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Get Your PHX: R and R Surplus
The goal of Get Your PHX is to show up, en masse, to support those who pioneer new restaurants, stores, bars and event spaces. We want to provide them a boost as they put their sweat, tears and wealth on the line to make life great downtown. Plus, we want to provide a chance for you to meet others like you, who want to get the most out of Phoenix.
May's Get Your PHX was a hoot. Thanks to Wayne and Allison Rainey for hosting. A special thanks to Eleanor and John Clements of Fresh Gormet to Go for providing the yummy nosh. The June Get Your PHX will definitely stand out as one of the most unique and creative spaces downtown. Steve and Andi Rosenstein are doing what most of us only dream of. They are creating a mix-use space with a restaurant, clothing store and public market at the historic 1928 Anchor Manufacturing Building in downtown Phoenix's old Produce District. The Rosensteins are nationally famous for their "Fitigues" brand of upscale casual clothing, which they founded in Chicago in 1988. They traded up the grueling winters of Chicago for the brutal summers of Phoenix in 2001.  I went down there this week to have a look. I was greeted by shop manager Ellen Foley and Lucky, a yellow Labrador owned by Andi Rosenstein's mom, Carol Skolnik who was manning the customer service phones. They told me the entire story. By November, there will be various vendors in the space, including antique bicycle repair, a music store, an old milk truck vending not-so-old milk and "99 bottles of beer on the wall."  They showed me the massive bar which they moved here directly from Chicago's famous Black Orchid jazz club. Yes, folks, the likes of Frank Sinatra saddled up against this very bar for his own brand of personal poison. Best of all, we get a sneak peak of all of this. The clothing store is open now and the rest will be open by November. It's a perfect excuse to come back, yes? Carol and Ellen have invited all of the vendors to come by to meet you and tell us all how this incredible idea came to be and what they are doing to make it happen. I will know soon whether some of these vendors will set up to actually, you know, vend at Get Your PHX. We'll put out the collection hat again to cover the drinks and catering by Fresh Gormet to Go, who did such a wonderful job last month. Don't worry about space. Bring everybody! You won't want to miss this one! June Get Your PHXThursday, June 18th from 5:30 to 7:30R&R Surplus at the "Duce" Building$5 Suggested Donation525 S. Central Avenue, Phoenix, 85004Building is at the NE corner of Lincoln and Central. Look for entrance to east of building. Parking available in gated area or in lot on west side of Central.Please RSVP to me via email or through Facebook so I can get an accurate count.
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Fewer Stats, More Photos
The following properties sold in under 10 days in the Central Corridor. The market under $150,000 is no longer a buyer's market. It is transitioning to a seller's market. So, watch for prices to inch upward over the summer as foreclosures clear the market.   Plus, for those of you who are numbers geeks like me, here is a great presentation by Mike Orr, of the Cromford Report, talking about what is happening in the market. Call me if you want to come up with a strategy to take advantage of this shift point in the market. |
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Downtown Venue Review
Two Hippies Beach Shack
501 E. Camelback Rd.
Two Hippies is not new. People have been raving about it since late last year. But I never got around to reviewing it.
Folks, this is some of the best recession food you can find. Get a Taco 3-pack for $5 or a massive burrito for $5. My three pack always includes the pork and the chicken. The third varies. Regardless, you never go hungry.
It is getting a little hot to sit outside and eat now -no indoor seating. However there are enough misters around the patio to sink the USS Ronald Reagan and they've done a good job of hiding their customers from the sun.
The place is a lot of fun, too. It's plastered with every kind of odd, eclectic sign, poster post card and plastic Kewpie doll you can imagine. It's Jimmy Buffett meets, er, eh,...Jimmy Buffett.
The Good: Cheap, good, filling! The Bad: It's bloody hot outside! The Ugly: none Lola Café 4700 North Central Ave. The founder of Lux and Lola Tapas, Daniel Wayne, has re-entered the coffee trade (he sold Lux several years ago). The new Lola Café is just north of Lux at Highland and Central. I can't figure out why he is so close to Lux and why he did not start this new venture near my office. Clearly, he forgot the rule about checking with Ken before making major business decisions. Daniel made a breakthrough in coffee when he opened Lux 8 years ago. He made a cup of coffee which had a high level of craftsmanship to it. You simply could not find that downtown back then. He put a lot of thought in to what goes in to his drinks, for instance Ghirardelli chocolate and whipped cream made on the spot with vanilla and a shot of espresso. Lola Café has everything that Lux used to have: great
coffee, fantastic atmosphere, incredible pastries, etc. Not that Lux
doesn't have that, but the drawback to Lux nowadays is the crowd and
the noise. So, until Lola Café gets to be as crowded as Lux (I give them two weeks), I may favor Lola over Lux for meetings, work and the odd occasional book reading. The Good: The consistently incredible coffee and food. The Bad: Not too far in the future, it will be too crowded and noisy for this old curmudgeon. The Ugly: None
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The Downtown Rebound and You
...Part Deux
This is part two of my series on the near future of downtown. Last month I covered what major projects closed and stalled during the recession. This month, I will cover the debate about what downtown should look like. Next month, I'll cover what you can expect to see happen as we come out of the recession.
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Debates about the future of central and downtown Phoenix are traditionally reported in a narrative about two camps: big developers versus the local little guy. It has always had an almost David and Goliath folklore element to it since the days that homes were torn down to make way for the ballpark.
One camp, the big developers, said that you can't make downtown happen until you have the bodies. You need the "rooftops," or new living spaces. You need the large university, the medical center and sports venues to draw people.
"Look," they say, "unless you build it, they won't come."
This camp is usually portrayed as the city government, ASU and big project developers.
The other camp says that we've over-relied on the centrally-planned mega-projects over the last 30 years, which never really got us much. In the 1980s, we built Arizona Center and a sports arena which only encouraged people to come downtown and high-tail it home at dusk. In the 90s, the Mercado was a flop. Over the last 8 years, we've installed thousands of new condos, a new civic plaza and ASU downtown. "Where is the affordable housing? Where is the public space and art? Are we preserving historic buildings?" they ask.
For many people, the human-scale element has been missing all along. This group is traditionally reported as locally-owned businesses, local artists and community advocates.
But what I've found in talking to folks and observing downtown growth for a few years is that those lines are not as neatly drawn as traditionally reported in the press.
Take, for instance, the Downtown Voices Coalition. This is a prominent group that advocates strongly for affordable housing, public arts and generally more public involvement in decision making. See the Downtown Voices Coalition's list of priority issues here.
Jim McPherson, board member on the Downtown Voices coalition spoke to me over coffee a few weeks ago. McPherson said it best: "Instead of one $100 million project, what good could we do with one hundred $1 million projects in downtown?"
He believes that we have spent plenty on the big projects for now. We need to focus on the small businesses. According to McPherson, the recession has actually been a good thing in many ways. First, people started looking for inexpensive things to do and the light rail came along just in time to cater to that need.
 Jim points to spontaneous acts of human expression, all centered around the light rail downtown: no pants day and light rail scavenger hunts. He even reported an organized mass of wedding gown-wearing light rail riders.
McPherson says he would hate to see us lose all of that new energy when the economy rebounds. He is certainly not hoping for continued dire straits. But he wants the city to spend resources to keep the human element in focus.
That's a far cry from rejecting any new large projects.
McPherson does not reject them out of hand. In fact, he points to the city's Adaptive Reuse Task Force as a hopeful development at the city level, a greater recognition that you can't plan all of your entertainment, shopping and attractions centrally.
The recession has also refocused attention on adaptive reuse of existing buildings. As many of the large projects are stalled, many of the smaller reuse projects are getting much-deserved attention.
Don Keuth is the President of the Phoenix Community Alliance, a group that many have pointed to as favoring the larger, centrally-planned developments. In last month's Clark Report he told us the difference between form-based and euclidian zoning.
Keuth is adamant that we have to find the glue that holds the larger projects together. He points to the old homes around 5th St and Roosevelt as something we need to ardently protect from demolition. "This area," he says, "will be like a funkier version of Postino Winecafe." It will be a destination right there on the edge of all the tall buildings.
There is no philosophical conflict between large commercial enterprises and small businesses for Keuth. However, some argue that is because the large projects already won.
"But," says Matt Seaman of MetroWest Development, "it is foolish to think that you can't have both. Somebody staying in a 1,000 room hotel will venture outside and eat at a locally-owned restaurant and buy local art."
Seaman is the developer behind two efforts at urban residential infill projects, one at 4th Ave. and McKinley and the other at 1st Ave. and Roosevelt. Both projects have been delayed due to the banking crisis.
Contrary to perception, says Seaman, the City of Phoenix has done quite a bit right. Sure, he says, there are condos sitting empty, but it is nowhere near as bad a situation as suburbia. We did not over-build nearly as much as they did.
Further, he says, the city is actually supporting local businesses by encouraging mixed reuse development. This, he adds, is what is keeping downtown in a stronger economic position than other parts of the valley, particularly Scottsdale.
According to the City of Phoenix, the central core of the city has actually seen growth over the last year and a half, despite many projects stalling.
The future, according to Seaman, is not trying to sell $500 per square foot condos. It is in creating livable, "walkable" areas that come from adaptive reuse.
In that way, we strike a balance between both sides of the debate. We create the large attractions, but never lose the human element and the history.
Easier said than done.
Next month: what the central core will look like as we come out of the recession.
A little extra reading: Here's a great link to the latest story by Richard Florida of "Rise of the Creative Class" fame, which makes the case that a dense urban core survives recession better. And a map to go with it.
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Surviving Summer in Phoenix
I used to get so depressed around this time of year because I was looking down the barrel of a long, hot summer.
And since trips to the cool country are a little more difficult to come by these days, it could get really depressing!
But it is so much better since I use the following system to break it down, psychologically.
April - May. It's getting hot during the day, but the evenings are cool enough to sleep with the windows open. There's nothing better.
June. If I think too much about how it will be over 100 degrees until October, I might just pop a circuit in the ol' noggin. But, really this is the best time for early morning exercise and the nights are perfect after 7pm.
July. The monsoons are here, dropping the temperature from 110 to 75 degrees in less time that in takes Joseph Biden to stick his foot in his mouth. The cool smell of the creosote bush wafting in from the desert gives you this optimistic sense of renewal. Best of all the longest day of the year was way back on June 21st, so we are more than half way there!
August. Yeah, the days suck and you start wondering how long this has to last. But day trips northward break it up and by the end of the month the evenings are as perfect they were back in May.
September. Just when you can't stand the heat anymore and you feel the injustice every day it's over 100, you know that the best time of year starts in only a few weeks.
October. Sure, it might get to be 101 degrees, but it only stays there for about an hour at, like 4pm when you are a boring meeting, anyway. The rest of the day is cooler and you can sleep with the windows open again.
It also helps that my girlfriend has enlightened me to the finer points of spending the weekends by the pool. Never leave the house unprepared to find the nearest pool and jump in even if it means sacrificing some fashion points.
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Got any good downtown tips? Send 'em my way!
And, as always, I respect your right not to be bothered with annoying spam email. If you would like to be removed from my email list, just let me know. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Ken Clark
  
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