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Originally Posted by Jjs5056
Lol, a 4-story single-use lowrise that is totally overparked... so typical of Wood Partners.
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At 225 units/2.6 net acres, this is the densest project for Central Phoenix outside of downtown besides Omninet East and West, the latter two of which haven't moved much and are next to light rail. Alta Central is about twice as dense as the typical 1970's-dense projects that have been coming out from other developers for the area, a vast improvement over their last project (Alta Thomas) and, I should add, is done by a developer that ranks towards the top of an all-important shortlist: building and/or has built in Central Phoenix.
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There's clearly no desire toward making Midtown an actual livable, walkable neighborhood because this project is well short of what was envisioned for the area as a Major Urban Activity Center with heights up to 180 feet. Contrary to an Activity Center, this project actually demolishes the commercial uses that are lacking along the entirety of Central and perpetuates the cycle of projects needing more parking since residents can't find what they need in walking/train distance.
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Wake me when there is need for more retail in the area or 180'+ new builds, especially considering that the journey across Indian School from light rail to this project through shit parking lots leaves the journey for the most intrepid urbanist during summer, and even during non-hellish weather it's still a big ask for the typical Phoenician. The developer has decided that an above-grade-parked, wood-frame constructed building is safe and works, and I agree with that despite how much I'd like Central to be a shopping street up and down. I can be happy that there will be parallel parking on Indianola and patio units on Central for what it's worth.
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There should be very few instances...
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Yes, there *should*, but I think what you are missing is this, much like many projects in Central Phoenix are interim, built-to-be-sold endeavors that work for the current submarket today. The quality mixed-use urban buildings you want for Central Phoenix are a decade or two from now.
Here's my brief Midtown reality check:
- bedraggled with high office vacancies/functionally obsolete high-rises
- fourth or fifth on the importance and desirability list after Downtowns Phoenix and Tempe, the Biltmore/Camelback/16th St, suburbs notwithstanding...Downtown Chandler is more a pedestrian hotbed than Midtown. I'd rather spend an afternoon walking around Downtown Glendale or Mesa than Midtown, ffs.
- needs a lot of fixing in terms of basic infrastructure and the built environment before you see this utopian walkable urban paradise.
- doesn't even remotely compare to the sort of down-the-street boulevards like Market Street in San Francisco or Wilshire in Los Angeles where off-market or locally troubled (Mid Market in SF has a storied history) developments could thrive in theory.
The fact that there are now 2,300 units under planning or construction in Midtown should in itself be considered no small miracle for that corridor. I wouldn't have even considered this a remote possibility during the height of last decade's boom and I still haven't the foggiest idea of where these people are coming from or why they'd want to live there.