

The building is fan-fucking-tastic, and anyone who hasn't been really should go. I agree it's unfortunate they built it in the suburbs, but they couldn't have done what they did downtown.

I'll only go if there is an "Uptown Arts District -->" sign on the 101 off-ramp.

there are no strip malls around there, or many gas stations for that matter unless you count the circle k's at tatum and bell, or in desert ridge. the desert surrounding it is actually quite nice, its a beautiful area.

I'm not sure what you mean here, unless you're just specifically referring to it sitting in a desert site. But that building itself could easily on the NW corner of Central and McDowell with room to spare. Plus there's tons of underused parking lots around Park Central, or up around Indian School Rd it could've fit on. Thats just with its current size too, if they selected a Central City site it would've been a totally different building and had a smaller footprint.

Its just unfortunate that the MIM will likely struggle for a while because of such a poor location, its just too far from any other attractions. Even if it were in Old Town Scottsdale it could've done better and built on the synergy there.

I believe I recall reading that the MIM was funded by the guy who owns Target and he has a winter home somewhere in the Desert Ridge area, so that probably explains its location.

Like I've said before the NW corner of Central/McDowell really would've been perfect, its about 7 acres, the MIMs current configuration is about 5 acres. You could've put the Museum there with a nice grand entrance facing Central Ave, had plenty of room for desert plants/gardens, put the parking underground (and much less parking would be needed b/c of LRT) and even of had room for an apartment/condo tower on the site. Then we really would've had a Midtown "Museum District" and the MIM could've taken part in First Fridays, been a big draw for Convention visitors, etc.

Now I just hope for a small branch campus; if they could open something that had each of their 5 zones with a display from just one country in each zone (that rotated quarterly or so) that would be terrific. Add in a cafe, small store and a smaller performance space (maybe 100 seats) and I think you'd have a real asset to the City.

I wasn't aware Central and McDowell had desert for the building to interact with, but what do I know, I only pass by there a dozen times a week.

Change of subject...

My trip to Romania in photos! :)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show....php?p=5531459

Looks like fun... and we do have pastry shops in the U.S. Maybe not in suburban wasteland where you live, but there's three near my house, and one of them is a Mexican pastry shop.

and humans have yet to harness the technology for planting desert plants.

The MIMs location is hardly in the middle of a desert preserve, the one side is a big arterial street, the South side is a MAN MADE xeriscape, the North side is a collector street and the West side is a surface parking lot.

Actually, it is in a desert preserve, it's called Reach11.

Actually, its not.

Enjoy this map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=reach+...m&z=15&vpsrc=6

Directly North of Reach 11 is that retirement community, then the MIM.

I have not been there and I am not criticizing whether it is a nice institution or not. I have driven by and I don't get the impression that it's in a nice desert location. It's right off the 101, a major highway, north is the Desert Ridge Mall and a few office parks and parking garages, south is a major suburban arterial, west is the 51, another major highway.

The campus itself may be very attractive and have many desert plants and cactuses planted around the building. That, however, does not make a nice desert location.

I've been to MIM and I commented on the AZ Central article. The building and campus are nice, but they're LEED-certified sprawl. Sure, there are solar panels on the roof, but the building's placement in far northeast Phoenix is an inducement for just about everyone to drive there. The transit-dependent who will actually take the hour-long ride on the 44 bus to get up there probably can't afford the $15 admission fee. Even worse, the isolated location reduces the opportunity for synergies with other institutions with related missions. The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, and most other musically oriented organizations are Downtown.

While the MIM campus is nicely xeriscaped, the surrounding area may not remain desert. If the economy rebounds enough, expect the nearby land to be developed. Reach 11 is in the general area, but not adjacent to the museum. I don't know the exact reason for MIM's remote location. It could have been a desire for cheap land, all the foolish hype about CityNorth becoming a "second downtown," or just another case of an executive wanting to build near his home rather than in a central location. Regardless, I supsect MIM's unfortunate site will be a drag on the institution, and I hope it will consider a satellite location as Hoover has suggested.

Speaking of he MIM/public transportation, it seems like the neighborhood circulator that used to serve the Desert Ridge area no longer exists, is that right? I don't see any reference to it on Valley Metro's site:

http://routes.valleymetro.org/timetables/6/route_list

It would've been nice if it had a stop at the MIM.

Though if future funding is ever available for more Neighborhood circulators, I'd rather see them link into the LRT and serve areas like Garfield, Willo, Calle 16, the 7's, Christown, etc.

Yes, that was one of the circulators killed off due to revenue shortfalls & low ridership. I agree that circulators should be concentrated in areas near LRT & major bus routes. The most successful circulators seem to be in Sunnyslope & Tempe.

The circulator in Maryvale gets a ton of usage as well. Mostly Hispanic housewives going to Ranch Market.

Speaking of Circulators that connect poorer areas to LRT, I drew this idea up for a Garfield/Eastlake Circulator a while back (I probably posted this before as well):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=...20266,0.038495

Unfortunately the shape looks like a handgun, which is sort of unintentionally funny...but I do think it connects all the major points in that area: (clockwise from LRT station)

-Eastlake LRT
-Apartments/condos
-Verde Park
- PHX Prep Academy
- BioMed District/Downtown Core
- Arts District/First Fridays/Roosevelt Row
- the East part of Roosevelt row; Welcome Diner, Alwun House, etc
- Garfield School
- South edge of Calle 16
- Ranch Market & surrounding shopping/dining
- Edison School and Medical Clinic
- Edison Park
- St Luke's
- Businesses along VB

It seems something like that, along with a concerted effort by the City to rebuild the Urban Forest in the planter strips in Garfield and Eastlake would be huge first steps towards moving the neighborhoods forward. It would make living in Garfield a lot more viable for those who work at St Luke's or the expanding BioMedical district and would provide an easy means of reaching shopping and businesses for neighborhood residents.