Phoenix Development News (3)

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

I'm not sure what anybody really expected, but it doesn't appear to be that bad. It would be one thing if some grandiose building was demo'd for this development.

it looks like something that belongs in the midwest in one of those new master planned faux urban developments.

[FortyAcres]

looks like appropriate phoenix architecture to me

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by PHX31

/\ That would be great... northern downtown (really, most of central phoenix) needs these types of small apartment or multifamily buildings, hopefully mixed-use, to be built on the gobs of empty lots we have. Mostly all of the individual empty lots that had their original old houses or small commercial buildings demolished would be prime candidates for these types of developments, probably not the superblocks that the City has accumulated. I would honestly rather see a sea of small, dense, varied multi-family and mixed use buildings throughout downtown and northern downtown, with the odd superblock development or high-rise development thrown in, then an entire downtown of master planned CityScape huge developments (or huge alta-style apartment buildings everywhere).

I'm thinking since downtown Phoenix lost a lot of its historic built environment, we could build a new modern and dense and interesting/varied city.

I want to see more sizzle in the urban core. That will more likely foster the kind of infill that you envision at a quality level that you desire.

I want more high rises, or mid-rises with nice set-backs, especially office buildings. In spite of the way Phoenix has built out, I'm convinced that going forward downtown can and will become the financial/business center.

Kudos to Mayor Gordon as he helped push through a delightful combination of improvements downtown over the last decade. I know it has been a struggle in the past, but the urban core is at a
pivot point and poised to become more attractive to a wide range of business interests that will see downtown as their preferred option.

We just need a little time to absorb some of the existing vacancy and some refreshed energy in the local economy.

I expect downtown to become the "A" place for "A" space.

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

it looks like something that belongs in the midwest in one of those new master planned faux urban developments.

I'll have to check it out in person. Always hard to get the real feel from a picture.

[pbenjamin]

I have mixed feelings. It certainly could have been done better, but watching the construction it did not strike me as having much to recommend it, no brickwork hidden behind the facade, no interesting beams, etc. It appears to have been a crappy building to start out with. At least we are getting some restaurants that don't close at 2 pm and it appears to have encouraged the folks across the street (who have a much more interesting building and appear as though they might be doing the right thing with it) to go ahead with their development efforts.

[dtnphx]

Speaking of that center, I was trolling around city of Phoenix website liquor license requests and there is a request by: How Do You Roll? I'm guessing it's a sushi place. Not sure of it's petigree, but an independent place for a change.

[pbenjamin]

Good catch. It is a sushi chain out of Austin, Texas. Their website lists this as a "Rollin' Soon" location. They appear to be expanding rapidly into AZ, CA and FL.

[HX_Guy]

Whoa that's weird. Just this past Sunday I was at Sakana with my wife and some friends and we were talking about how cool it would be if there was a sushi place where you could choose your own ingredients...and now there it is! I hope they have good hours (and good quality), I can see visiting this place quite often.

[dtnphx]

Upload issues.

[PHX31]

Calabria is closing its doors at 7th St and Virginia while the Phoenix Cheesesteak company takes its place.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2011/11/calabria_italian_kitchen_close.php

This leads to the following statement: The 7th Street food/bar scene through the Coronado neighborhood continues to grow organically and is really awesome.

But seriously, from approximately Palm to Virginia (btwn McDowell and Thomas), 7th Street is really taking off. There have been several new restaurants open up, most in unique little houses, and all of them are non-chains with basically local people putting up their money. We should be supporting these establishments. I expect there will be additional establishments going into the other houses and such along this stretch.

From South to North (see map below):

1. Green/Nami: Vegan Restaurant = Green. Vegan Coffee, pastry, soy-gurt = Nami. This place is newly opened and beautifully renovated, taking the place of the old That's a Wrap and the old house next door. Good vegan food (per my vegan sis-in-law) and their Tsoynamis are delicous at Nami (try the s'mores one). Unique feature = the Green building was an old neighborhood grocer... I always thought it was just a house, but the downstairs was a small store and the tiny upstairs was where a family lived.

2. Coco's: Blech, not sure why people would go here over anywhere else on 7th St.

3. America's Taco Shop: The original one. Good eats for a weekend afternoon. Good beans and guac and $2 Pacificos (all the time I think?). Nice patio.

4. Coronado Cafe: One of the first, more sit-downy-type lunch and dinner faire. Effing delicious chocolate chip cookie.

5. Rice Paper: New Vietnamese restaurant and bar. Spring rolls up the wazoo and they are good. A bit over priced, but a really nicely renovated old house and cool place to have drinks.

5b. La Piccola Cucina: Not sure the deal with this place. Haven't been since they opened, but they have a gelato bar and lunch/dinner/wine.

6. McAlpine's: Old fashioned soda fountain, coffee, lunch and dinner. Cool little place taking up an old '20s or '30s Pharmacy. Not the greatest food (burgers, sandwiches) but fun and unique place (where else is an "original" soda shop in phoenix?). Surrounded by vintage/antique stores. If the owners had money they should renovate the place a bit better and restore the brick facade of the building.

7. Perc Up: New Breakfast/lunch/coffee place. Really nice people and delicioso food. I had a SW breakfast burrito with homemade salsa and it was awesome. Their fresh fruit that comes with stuff is literally freshly cut good fruit, not the 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 "fresh fruit" you are used to.

8. Humble Pie: Same place that they have up in Scottsdale (and/or Desert Ridge?)... but I like the pizza a lot. Good drink specials and a cool hang out place.

9. The Main Ingredient: Great bar and the best patio in the area. 1/2 priced pints every day during happy hour.

10. New India Bazaar and Chaat Cafe. Haven't been here but have been meaning to. Apparently the little food items you can get at the counter/cafe are good. Mostly a grocery.

11. Virginia Market: Nice people, regular liquor and convenience store, but they have a really good beer and wine selection as well as quickly made pizza slices/sandwiches/chicken/etc in a small counter/cafe.

12. The new Phoenix Cheesesteak Company: To open soon.

[Vicelord John]

yup, coronado has become a really neat neighborhood, and with willo/palmcroft, midtown, and Madison Park taking off, Phoenix more and more is getting unique neighborhoods.

Sad about Calabria, though I can't say I'm surprised. That dude just sat there watching TV all the time and rarely had customers.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

yup, coronado has become a really neat neighborhood, and with willo/palmcroft, midtown, and Madison Park taking off, Phoenix more and more is getting unique neighborhoods.

Sad about Calabria, though I can't say I'm surprised. That dude just sat there watching TV all the time and rarely had customers.

I used to go to the original Gold Spot location regularly (the one that is now Lola Downtown), but I never made it to 7th Street. Any idea why they moved?

[PHX31]

/\probably much cheaper rent on 7th street, and they still couldn't make it.

That location on 7th street is relatively nondescript, it will be interesting to see if the Phoenix cheesesteak place will be able to sustain customers and survive.

[westbev93]

I'm not entirely sure, but I'd assume that the rent at the Gold Spot building was too high. I enjoyed the sandwiches, but those people are terrible at marketing. Nobody knew they had reopened at a new location after closing the first location. Seems to me that if you had some amount of clientele at the first place, you would try to go out of your way to tell them where you moved to. That didn't really seem to happen. The new location also had a pretty 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 parking situation, which I am sure contributed to the failure there. There were about 3 parking spots in front and a small lot (maybe 6 spaces) in back. Probably sufficient for most times, but they were open for about 6 months before putting up a sign indicating that there was parking in the back.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by westbev93

I'm not entirely sure, but I'd assume that the rent at the Gold Spot building was too high. I enjoyed the sandwiches, but those people are terrible at marketing. Nobody knew they had reopened at a new location after closing the first location. Seems to me that if you had some amount of clientele at the first place, you would try to go out of your way to tell them where you moved to. That didn't really seem to happen. The new location also had a pretty 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 parking situation, which I am sure contributed to the failure there. There were about 3 parking spots in front and a small lot (maybe 6 spaces) in back. Probably sufficient for most times, but they were open for about 6 months before putting up a sign indicating that there was parking in the back.

This is the first that I had heard that they went someplace else after Gold Spot. I wasn't all that impressed with the place anyway. I had hoped that it would be more of a real Italian market than a place to get sandwiches and such.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by PHX31

But seriously, from approximately Palm to Virginia (btwn McDowell and Thomas), 7th Street is really taking off. There have been several new restaurants open up, most in unique little houses, and all of them are non-chains with basically local people putting up their money. We should be supporting these establishments. I expect there will be additional establishments going into the other houses and such along this stretch.

4. Coronado Cafe: One of the first, more sit-downy-type lunch and dinner faire. Effing delicious chocolate chip cookie.

6. McAlpine's: Old fashioned soda fountain, coffee, lunch and dinner. Cool little place taking up an old '20s or '30s Pharmacy. Not the greatest food (burgers, sandwiches) but fun and unique place (where else is an "original" soda shop in phoenix?). Surrounded by vintage/antique stores. If the owners had money they should renovate the place a bit better and restore the brick facade of the building.

All I can claim so far and enjoyed both.
I have someone who I've promised to take to the area (cause I like).

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

This is the first that I had heard that they went someplace else after Gold Spot. I wasn't all that impressed with the place anyway. I had hoped that it would be more of a real Italian market than a place to get sandwiches and such.

I tried to buy some meats/cheeses there once and the guy told me he could order anything I wanted. I was like, um, but I want to take it home now. He also didn't have any advertised prices on things, and it seemed like he made them up on the spot.

[dtnphx]

I found an interesting item for a City of Phoenix zoning adjustment meeting on 12/1. The rectangle parcel on the SWC of Central & Camelback had an office project proposed that was really out of scale for the area and area residents went nutzo. Seems as though they are pursuing a hotel now to be put on the corner and the link shows the stipulations the developer wants the city to approve. Seems pretty early on in the process, but an urban hotel right where the light rail has a major platform would be friggin' cool.

http://phoenix.gov/PUBMEETC/1034.html

Scroll down to Item 12

[pbenjamin]

Isn't the parcel more a triangle than a rectangle?

[dtnphx]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Isn't the parcel more a triangle than a rectangle?

Sorry, meant triangle.