[Source: Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic, June 18, 2008] — Maricopa County and the city of Phoenix will start negotiations on a land swap that includes a hot downtown parcel that housed the Thomas J. Pappas school for the homeless. At meetings today, elected officials on both sides are expected to authorize agreements that will allow the negotiations on the property in downtown Phoenix to advance. Potential suitors have been speculating about the future of the four-acre parcel since last summer.
Under a likely scenario, the county would trade the property and a one-acre parcel across the street, currently occupied by a district-administration building. The land, south of Fillmore Street along Fifth Avenue, is zoned commercially and is valued by the county assessor at about $8.2 million. In exchange, the city could hand over rights to parts of Madison Street, from First to Fifth avenues, needed by the county to build a massive criminal-court tower project.
The city could also give the county more land or funds to even out the deal. Both sides are getting their properties appraised. “We hope we have a fair exchange monetarily, and we hope that the city of Phoenix does something good with the property that will make the neighborhood happy and will improve the downtown,” said Jim Bloom, chief of staff to county Supervisor Andy Kunasek. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
Downtown Voices Coalition 