Other cities have a downtown personality and are known for it beyond their borders. Phoenix has never been one of them.

That may be changing. A cross-section of interests and individuals are pushing for a new focus on downtown Phoenix, from business and industry to housing and the arts.

There are significant renovations on the street level around the Capitol. Residents and developers are working to change the region, but not necessarily delete the character that already exists.

Call it “sensitive development,” a term used by those interested in preserving the history of central Phoenix neighborhoods, yet eager to see the areas grow in a positive fashion.

Residents “would like things to come into the area – better schools, amenities, recreation opportunities, retails and all kinds of things,” says Nan Ellin, an associate professor with the Arizona State University School of Architecture. “But they don’t want to be gentrified, and turned into some kind of theme park. That’s where sensitive planning comes in.”

Much of that planning revolves around housing. There are signs that developers and the community are on the same page, in terms of restyling the region while retaining its local character, including historic neighborhoods and buildings dating to the turn-of-the-century.

Now in the pipeline, according to Ms. Ellin, are housing developments aimed at different income groups, including high-end properties and low-cost homes for those who might otherwise be pushed out of their neighborhoods as development propels the price of housing.

Ms. Ellin points to the accomplishments of Reid Butler, developer behind Legacy Bungalows and the Roosevelt Historic Housing Project. “A good example of sensitive development is what [Butler] is doing on Sixth Avenue,” says Ms. Ellin. That includes renovating older properties in need of repair while preserving the traditional qualities of the surroundings.

Mr. Butler, whose Butler Housing Company bought the Sixth Avenue property, between Roosevelt and McKinley, in 2002, says the idea is to create a development — but one aimed at the working population of the neighborhood. He calls it “workforce housing.”

“There are two key ideas [behind the Roosevelt Historic Housing Project],” Mr. Butler says. “Residents will earn $18,000 to $40,000 a year, and rents will average about $550 per month. So the concept here is that we create innovative, high quality housing and then finance it in a way that the rents will be affordable.” Part of the money for the plan is being raised through a low income tax credit program, which comes through the state Department of Housing.

Critics could call the development a low-income housing project. However, Mr. Butler contends that the program is just the opposite. He likens it to the wide spectrum of availability in the auto market — there’s a car for every budget, including a sound, basic quality model that doesn’t cost a fortune. “We’re not saying that people in the lower income ranges deserve cheap stuff,” he says. “Rather, the opposite. We looked for innovative ways to finance the housing that everyone deserves.”

When it’s completed, the Roosevelt project will have 48 rental apartments — 24 within eight historic buildings and 24 in new buildings, all compatible with historic designs. “What’s a little unusual about the design,” says Mr. Butler, “is that new construction is off the alley. So we’ll be accessing homes from the back, in an older, nostalgic style.” Mr. Butler also is vice chair of the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission, operated through the city. Financiers for the approximately $8 million project include Sun America, “one of the largest investors in affordable housing and historic preservation,” the Arizona Department of Housing, the Phoenix Department of Housing and Fannie Mae.

The Roosevelt project follows in the footsteps of another of Mr. Butler’s developments, also downtown and also aimed at expanding affordable housing.

Legacy Bungalows, a $17 million project built in 2001 and 2002 at 12th Avenue and Van Buren Street, features 200 new rentals. Financed through tax credits, tax exempt bonds and HOME funds, the property is split at 40 per cent affordable and 60 per cent market rate housing.

So far, says Mr. Butler, the development has been welcomed by the community. “The property has only one vacancy now – it’s been very successful. We’re providing new housing in an affordable range” for government workers and others downtown, but until now priced out of the housing market.

Locals Have Mixed Reviews

The housing crunch has been an ongoing struggle for downtown. But it may be shifting, says Rep. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Dist. 16. District 16 includes the Capitol neighborhood. “Many homes and housing opportunities are high end, and not what I’d consider affordable,” she says. “There are some offerings that are more affordable.”

There are mixed emotions among longtime residents.

“I’ve heard good and bad,” says Ms. Landrum Taylor. “One person said that as the new homes and businesses came in, she felt that it increased her property values. At the same time, she saw that the newer developments coming in, with gated communities, had playgrounds. The kids in the area want to play on the gated properties, so there’s a conflict.

“I suggested meeting with developers about how to remedy this, to perhaps create shared play areas,” Ms. Landrum Taylor says. “There are some growing pains, certainly.”

More promising, she says, have been opportunities for anchor retail outlets, adding conveniences to the neighborhoods and bringing jobs. As this type of development proceeds, however, Ms. Landrum Taylor cautions that businesses opening downtown must be appropriate for the area.

“It’s bittersweet,” says the legislator. “To make sure that they’re the types of stores that residents will embrace, and be able to use … We want to make sure that the stores are accessible to all, with a variety, because we’re dealing with a mixed group in terms of socio-economics.”

Jay Butler, director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at ASU, says developers must carefully weigh the relationship between established residents with a longtime stake in the downtown region and newcomers looking to add to the area.

“It’s like the foundation of a house,” says Dr. Butler. “You stabilize the foundation, and then begin to build, by bringing in newer homes and retail opportunities.” Residents may balk at some of the changes, but innovation takes an open-minded approach, observers say.

“As much as they hate the idea of the suburbs, that’s what you have to build – you build a neighborhood. You add new homes and other items to start to build it up, and it takes time to do this. It’s not a one-year process.

“There are different perspectives between the people who live there already and the newer people who come in,” says Dr. Butler. “There are also different ideas between generations, and also varying ethnicities. There are a lot of points of potential conflict, and sometimes what you need to bring them together is a common element that they all hate.”

In dense, urban areas, that common element often turns out to be benign neglect.

In most cities, the urban core is not old enough to see failing infrastructure and frayed housing, and thus cities pay more attention to the developing suburbs, says Dr. Butler. “We’ve been looking forward — looking to developing newer subdivisions and expanding into the suburbs. We were not look
ing to the past, but to the future.”

In Phoenix, a lot of development followed World War II, in the age of supermarket chains and shopping centers, so neighborhood grocers and retailers never really took root. Now, as Phoenix looks to other cities for a model of developing a dynamic downtown, it seeks something that never actually existed.

“Basically, we were a farming community,” says Dr. Butler. “So we didn’t really build up our downtown to start with. To some degree, we have to be more realistic about what we want to happen downtown.”

Beatrice Moore and Tony Zahn, partners and renovators on projects in the Grand Avenue area, say an increased sense of “ownership” needs to happen downtown. While some critics decry downtown’s lack of “hipness” – a necessary commodity, they say, to attract the kinds of moneyed professionals that can transform a region – Ms. Moore says developers need to be careful about who they’re catering to.

“A hip hangout is not necessarily what we need,” says Ms. Moore, a member of the Committee for a Diverse Downtown and an artist. “What about the people who already live and exist down here? We want to watch out for pricing the people who already live here out of the neighborhood.

“The trend,” she says, “is to eradicate things already existing and replace them with pricey, trendy places which the people who live here can’t afford.” Governments are also complicit, she adds, when they intentionally neglect neighborhoods that may hold development potential.

“It’s atrocious,” Ms. Moore says. “(Governments) look at neighborhoods with a wary eye because they know they’ll be wanting to expand into those areas in the future. So they neglect the problems — the neighborhood becomes so much in disarray, so many empty lots, prostitution, drugs, etc. It becomes an excuse for the city to take over and put a stadium or other development there.”

Such scenarios are typical across the country, Ms. Moore contends, a modern land speculation disguised as the transformation of urban blight. While she credits city leaders with some successes, she bemoans their lack of vision. “There doesn’t seem to be a will on the part of city officials to address this,” she says.

One area in which government has had a positive impact in terms of downtown renovation has been in dealing with the homeless, says Tom Knapp, an architect with TRK Architecture & Facilities Management and chairman of the Legislative Governmental Mall Commission.

The ground has been broken, though construction awaits, on an irregularly shaped swathe of vacant land near Phoenix Pioneer Military and Memorial Park at 15th Avenue and Jefferson. The site will become a “human service campus” for the downtown homeless population and will tidy up an area that is now an eyesore.

The development will be a shelter, and more, says Mr. Knapp. “Our hope is that when the campus comes into being, it will be a gateway campus, a triage area. This population will be referred to long-term assistance as needed. It’s a wonderful public/private partnership, and our hope for the area is that it will be cleaned up and will induce further development, both commercial and residential, including more affordable housing.” Construction of the campus is slated to begin later this year, and be completed within 18 months.

Government Agency Lane

Government agencies and related associations are also moving to the Capitol area. Harold Porter of the Arizona School Administrators Association, says the organization recently purchased a parcel of land near Adams and 19th Avenue, and plans to relocate. “We chose it because of the proximity to the Legislature and the State Department of Education,” he says.

“There are quite a few associations, boards of supervisors and leagues of cities and towns (moving to the region),” says Mr. Porter. “So it’s eventually going to be a highly concentrated government building area.”

Mr. Porter adds that he’d like more amenities to greet the influx of workers. “I’d like a nice restaurant for business lunches, and an office products place would be great,” he says. “Coffee shops, luncheon type places for casual eating — that’s what I’d like to see come into the area.”

Ultimately, the Capitol Mall and downtown can be many things to residents, workers and visitors alike, according to local leaders. How that evolution takes shape, however, depends on a process that favors openness as well as opportunity. “Not everyone is going to be happy,” says Ms. Landrum Taylor, whose legislative district includes the Capitol area. “But it’s important to get voices in there, to be heard, respected and considered.”

“I think,” says Brian Kearney, president and CEO of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, “that 20 years ago there was a tremendous amount of land speculation, and whole neighborhoods were wiped out.” Developers bought up parcels and cleared homes to make way for future growth.

But now, established neighborhoods have a chance to grow along with the downtown expansion, he says. “I think we’re past (the days of speculation) now, and there’s a strong recognition of the value of these neighborhoods, with an eye toward preserving and enhancing them.”

“I honestly think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg,” he says. —