Phoenix Development News (3)

[Vicelord John]

I agree something needs to be done, and yeah the budget isn't there, but I'd rather have had a big monument put in somewhere that was a small but truly remarkable piece. Maybe something right downtown, rather than somewhere that 99% of people will never go.

[HooverDam]

^Well anything Centennial related is obviously going to go in the Capitol Mall area and that makes sense. We should be looking at ways to make the Capitol Mall somewhere that 99% of people want to go, instead of a wasteland like it is now. The Capitol areas in most states are big tourist areas with lush vegetation and people enjoy them, ours ought to be the same.

EDIT:

http://downtowndevil.com/2010/09/08/...on-determined/

Future skate park location determined
By Jessica Choi, On Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 |

Margaret T. Hance Park will be the location of Phoenix's new Urban Skate Plaza. The park is located near West Culver Street and North Central Avenue. (Stephanie Snyder/DD)

The Parks and Recreation Board Subcommittee unanimously voted the south side of Margaret T. Hance Park as the recommended site of Phoenix’s new Urban Skate Plaza on Wednesday.
Hance Park, located near West Culver Street and North Central Avenue, was chosen as the designated area of the skate plaza because it has access to bathrooms, light rail stops, bus services and less traffic, the subcommittee said.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Delia Ortega-Nowakowski said she chose Hance Park because it fit all the criteria listed for the Urban Skate Plaza.

“Youth come to downtown just to skate,” Ortega-Nowakowski said. “By having a designated skate area, it will be a big impact to the downtown area.”

Currently central Phoenix does not have a designated skate area. Some businesses along North Central Avenue have reported “security headaches” from people practicing on their skateboards around that area, said Julia Tourville, a member of the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association.

“They have nowhere else suitable to practice,” Tourville said. “The skate plaza will be a huge benefit.”

There will be a difference between this “unique” skate plaza from the others, Ortega-Nowakowski said, referring to the “dips and bowls” of the older skate parks around the area.

“It is an incredible opportunity for the City of Phoenix,” Ortega-Nowakowski said. “Since it is in the central Phoenix area, people can come together as a whole to enjoy it.”

Rob Dyrdek, a professional skateboarder, donated $50,000 to help fund the design and initial construction of the skate plaza.

Parts of the skate plaza will be constructed from previous parts of a skate park used for Rob Dyrdek’s Street League Skateboarding DC Tour at the Jobing.com Arena in August.

Chris Ewell, a landscape architect who works in the Parks Development Division for the Parks and Recreation Department for the City of Phoenix, said they were planning on working closely with California Skateparks, a skate park and action sports facility that designs and builds notable skate parks around the United States.

“People skate in places they aren’t supposed to, so building a skate plaza in downtown Phoenix will give a more positive environment for skateboarders,” Ewell said.

Urban Skate Plaza is expected to take at least three months to build, Ewell said. The project is estimated to cost between $300,000 and $400,000, depending on the final design, he said.

The Parks and Recreation Board Subcommittee will hold another meeting on Sept. 23 to discuss further details regarding the skate plaza.

Welp lots of kids skate in and around Deck Park and its empty water features currently anyhow, so I suppose this is a good choice. I just hope the Skate Park is designed in a way that it'll be part of a conducive redesign of Hance Park that needs to happen.

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

http://downtowndevil.com/2010/09/08/...on-determined/



Welp lots of kids skate in and around Deck Park and its empty water features currently anyhow, so I suppose this is a good choice. I just hope the Skate Park is designed in a way that it'll be part of a conducive redesign of Hance Park that needs to happen.

I can only hope the skate park is good enough that they want to go there over where they are already skating...

[Don B.]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

Don, what do you mean Phoenix killed first fridays?

We went and there was perhaps one-fourth of the normal crowds. This was after "closing it" for July and August because it was "too hot," even though in prior years it ran all summer long with hardly a problem. This may have been more of a financial decision than anything else. Anyway, this was the first FF since June, and it was comparatively dead. Not only that, there were no street vendors, no live bands, and the Phoenix police didn't even have Roosevelt closed off to car traffic. I am hoping it comes back in the fall as it cools off, but the loss of the street vendors and bands really makes it a pale shadow of it's former self.

--don

[Vicelord John]

Originally Posted by Don B.

We went and there was perhaps one-fourth of the normal crowds. This was after "closing it" for July and August because it was "too hot," even though in prior years it ran all summer long with hardly a problem. This may have been more of a financial decision than anything else. Anyway, this was the first FF since June, and it was comparatively dead. Not only that, there were no street vendors, no live bands, and the Phoenix police didn't even have Roosevelt closed off to car traffic. I am hoping it comes back in the fall as it cools off, but the loss of the street vendors and bands really makes it a pale shadow of it's former self.

--don

They closed it for the summer but also to rework the area and work on moving all of the festivities, bands, vendors, etc. closer to the train platforms. ArtLink is doing everything they can to get it back up and running.

[bwonger06]

Anyone know what their doing to the old Phoenix Union parcel on Campbell and Central? They razed a pretty cool building so they better put something on top of it.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by bwonger06

Anyone know what their doing to the old Phoenix Union parcel on Campbell and Central? They razed a pretty cool building so they better put something on top of it.

Im not sure which parcel you mean. Did you mean Central HS? Phx Unions campus was on 7th St/VB Downtown.

[bwonger06]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

Im not sure which parcel you mean. Did you mean Central HS? Phx Unions campus was on 7th St/VB Downtown.

4570 N. Central Ave (west side of the street). I swore that building used to be under Phoenix Union school district.

[Vicelord John]

it was offices for PUHSD at one time

[combusean]

I still don't know where "it" is.

[Vicelord John]

4570 N Central

[combusean]

how many times can I make the same mistake? Thanks.

[combusean]

That building is coming down for an affordable housing complex by Native American Connections. I think it's 5 stories are so. We talked about it several pages back.

[combusean]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=545

and the rendering is on AZCentral

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...e-housing.html

[glynnjamin]

haha,, drug & alcohol free native american housing??? hahahaha

[Vicelord John]

My thoughts exactly

[HX_Guy]

Some good news!

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/...estaurant.html

Downtown Phoenix is getting conveyor-belt sushi restaurant
3 comments by Howard Seftel - Sept. 21, 2010 04:34 PM
Republic restaurant critic

Attention, downtown Phoenix: Are you ready for a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant?
Ready or not, here it comes, in the form of Sushi Revolution, which will be occupying the spot next to Fair Trade Café on First Avenue at Roosevelt Street around Thanksgiving.
Faster, more casual and less expensive than traditional sushi restaurants, conveyor-belt sushi is very popular in Japan. You sit at the counter and watch the never-ending offerings glide past. Nab whatever you like. Plates are color-coded, to indicate price. At the end of the meal, a staffer adds up your plates and totals your bill. (The Valley's first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, Sushi Eye, opened in Chandler in 2007.)

Chef/owner Antonio Chavira, 28, thinks downtown's business folks and students will appreciate the format at lunch, while everyone will go for it at dinner or after a downtown event. He plans to stay open until 1 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Although he will offer traditional sushi, Chavira, who calls himself an Anglo-Hispanic, promises "lots of fusion influences." You'll see a chile relleno roll, a duck confit and fig roll and a Maine lobster roll.
Prices, he says, will range from $1.50 to $4.
Sushi Revolution is downtown Phoenix's second sushi restaurant. Moira Sushi, at 215 E. McKinley St., opened about 18 months ago.
Details: Sushi Revolution, 1024 N. First Ave., Phoenix. sushirevolutionphx.com (under construction).

[Locofresh55]

Conveyor belt sushi is awesome. I went to one in japan and I loved it. as long as they can keep it well stocked.....it will be an enjoyable experience. I think more restaurants should do food this way. Just a big conveyor belt and you grab what you want. Then again...our country has enough of an obesity problem and a conveyor belt restaurant with fried food would not help the cause. Sushi...definitely.

[NorthScottsdale]

First time I ever had sushi was at a conveyer belt sushi place in Seattle.. loved it!

[Vicelord John]

Mother fucker.....


Phoenix's newest skate park excludes bike riders
by Connie Cone Sexton - Sept. 24, 2010 02:41 PM
The Arizona Republic
A new urban skate park has been approved for Margaret T. Hance Park near downtown Phoenix but it won't allow bike riders, as hoped by a local group.

Although several bike riders urged the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board on Thursday to have the design of the park allow for bike riders, they didn't discuss the recommendation.


Jason Ryan, president of the Bike, Blade and Board Coalition, noted that other parks in the Valley allow for shared use between bikes and skate boarders.

Phoenix has four city skate parks. None of the sites allows for bike riders.

The Phoenix parks board voted for the development of the urban skate plaza on the east side of Hance Park, which borders Central Avenue, south of McDowell Road.

Although the board didn't discuss the recommendation made by Ryan and the other bike riders, a parks official met with the group Thursday and suggested the city might consider a bike-only park in the future.