Downtown Voices Coalition
Working for a sustainable Phoenix for everyone ~ para todos

Staff of the City of Phoenix Development Services Department and Historic Preservation Office met with Phoenix Suns representatives to discuss retrofitting the historic Sun Mercantile Building at 232 S. Third Street for events related to the NBA All-Star Game slated for mid-February 2009.  The building would be used for dining and food service during the game [...]

The plight of Phoenix’s Warehouse District is an ongoing saga. Unfortunately, with each passing year historic and vintage buildings continue to decay or be demolished.  This slideshow shows buildings in the district that are listed on one or more historic registries. But such designation is not enough to save and reuse them as is [...]

In this October 24, 2007 column, Arizona Republic editorial writer, Richard deUriarte, encourages the City of Phoenix to preserve the 1929 Sun Mercantile Building just as it did with another city-owned property, the Phoenix Union High School buildings at 7th Street and Van Buren.

[Source: Jahna Berry, Arizona Republic] — Phoenix City Council members and their top aides may have to tell a court whether they had improper talks with the developer of a proposed $200 million W Hotel project.  Last week, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered a trial to sort through conflicting accounts about how the [...]

[Source: Jahna Berry, Arizona Republic] — A proposed $200 million boutique hotel in downtown Phoenix was on life support, but a judge’s Tuesday ruling has effectively killed the existing deal, the developer said.  Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver was poised to build a 39-story W Hotel near US Airways Center.  The development would have [...]

While visiting the online Skyscraper Forum, a Phoenix resident found renderings of architect Will Bruder’s proposed design for the W Hotel and condo project.  One view looks southeast along Jefferson Street between US Airways Center on the west and Suns parking garage on the east (where you can get an inkling of how the back [...]