Last week, Bowl of Greens opened for business on the ground level of the Walter Cronkite School, leaving only one remaining commercial spot in the building vacant.
Located at the opposite corner of the building, across the street from the Taylor Place dorms, the vacant storefront has no current prospects, said Patrick Panetta, ASU’s associate director of real-estate project management.
ASU is not “currently shopping it around, but we take calls about the space,” Panetta said.
Previously, a real-estate broker worked with ASU to promote the availability, but that relationshiphas ended because of the economic downturn, Panetta said, adding that the recession has meant prospective buyers are few and far between.
Still, businesses continue to show interest in tapping into the city’s growing student population, said Dan Klocke, director of planning and economic development for the Downtown Phoenix Partnership.
“Clearly there’s an interest in being around ASU,” said Klocke, but the growing number of new restaurants downtown and the uncertain economic state has not provided the ideal buying market.
Klocke said the partnership hadn’t recently heard of anyone interested in the Cronkite location.
Klocke helped Bowl of Greens owner Jay Krishan choose his restaurant’s location, previously home to a Sbarro, and said Krishan may be interested in opening additional restaurants in the area.
“We’d love to help him try to find another location for his business,” Klocke said.
For now, Krishan will focus his attention on Bowl of Greens. He said he still “need(s) a chef that can handle knives,” but that his head chef is coming within the next two weeks.
Panetta said a space on the northwest corner of the University Center building adjacent to Taylor Mall is another location planners have been looking to develop.
“There have been some discussions about how to use that space but there hasn’t been a final decision,” he said.
Contact the author at carolina.m.lopez@asu.edu
