Blog Archives
A fish farm in downtown Phoenix? Apparently roe.
[Source: Nicole McGregor, 12 News Today] – These days anything one can do to make a buck, is a good thing, right? That’s exactly why Malcolm Marr and German Hernandez decided to start their own fish farm… at the bottom of a 1923 building in downtown Phoenix.
To understand how they got there, let’s stroll down memory lane a bit. The building, long ago was the home of a printing business called Imperial Lithographics. Owned by Marr’s wife’s family for more than 40 years, the business was then sold until those tenants vacated it several years later. And so the 70,000 square foot building at the corner of 4th Avenue and Madison sat. He wanted to turn the real estate into something spectacular but when the market took a dive he decided it wasn’t the time. So he rented out some of the space, even put a snack bar in it to accommodate some of the employees across the street who work at the jail.
And then one of his tenants, Hernandez, brought him an idea. Hernandez’ father started a fish farm in Mexico a couple years ago and liked it. With little overhead he had a thriving business. So Hernandez did more research and found the United States liked Tilapia and the hardy fish was paying off. In 2005, the U-S imported $350 million of the little guys. So Hernandez and Marr decided to take a chance. [Note: Read the full article and watch the video segment at A fish farm in downtown Phoenix? Apparently roe.]
Historic Phoenix Warehouse District building used again as event center
[Source: Eugene Scott, Arizona Republic] — Pearle Marr’s family owned Imperial Lithographics in downtown Phoenix for nearly 40 years. Now Marr and her husband, Malcolm, hope to make another imprint on the changing community. Malcolm and Pearle Marrs, 61 and 57 respectively, are working to make the Fifth Avenue and Madison Event Center one of downtown Phoenix’s premier spots.
When a business decided last year to stop leasing the buildings on the block where Imperial was formerly located, between Jackson and Madison streets and Fourth and 5th avenues, the couple had to decide what they wanted to do with the location. “Two of (the buildings) are historically designated and it was important to us as a family that we do something that will enhance their designation,” Malcolm said.
The event center is at 441 W. Madison and is a single story, 12,000-square-foot building. “We decided that one of the things downtown needed was a an event center. It’s a historic building. Old red brick for the outside and from the inside, it is a very modern building, because we had redone it about 10 years ago,” Malcolm said. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
