Phoenix Development News (3)

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11

Why not put The Pin in Hance Park? That's the type of iconic attraction they are looking for, is it not?

There's a freeway under there, would that work?

[Freeway]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

There's a freeway under there, would that work?

Why wouldn't it? There's a fairly large tower directly over a somewhat similar tunnel on Georgia 400 in Atlanta.

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer11

Why not put The Pin in Hance Park? That's the type of iconic attraction they are looking for, is it not?

Hi Phoenix. New screen name, long time member. Moved from Ohio to Phoenix early this year and have been lurking on you guys for about a year now

I have a lot of interest in the Pin as it was announced practially the first day I moved here and have been watching it closely. Since we have not had any recent developments lately, I decided to contact Brian Stowell about 2 weeks ago. This is part of the response I received...

"The city has expressed interest and plans are still in the works for the project. We have many preliminary issues to work out before we can identify a clear starting date, but we are at work on all of them."

I know that's somewhat of a generic response, but at the least, it looks like the Pin may still be in development and hasn't been cancelled yet.

My opinion of the location picked is due to the proximity of the ballpark, arena, the convention center itself and the high volume of pedestrian traffic this area receives during events which would help boost public interest and attendence. It's a "Hey, while we're here, let's check this out" attraction. Many cities have adopted this philosophy on "riskier" projects with much success. The powers that be know that this location could be a good bet versus a risk if it were buillt anywhere else. Be lucky they didn't pick Westgate

Personally, I would love to see a little more design thought put into it (especially after seeing the observation tower Miami is planning). Plus, my choice would be to build this at the downtown civic park instead which would allow much more height and still have high foot traffic volume. But I don't think the current spot is exactly a bad location considering.

By the way, the Pin appears to have a new name of "Copper Point Tower" according to the website renderings.

[azsunsurfer]

Originally Posted by RonnieFoos

Hi Phoenix. New screen name, long time member. Moved from Ohio to Phoenix early this year and have been lurking on you guys for about a year now

I have a lot of interest in the Pin as it was announced practially the first day I moved here and have been watching it closely. Since we have not had any recent developments lately, I decided to contact Brian Stowell about 2 weeks ago. This is part of the response I received...

"The city has expressed interest and plans are still in the works for the project. We have many preliminary issues to work out before we can identify a clear starting date, but we are at work on all of them."

I know that's somewhat of a generic response, but at the least, it looks like the Pin may still be in development and hasn't been cancelled yet.

My opinion of the location picked is due to the proximity of the ballpark, arena, the convention center itself and the high volume of pedestrian traffic this area receives during events which would help boost public interest and attendence. It's a "Hey, while we're here, let's check this out" attraction. Many cities have adopted this philosophy on "riskier" projects with much success. The powers that be know that this location could be a good bet versus a risk if it were buillt anywhere else. Be lucky they didn't pick Westgate

Personally, I would love to see a little more design thought put into it (especially after seeing the observation tower Miami is planning). Plus, my choice would be to build this at the downtown civic park instead which would allow much more height and still have high foot traffic volume. But I don't think the current spot is exactly a bad location considering.

By the way, the Pin appears to have a new name of "Copper Point Tower" according to the website renderings.

As a representative for the AZ Forums I say welcome! We look forward to your contributions to the forums Ronnie.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by RonnieFoos

Hi Phoenix. New screen name, long time member. Moved from Ohio to Phoenix early this year and have been lurking on you guys for about a year now

Welcome, where in Ohio did you move from? I'm from western Ohio and most recently lived in Toledo

[nickw252]

Does anyone know what's going on at the NW corner of Central and McDowell? There are people working there today. Could this be something like infrastructure improvements related to the proposed Arthaus apartments that are going up behind the Opera Center? Or is this maybe the start of something completely new?

[CrestedSaguaro]

^^^This should be prelimanary groundwork for the artHAUS development. But I have yet to see a rendering and I haven't looked to see if anything else is up for that location. Not sure the 30 unit artHAUS project would fill that entire lot?

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6202479&postcount=4717

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Welcome, where in Ohio did you move from? I'm from western Ohio and most recently lived in Toledo

Thanks for the welcome. I was from the Dayton/ Cincinnati area

[Sean1187]

Long time lurker here too. Originally from San Antonio and moved here a little over a year ago. Just wanted to put my two cents in, but I'm not a huge fan of the design of the observation tower planned. I love the idea of building one and understand the reasoning behind that design, but like I said, I would like to see other options and maybe have the community vote on their favorite. Any who, I'm excited and can't wait for more news!

[westbev93]

I thought the arthaus project was going on the western portion of the AZ Opera lot, which would mean it would be behind the existing building in the background of the photo and fronting on 1st Ave. Of course, I could be wrong.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by RonnieFoos

^^^This should be prelimanary groundwork for the artHAUS development. But I have yet to see a rendering and I haven't looked to see if anything else is up for that location. Not sure the 30 unit artHAUS project would fill that entire lot?

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6202479&postcount=4717

Renderings have been posted. I'll see if I can find them. The ArtHaus development is supposed to be behind (west) of the AZ Opera (as westbev said) facing 1st Ave. It's not taking the entire lot. The lot is enormous, ArtHaus will only take a small portion.

The work could still be infrastructure improvements for the ArtHaus, however.

[gymratmanaz]

Anyone know what is going on at the Arizona Center. The whole west side facade is covered in tarps. Are they opening it up or adding windows or painting????

[Jjs5056]

Originally Posted by gymratmanaz

Anyone know what is going on at the Arizona Center. The whole west side facade is covered in tarps. Are they opening it up or adding windows or painting????

Don't tease. If Arizona Center ever gets a clue and improves its northwest frontage, I'll die happy.

They're probably just adding a billboard.

[azsunsurfer]

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/12/04/photos-a-look-at-asus-new-law-school.html

[dtnphx]

I hope this is just being moved to another day, but as I was looking through a Central Village Planning Committee meeting for 12/9, I saw that one this item was lined out:

5. Presentation and discussion regarding the Phoenix Tower proposed for the
Heritage and Science Park. Jay Thorne & Kerry O’Reilly, Novawest

Hope the deal is not dead...

[HX_Guy]

Detoured through downtown earlier today and snapped some quick progress pictures. Going to dump them all right here since it's easier.


[b]Cityscape apartments just about complete...






New "cocktail parlor" opening in the corner of Central and Jefferson, great location!




These are new, at least to me...lots and lots of green pots on a bunch of streets downtown. They look sort of cool I guess.



West side of AZ Central is all covered and has scaffolding up, not sure what they are doing.




Arizona Cancer Center


Roosevelt Point






DeSoto Building, came out fantastic!

[Jjs5056]

Great photos. DeSoto looks fantastic; fingers crossed for a great tenant who converts at least a portion of the surface lot into a patio or other outdoor use.

Any ideas what could be going on at Arizona Center? If they were adding entrances along 3rd, scaffolding wouldn't be going up first, right? I wonder if it's just signage- movie posters along AMC, for example?

Bitter and Twisted has gotten delayed several times, but they seem super excited and passionate, so I'm confident it'll open in early 2014. Can't wait for some activity along Jefferson... A lone Subway doesn't do Luhrs justice, and this will be the perfect hangout for Palomar guests and apartment residents - great visibility.

No comment on the pots, ha.

[azsunsurfer]

So is it true that the council voted to allow the Circle K on 7th the other day?

[CrestedSaguaro]

Originally Posted by azsunsurfer

So is it true that the council voted to allow the Circle K on 7th the other day?

According to Downtown Devil, yes...or at least the liquor license.

The Phoenix City Council voted 7–1 Wednesday to recommend approval of Circle K’s liquor license application for a new store on Seventh and Roosevelt streets, a decision that is at odds with the suggestion from city staff.

The liquor license is for a new store that would open across the street from the existing Circle K on the northeast corner. The store would be larger and include six gas pumps, for a total of 12 fueling stations.

The vote comes after Circle K’s use permit application was approved at a zoning meeting on Tuesday with 13 stipulations that set certain requirements in order for the company to keep the permit. Those stipulations include a ban on sales of single containers of alcohol and security requirements for weekends and special events.

In order to sell alcohol at the new location, Circle K needs the new liquor license. It also needs the use permit because the new store will be within 300 feet of a residential area.

Circle K attempted to build the new station last year but withdrew its use permit application after community pressure and added stipulations.

Kim Moody, Garfield Organization board member and Alwun House founder, said he was disappointed with the council’s decision.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome,” Moody said. “We appreciated hearing the mayor’s support of our position and the breadth of the opposition. We feel like there are a lot of offers being put on the table that make changes, but we don’t feel like those changes will be in place next year, and we don’t believe that they will live up to their promises.”

Suzy Peel, Circle K real-estate development manager for Arizona, said the company would not comment on the results of the meeting.

The council’s decision on the liquor license has been delayed multiple times. At previous meetings, District 8 Councilman Michael Johnson said the reason for delays was to afford more opportunities for community members and Circle K to negotiate.

“This has been a very difficult issue,” Johnson said before the vote. “I will say that I understand the community and their distrust of Circle K. Since the time that Circle K was turned down the first time, we sent a strong message to Circle K that we wanted them to work with the community. I think that Circle K has gone out and reached out to the community.”

In October, nine community organizations cosigned a letter detailing their requests to Circle K. The letter included requests that Circle K adopt a different design for the building, prohibit sales of single containers and provide additional security.

While many of those requests are addressed in the use permit stipulations, Dan Klocke, vice president of development for the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, said during the meeting that he felt the stipulations did not go far enough.

“I, too, would like to thank Councilman Johnson for his support in trying to help us come to a conclusion,” Klocke said. “A nice, new, shiny building is great, but it doesn’t necessarily change corporate culture. That’s why we have these stipulations that we were asking for and Circle K did help with those, and we appreciate that. It fell a little bit short in our minds, and so, from that perspective, we are still opposed to this liquor license.”

Klocke said that some of the things that were missing were changes to the store design, restricting sales of single alcohol containers at other Circle Ks in the Garfield neighborhood and providing 24-hour security.

“We’re actually relatively close,” Klocke said. “We just hope that a couple of other things could happen.”


Van Roberts Sr. waits for the meeting to start while sporting a ‘Friends of Circle K’ t-shirt. (Sophie Blaylock/DD)
Nine people spoke in opposition to the liquor license at the meeting and 12 people spoke in favor. However, more people submitted cards opposing Circle K than supporting.

Both sides offered lengthy defenses of their positions and discussion of the issue lasted for an hour and a half. Supporters pointed to Circle K’s actions in Maryvale as evidence that the company could be involved with the community, while those who opposed the license expressed a strong concern about the possibility of increased crime and traffic.

At the start of the meeting, at least five people were wearing shirts that said, “Friends of Circle K.”

John Hammon, one of the people wearing the shirts, said that he and his wife were given the shirts by a man in a green van.

“He said, ‘Here, have a shirt and come down to this place,’ and so we came down here,” Hammon said. “We were told to come down here with our shirts, and somebody gives you 10 bucks or something.”

Peel said that the man distributing the shirts was Jarrett Maupin Sr., the father of Rev. Jarrett Maupin Jr. At the meeting, Maupin Jr. spoke in favor of Circle K. Peel said that Circle K had not offered to pay any of the people in the shirts. All of the people wearing the shirts left the meeting before discussion of Circle K started and were not present for the vote.

Moody said that the community would appeal the decision to the state liquor board.

“The ZA (Zoning Administrator) stipulations are our only promise that there will be improvement,” Moody said. “That’s what we’re living with now, and we will be appealing it to the state liquor board.”

All liquor licenses are approved or denied by the state liquor board. There is a 15-day protest period for complaints. If the board receives complaints during that time, the liquor board will hold a hearing before issuing its decision.

http://downtowndevil.com/2013/12/05/52178/phoenix-circle-k-liquor-license-stanton-garfield/

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by RonnieFoos

According to Downtown Devil, yes...or at least the liquor license.



http://downtowndevil.com/2013/12/05/52178/phoenix-circle-k-liquor-license-stanton-garfield/

The Zoning Administrator approved a Use Permit, does that not mean that the Use Permit, with its stipulations, still needs to go before the Council?