Phoenix Development News (3)

[Leo the Dog]

^I agree. T&C is at least exploring the idea of transforming itself to remain relevant vs. dying a slow death.

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

In some ways, it's a relic, but there's a lot worth remembering and learning about from T&C. The biggest is the intelligent use of shade at the shopping center. The interior has mature trees and awnings that make it a comfortable place to stroll around even in the summer. Back is the shopping center's heyday, customers could park once and then visit interesting shops, restaurants, and a movie theater without having to cross hot asphalt multiple times. Unfortunately, that characteristic has been largely forgotten due to the closure of the movie theater and the neglect of the courtyard and interior passageways. A visionary redevelopment of T&C might put mid-rises up against the street along Camelback while retaining a shaded plaza in the retail areas.

On that note, the developer would want to use caution with the placement of tall buildings. It would be a shame to block the shops from view of the street.

[glynnjamin]

An Ace Hardware would be a much better fit in the Westward Ho's eastern commercial space. We have an Ace in the South Lake Union area of downtown Seattle that is called City Hardware. They basically cater to the apartment and townhome dwellers. Lots of little stuff like paint, hand sanders, plumbing, small house plants. It's in a pretty small building and really does a good job serving the needs of the community. Just a place to get keys made and pick up paint downtown would be a nice change. They could stock that graffiti removal spray and make a killing

[glynnjamin]

BTW, I still think Crispy is wrong. There's no way a 5 Guys is opening there. Smashburger still has Summer 2011 listed for a new Phoenix location.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by westbev93

There is already an Ace at 19th/Grand/McDowell. So while it would have been even more convenient to have one at 7th and McDowell (for me), it probably would have made little economic sense to the owners to open one a mile away from an existing, and long-standing, Ace store.

The ACE at 19th/Grand/McDowell is not a regular consumer-oriented store. It is "associated with Ace Commercial Industrial Supply" per their website. It is oriented towards contractors, closes at 4pm m-f, noon on Saturday and is not open on Sunday. The closest consumer ACE to my house is at 19th Ave and Indian School.

[westbev93]

The hours at that Ace admittedly suck, but they are just as helpful as any other location and, if anything, they seem to have a slightly better selection of items each time I visit. It requires a little more planning for a DYI project, but it beats driving to another Ace, or even worse, to a Home Depot or Lowe's, which are both about 7 miles away.

I'd love to see something happen at that intersection, but the cynic in me doesn't believe you'll see any of that stuff happen. Why is Tom Horne suddenly all about developing his building? That thing has sat underutilized for several years. Seems odd that he would suddenly want to redevelop it now when the market for such things is at an all-time low.

[Crispy]

Originally Posted by glynnjamin

BTW, I still think Crispy is wrong. There's no way a 5 Guys is opening there. Smashburger still has Summer 2011 listed for a new Phoenix location.

I may be...I'm still pretty confident they're going in there. I heard Chipotle and a frozen yogurt place will be open by November. Should see permits coming across in the next couple weeks.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by westbev93

Why is Tom Horne suddenly all about developing his building? That thing has sat underutilized for several years. Seems odd that he would suddenly want to redevelop it now when the market for such things is at an all-time low.

I doubt that it is Tom Horne's building. He just rented space for a campaign office there.

[dtnphx]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

I doubt that it is Tom Horne's building. He just rented space for a campaign office there.

Thank you for saying it. Referring to it as the Tom Horne building made my blood pressure rise!

[westbev93]

I called it that because Tom Horne did own that building up until 10/29/2010. I didn't realize he had sold it off last fall. Now that he has sold it, maybe the new owners will redevelop it.

[westbev93]

And insofar as people like supporting links, here you go

http://recorder.maricopa.gov/recdocdata/...&pg=1&cls=RecorderDocuments&suf=&Pages=3

[HX_Guy]

Good new for Town & Country...

Nordstrom Rack opening at Town & Country
Phoenix Business Journal - by Lynn Ducey

Nordstrom Rack is opening a 35,000-square-foot store at the Shops at Town & County at 20th Street and Camelback Road, marking the store’s first location in the city of Phoenix.
The new store is expected to open in the fall of 2012 and joins other Nordstrom Racks in the Valley, including locations at the Scottsdale Promenade Shopping Center, Chandler Festival Shopping Center, and Arrowhead Crossing in Peoria. Nordstrom also has full-scale department stores Scottsdale Fashion Square and Chandler Fashion Center.
The new Nordstrom Rack will occupy space at the northern end of Town & Country.
“Town & Country is a great setting for the first Nordstrom Rack in the city of Phoenix,” said Mike Ebert, managing partner of RED Development, which recently took over property management at the center. “The shopping center is well positioned for the future with its central location and strong community sentiment. Nordstrom Rack will give shoppers a great new reason to visit this special property.”
Another Nordstrom Rack also is scheduled to open this fall at The Corner in Tucson.


Read more: Nordstrom Rack opening at Town & Country | Phoenix Business Journal

[HooverDam]

Good news: the Oasis on Grand project is coming along and is apparently shooting for a September '11 opening!

http://vanishingphoenix.com/2011/05/25/ground-breaking-grand-avenue-housing-project-breaks-ground/

http://oasisongrand.com/

This is a terrific project and just what Lower Grand needs to become a bona fide, walkable, arts & culture district. I hope someday the Las Palmas Inn on Grand/9th/Polk can be rehabilitated in a similar way.

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Good news: the Oasis on Grand project is coming along and is apparently shooting for a September '11 opening!

http://vanishingphoenix.com/2011/05/25/ground-breaking-grand-avenue-housing-project-breaks-ground/

http://oasisongrand.com/

This is a terrific project and just what Lower Grand needs to become a bona fide, walkable, arts & culture district. I hope someday the Las Palmas Inn on Grand/9th/Polk can be rehabilitated in a similar way.

What's funny is about 8 years ago the guy who owned the place said he was going to do this and all the gallery owners (trunk space and whatever else was there at the time) laughed at him and called bullshit. We never heard anything about it until recently and bam. Shame that even the pioneers of the neighborhoods can't contribute to the area in any constructive capacity.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Good news: the Oasis on Grand project is coming along and is apparently shooting for a September '11 opening!

http://vanishingphoenix.com/2011/05/25/ground-breaking-grand-avenue-housing-project-breaks-ground/

http://oasisongrand.com/

This is a terrific project and just what Lower Grand needs to become a bona fide, walkable, arts & culture district. I hope someday the Las Palmas Inn on Grand/9th/Polk can be rehabilitated in a similar way.

That's great news - I drive through that intersection every day to get to and from work but oddly enough I haven't noticed anything. I hope the area gets developed, right now it seems like a pretty sketchy area - the empty lots, car chop shops, boxing arena and buildings with no street facing windows.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by nickw252

That's great news - I drive through that intersection every day to get to and from work but oddly enough I haven't noticed anything. I hope the area gets developed, right now it seems like a pretty sketchy area - the empty lots, car chop shops, boxing arena and buildings with no street facing windows.

There's a lot of going on along Lower Grand, although it has a sort of DIY quality to it and not as much visibility as high-profile projects in the Downtown Core (e.g. CityScape). Right across the street from the Oasis is the ever-popular Bikini Lounge and the recently-opened Indie Arthouse, where I bought my wife some gifts for our upcoming anniversary. (I think/hope she doesn't lurk on this forum.) A little bit down the street, there's the Bragg Pie Factory and a few other galleries.

There's even an annual Grand Avenue festival, I believe at some point in the fall. With all that going on, the major challenge is that Grand can be hard to get to. It's farther than most people will walk from light rail, and there's no local bus route along Grand. As a result, most visitors arrive by car or bike. There was talk a year or so ago of a sort of DIY trolley project along Grand to connect eventually with light rail at Central Station. I haven't heard much lately, though.

[PHX31]

That would be sweet if they could resurrect a trolley line from central station across van buren up Grand all the way past 15th ave. That was basically already a historic streetcar line, just bring it back. Similar to how they brought back the 4th ave trolley in tucson.

EDIT: after doing a quick search on the historic tucson trolley (old pueblo trolley), it appears that was brought back from the dead for the 1985 100th anniversary of the university of arizona. Bringing back a trolley on grand avenue would have been a great way to celebrate the Arizona Centennial in 2012... maybe it's not too late.

EDIT2:
What if this was a streetcar line, and instead of just heading up Grand, it made a loop around NoDo (j/k - northern downtown). I know it would be impossible to cross the existing light rail line twice, but if there was a loop from central station, west on Van Buren, NW up Grand to 15th Ave, then east on Roosevelt all the way to 4th St, south on 4th St to Van Buren then west on Van Buren back to Central station... that would tie in all of the great parts of northern downtown. It would connect the Grand Ave art scene to the Roosevelt St art scene, connect the BioScience area to everything, connect the Sheraton to everything, and having a streetcar along Roosevelt from 4th St to 15th Ave (probably our most historic urban in-tact stretch of street) would be amazing. On First Fridays they could run the historic trolley cars and connect Grand with Roosevelt (two great areas, but relatively disconnected on First Fridays. The whole stretch would be just over 3 miles.

[dtnphx]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Good news: the Oasis on Grand project is coming along and is apparently shooting for a September '11 opening!

http://vanishingphoenix.com/2011/05/25/ground-breaking-grand-avenue-housing-project-breaks-ground/

http://oasisongrand.com/

This is a terrific project and just what Lower Grand needs to become a bona fide, walkable, arts & culture district. I hope someday the Las Palmas Inn on Grand/9th/Polk can be rehabilitated in a similar way.

That is truly awesome. Projects like this are what is going to make Phoenix great. I'd trade three skycrapers (OK, two) for a project like this. Thanks for the heads up, Hoover.

[HX_Guy]

Hello! This is cool...I love seeing positive shit going on in DT.

Danny Zelisko launches downtown Phoenix music venue
by Ed Masley - May. 26, 2011 10:21 AM
The Arizona Republic

Danny Zelisko has announced the opening of a new, 1,500-capacity music venue in downtown Phoenix called the Foundry.
The venue, located at 402 S. 1st Street, across from Alice Cooperstown, will open Friday, July 8 with a show by New Orleans rockers Cowboy Mouth.
Danny Zelisko Presents, the local industry veteran's new company, has also announced Foundry concerts by Tempe rockers Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers Saturday, July 30; Queensryche Thursday, Sept. 15; Buddy Guy Tuesday, Sept. 20; the Adrian Belew Power Trio with Tony Levin's new group the Stickmen Thursday, Oct. 20; and Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society Friday, Oct. 21."I'm really looking forward," he says, "to making this nightclub happen in a big way."


Zelisko, the Valley's most prominent concert promoter for nearly four decades, parted ways with Live Nation, where he'd been directing Phoenix operations, earlier this year.
He's been a fixture on the Valley music scene since founding Evening Star Productions in 1974.
Zelisko says, "I called Live Nation and said, 'Can I have the name Evening Star back?' And they said, 'No.' "
In addition to booking the Foundry, Zelisko Presents is working with the Arizona State Fair, bringing Billy Idol, Judas Priest, Miranda Cosgrove, 3 Doors Down and Weezer to the fair.
Zelisko also announced the following concerts:
Return to Forever with Zappa Plays Zappa, Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Mesa Arts Center.
Chris Botti, Friday, June 17, at the Orpheum Theatre.
The Musical Box, performing Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Orpheum.
Joe Bonamassa, Monday, Dec. 5, at the Orpheum.
Jerry Riopelle's New Year's Celebration Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Orpheum.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/musi...c-venue-danny-zelisko.html#ixzz1NUTQF4nH

[Vicelord John]

RCPM, I'm there!