Phoenix Development News (3)

[combusean]

Old thread has reached the 10,000 post limit and is now in the Archives.

The Phoenix Development News thread is for discussions regarding projects within the City of Phoenix only. It is for projects primarily affecting the built environment: planning, new buildings, how things could be on a more permanent basis.

Use the Coffee Talk thread if it doesn't fit anywhere else.

[combusean]

The mystery behind the Catherine Arms renovation on 4th Ave and Fillmore solved:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/re...edits0921.html

The housing projects began under a tax-credit program also funded by the federal government. Since the late 1980s, the government has offered tax credits for building low-income housing. In return, project backers have to keep rents below market rates for at least 15 years.

Many investors put money into the projects to take advantage of the tax break. Fannie Mae was one of the nation's biggest tax-credit investors before last year.

When financial markets collapsed last fall, many of those investors ran out of money or backed out of deals.

The new stimulus money, called the Tax Credit Assistance Program or TCAP, is a short-term fix to fill in financing gaps in these tax-credit projects. The Housing Department distributes the money to help complete projects closest to being ready.

"Without TCAP, we don't know when we could finish Catherine Arms, and we knew the need for it was growing," said Diana Yazzie Divine of Native American Connections. "Now, we plan to open by December."

Construction stopped last fall on Catherine Arms but restarted recently. Rents at the redevelopment project for Native Americans will start below $500 a month.

The [28 unit] project is receiving almost $528,000 from Arizona's TCAP funding to fill the gap in its tax credit financing left by investors who backed out of deals.

So far, 11 Arizona projects have received approval for TCAP funding. The Housing Department is working on contracts to give at least another 10 affordable housing developments TCAP funding.

[glynnjamin]

^There goes the neighborhood.

[PHX31]

I'm glad it's being renovated, but isn't that somehow discrimination? Do they have an anti-fair-housing statement?

[glynnjamin]

Ya, i've never understood how you can create affordable housing for minorities. Don't white people need affordable housing too? Also, didn't we give indians acres and acres of land??? What do they need apartments in downtown for? I figured they'd all want to live at the Heard Museum stop apartments.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by glynnjamin

Ya, i've never understood how you can create affordable housing for minorities. Don't white people need affordable housing too? Also, didn't we give indians acres and acres of land??? What do they need apartments in downtown for? I figured they'd all want to live at the Heard Museum stop apartments.

Joke?

[combusean]

I'm 99% sure the article got it wrong and they provide housing to everyone.

[Vicelord John]

anyone else gonna go?

Phoenix high-rise set to be imploded Sunday
17 comments by Sadie Jo Smokey - Sept. 25, 2009 08:04 AM
The Arizona Republic
At 10 a.m. Sunday morning, Lisa Kelly, owner of Advanced Explosives Demolition, will push a button. In 4.5 seconds, a bit of history at Third Street and Earll Drive will fall.

Residents and businesses neighboring the site say good riddance. Last spring, workers removed the building's windows, leaving a blighted skeleton of steel and concrete.

In 1972 when it was built, the Mountain Bell Plaza building was one of the first International Style glass-and-steel office high-rises in Phoenix. Designed by local architect Al Beadle, the building was a perfectly rectangular 10-story block of blackened glass. For 30 years, the building was home to Mountain Bell and Qwest Communications. Qwest moved out in 2003, and San Diego developer Joe Pinsonneault bought the building in mid-2004 for $12.5 million.

Jean Switzer lives with her elderly parents on Catalina Drive, one street south of the implosion site. As of Thursday, she said residents were confused and frustrated at the lack of communication and information about the impending implosion.

"I haven't received a flier," Switzer said. "Nothing about how to prepare, what to expect. Should we stay in our homes? Should we seal our windows? These are things that take a long time."

Phoenix spokeswoman Deborah Sedillo Dugan said a reverse 911 call Saturday evening will alert residents of the blast.

Laura Iten lives on Catalina Drive with her husband and 6-month-old son. She said her family will not be watching the demolition from their living-room window.

"I was really surprised that it was so soon and we hadn't heard anything about it," Iten said. "We'd like to, but it's way too close."

Kelly said the family-owned company has 27 years' experience using explosives to bring down high-rise buildings, smokestacks and bridges. The company recently imploded an asbestos plant in Newfoundland.

What to know about the implosion:


• A linear-shaped charge is used to sever steel. None l and Unimax products will be placed in holes drilled in the basement, stairwells and elevator shafts. There will be no adverse effect on utility services. Noise and vibration will be below levels that would cause damage to neighboring structures. "We have zero worries," Kelly said.


• Black geotextile wrapping will be placed from the ground to 30 feet high around the building to contain dust and debris. "The dangers and risks are minimum," Kelly said. "Our biggest concern was the (State Compensation Fund) building across the street." That building will have its own protective fencing installed.


• Maricopa County Air Quality Department said the asbestos abatement has been completed. Kelly said there will be less dust in the single implosion than would be released if the building were demolished one floor at a time, over a period of weeks.


• Kelly said residents can stay in their homes if they choose. Others can watch the implosion from 1,000 feet away.

"We've had up to 100,000 people show up to watch," Kelly said. "Police will have a soft closure on streets 30 minutes before."


• The following intersections will be closed from about 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Fifth Street and Verde Lane, Third Street and Verde Lane, Second Street and Catalina Drive, Second Street and Earll Drive, Third Street and Cheery Lynn Road, Fifth Street and Cheery Lynn Road, Seventh Street and Earll Drive.

[llamaorama]

thats the SE corner, correct?

is anything interesting or infill-like going to go there?

[glynnjamin]

John, I am there. Then I'm going to Fez for brunch. Sounds like a good morning.

[scottkag]

I was wondering when they were going to broom that thing. Maybe the SkyscraperPage bunch should pick a viewing spot and hold a memorial service.

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

anyone else gonna go?

[scottkag]

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/besto...-true-1457812/

Best Street of Dreams Come True
Roosevelt Row
www.rooseveltrow.org

Many years ago, we were driving home at night through the mildly mean streets of Phoenix when we noticed something you never saw back then in these parts. On a non-descript building on then-non-descript Roosevelt Street, we saw tiny, white holiday lights. And it wasn’t even Christmas. We asked around, and learned that someone had opened a music space: Modified Arts. Then some crazy kids bought a building and called it eye lounge, setting the stage for the visual arts. Today, Modified and eye lounge have good company — an entire neighborhood devoted to the arts: more music spaces, galleries, a record store, a bakery. As we type it, we are still shaking our heads in disbelief, but, yes, we have a bona fide arts district and it even has a funky name: Roosevelt Row. True, it doesn’t quite stretch from 16th Street to Grand Avenue, as some claim, but from Seventh Street to Central Avenue, you’ve got a fabulous core of vibrant activity that spills over into neighboring streets and is starting to take off on days other than the first Friday of the month. Sometimes, dreams do come true — and our hearts go out in gratitude to those who dared.

Best of Phoenix 2009 In Photos

[Tito714]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

thats the SE corner, correct?

is anything interesting or infill-like going to go there?

I just heard on the news that the developer has plans to build a 21 story "upscale" retirement home. The residents want none of that.

[bwonger06]

Originally Posted by Tito714

I just heard on the news that the developer has plans to build a 21 story "upscale" retirement home. The residents want none of that.

That has been the plan for a long time. I remember Don posted a post a while back on the building...

[combusean]

It looks like the Phoenix Plaza parking garage, whose NE corner is on 2nd St and Catalina will offer the best view.

[combusean]

Youtube video of the implosion

• Video Link

Modern Phoenix has the pics from 2nd and Catalina:

http://www.modernphoenix.net/forums/...p=24536#p24536

[scottkag]

animated gif by me

Beadle Go Boom by scottkag, on Flickr

[combusean]

Medical-school growth in limbo
Committee has declined to green-light downtown project

3 comments by Jahna Berry - Sept. 28, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

University officials are putting the final touches on plans to build a $164 million building that will expand downtown Phoenix's medical school and high-profile biomedical campus.

But the project is stuck in political limbo and it's unclear if construction crews will break ground in February, as planned.

"It will be difficult until we get moving through the Legislature," said Jaime Molera, a University of Arizona lobbyist.

On Thursday, the Arizona Board of Regents unanimously approved plans for the Health Sciences Education Building, a 265,000-square-foot facility that will house lecture halls, an anatomy lab, a simulation center and a library that will be used by the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.

The building will be located on the 28-acre Phoenix Biomedical Campus that's taking shape downtown. The hub includes the medical school, Translational Genomics Research Institute and ABC1 - a medical-research building used by ASU and UA.

Down the road, supporters would like to build a hospital and more research buildings.

The campus is part of Arizona's longtime quest to grow the state's bioscience industry. Phoenix owns the land and the campus is part of city plans to redevelop downtown.

The Health Sciences Education Building is also a key part of plans to expand the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University, which opened in 2007.

Without the new building, the downtown medical school can't grow much bigger, said Judy Bernas, an associate vice president at the University of Arizona.

Right now, it has 120 students and could have a maximum of 192. But the original plan calls for a school that would eventually have 480 students. The school won't have enough room for that many students until the Health Sciences Building is complete, UA officials say.

Funding for the project has been approved by the Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer through the state budget process. The building would be paid for by bonds that would be paid off with lottery revenue.

But a handful of powerful Republican lawmakers are using a bureaucratic procedure to put the brakes on the project.

State-funded building projects must go through the Joint Committee on Capital Review before they can begin. The panel doesn't have to approve the projects; it just has to review them.

Sen. Russell Pearce, who chairs the panel, has declined to review the project. Pearce could not be reached for comment Friday.

Rep. John Kavanagh, vice chairman of the panel, said he wasn't familiar with details of the medical-school project. But he said that generally, due to the state's budget crisis, the committee wants to re-examine projects that have already been approved by the Legislature.

The committee is not opposed to all university projects, Kavanagh said.

"The only concern is projects where the funding has dried up, or that it may be better spent doing other things, like keeping tuition down for students," said Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican.

The committee is also scrutinizing projects that rely on state-lottery money, he said.

Because of the weak economy, lottery funds aren't as strong as they used to be. The state still faces a budget crisis and money set aside for projects such as the Health Sciences Education Building may be needed elsewhere, Kavanagh said.

Fucking Russell Pearce! Every time some article hints at some knuckle-dragging obstruction, his name pops up.

[HooverDam]

"The only concern is projects where the funding has dried up, or that it may be better spent doing other things, like keeping tuition down for students," said Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican.

What is this fucking obsession with making college cheap? College is expensive, get over it! Work your ass off and get a scholarship like I did, this manic obsession with cutting admission cost really harms the ability of our state to have quality education.

VV There's nothing 'excessive' about the prices any of the schools in Arizona are charging, theyre crazy cheap.

[PhxPavilion]

Yeah except college tuitions keep increasing every year at a pretty ridiculous rate, it's just excessive.