Quote:
Originally Posted by Phxguy
I often drive through this neighborhood (the one bound by Earll Dr. and Flower st/ 5th and 3rd st) and it always invites me to slow and roll down the windows. The classical homes with grass yards, people strolling about, it's a far cry from crush-hour on 7th st and the monolithic offices between 3rd and Central. **Nostolgia alert** I love, love this pocket of "old" Phoenix smashed in between all the concrete and cookie-cutter 4-story developments popping up everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love this densification/development craze but is nothing sacred anymore? Is everything just viewed as demolition-fodder? Yes, I would like density to spill off Central because I always thought it was funky that there are high-rises and single-family neighborhoods across the street from one another but this might be one development I'm against. Why are delvelopers so adamantly against building on empty lots? Why must dirt lots remain everywhere? Why does it seem many new developments remove with it something old and often with character?
I wish, to the very least, any sort of attempt was made to preserve even a few of these homes and if the residents no longer wished to stay, their home would become small businesses. Coffee shops, bistros, and decorative lights could be stung across the street so some character and intimacy could be retained. Maybe even the asphalt could be replaced with brick pavers. Come on developers, spice it up a bit! These 4-story developments are just the new modified suburbs.
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Compare the projects done by the locals to those done by National developers and you will see why DT is still so incoherent. MetroWest (Union), Wetta (?; Portland), Eric Brown (Artisan Village and Homes)... these projects all raise DT through quality, mix of the right uses, etc. Meanwhile, Alliance, Baron, and Wood Partners have knocked over the history of a city that means nothing to them and the 4-story overparked boxes don't make up for the loss of things like Canvas, the Bodega 420 house, GreenHAUS, etc. When these giants demo, the city ends up with a net loss and miles of leasing centers.
Midtown seems to have lost all momentum and while LRT means that density in the area is a good thing since it connects to DT, lowrises and infill will never amount to enough to attract urban retail and so it will continue to be a car-based neighborhood. I would much rather see the infill in DT where historic districts don't limit development to a linear path.
For all of the talk of renovations and conversions happening 2-3 years ago, Midtown looks awfully similar. As you said, interesting structures have been knocked over and we wait for generic boxes to be built in there place, even on intersections like McDowell/Central that should have been cake to design right.
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