Several blocks west of Roosevelt Row lies Grand Avenue, an area that, while just as rich in history, is still realizing and developing its identity as an arts district.
Roosevelt Street has the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation, which organizes community-wide events, supports businesses along the streets and works to build a recognizable identity for their respective areas.
Grand Avenue’s corresponding champion is the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association.
While the organizations act quite similarly, a key factor separates the two: Roosevelt Row CDC has 501(c)3 IRS nonprofit tax status, while Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association does not. This status allows Roosevelt Row to apply for certain grants that are otherwise unavailable and for donations to be tax-deductible.
However, that status may soon change for the Grand Avenue association, causing them to reflect on what they have accomplished throughout the years without the benefits, and envision what they could do with them in the future.
Parking on the highway
The battle for an even better Grand Avenue has been waging for years.
Grand Avenue dates back to the 1930s, when it was part of the historic U.S. Route 60. Like much of downtown during the spread of urban sprawl during the mid-20th century, the historic hotels and auto repair shops along Grand Avenue faded away, lost to old photos and history books. The street’s economy and culture faltered for years.
Even as that culture and economy begins to return with efforts from the city and the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association, enduring as a piece of history in the modern world remains a major problem for the street.
The multi-lane infrastructure and high speed limits left over from Grand Avenue’s U.S. Route 60 days caused commuters to drive by the area too fast to appreciate it. The traffic also scared off pedestrians who could have been more willing to take a look around.
In a collaborative effort with the city called Greening Lower Grand and help from a federal grant, the association enforced a “road diet” by reducing car lanes, creating bike lanes and reinstituting on-street parking to solve the problem.
Unveiled at the fifth annual Grand Avenue Festival in October, the street improvements also included bike racks, planters and decorative crosswalks flanking both ends of Grand Avenue.
The changes led pedestrians and bicyclists to feel safer and increased foot and bike traffic on Grand Avenue, community leader and store owner Beatrice Moore said.
“Now that we have the on-street parking again, the change was almost overnight,” Moore said.
Benefits of a 501(c)3
Grand Avenue received the money from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greening America’s Capitals grant. The annual grant aims “to help state capitals develop an implementable vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods,” according to the Greening Lower Grand Avenue report.
For the government to be able to fund the $80,000 project, the city of Phoenix had to recommend, apply and accept the award on behalf of the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association because of their non-501(c)3 status, Moore said.
Having the status will only further help the relationship between Grand Avenue and the city, she added.
“The city views you as more professional and more business-like if you have something like a 501(c)3,” Moore said.
The paperwork for that 501(c)3 application lies in the hands of local lawyer John Coll. The association approached him to help with compiling the information into the 70-plus-page stack that now sits on his desk.
Coll is just as passionate about the street’s growth as the community leaders who requested his help.
“I think Phoenix is cool, and the reason why I think it’s cool is because the cake’s not baked,” Coll said.
To Coll, Phoenix has more potential for change than a city like Philadelphia, where “the cake isn’t just already baked, it’s sliced,” he said.
Coll isn’t just the legal expert for Grand Avenue — he’s a local. His law firm is located right on the street in the 1205 Space building, a former warehouse built in 1947.
Adaptive reuse is a signature of Grand Avenue businesses, many of which occupy buildings as old or older than the 1205 Space.
For example, the Oasis on Grand has been transformed from the original resort, also built in 1947, to modern spaces where artists can live and work.
Down the street, the O.S. Stapley hardware buildings, built in 1927, will soon be home to local design company Heckler Design, established in 2007.
While going through the application, Coll and the association ran into a major snag: The IRS doesn’t see merchants’ associations as a charitable cause.
“I took up with board and said to board: We need to change our purpose statement and even consider our name if we’re to be seriously taken as a 501(c)3,” Coll said.
While it took months of debate and discussion, the board members agreed to change their purpose statement to be more open to neighborhood members and other non-business owners, according to Coll.
The board even took a step further and will soon change their name to the Grand Avenue Members’ Association, also to reflect the group’s inclusivity.
“It has always been about more than merchants, now it doesn’t sound so targeted,” Moore said.
While Grand Avenue has been an Arizona nonprofit corporation since its inception, the benefits of that status still fall short of those offered by a federal 501(c)3 tax status, Moore said.
John Coll
local lawyer on Grand Avenue
With 501(c)3 IRS nonprofit tax status, Grand Avenue will benefit primarily by having access to national grants — like Greening America’s Capitals — that only distribute funding to organizations with the federal nonprofit status. These grants could bring even more structural improvements and historic preservation along the street.
Once the organization finishes updating its website, the application can be filed, Coll said.
“This area is exciting,” he said. “I just think it’s going to get better from here.”
Crafting an identity
The street’s dedication to historical preservation while moving forward is just one part of its identity, Moore said. Another is Grand Avenue’s artistic community and “funkiness,” she said.
“Instead of trying to come up with some fake identity, you have to look at what’s authentic about the street and what attracts people to the street,” Moore said.
One example Moore regards as forcing an identity on an area was the Copper Square project. The rebranding of a 90-block slice of downtown Phoenix, including the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, U.S. Airways Center and the Herberger Theatre Center in the 2000s, failed to gain traction. By 2010, the area was again simply and officially known as downtown Phoenix.
The Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association has worked hard to craft that genuine community connectivity. Their efforts include producing maps, leading street improvement projects and putting on the annual Grand Avenue Festival that features local art and live music on the street, as well as special offerings from Grand Avenue businesses.
“It really gets people excited about the street, even if they’re just doing their own thing at their own place,” Moore said. “The sense of an organization assisting, even if it’s just a map of where your business is and what it does, it gives a sense of all being part of something.”
One shop owner on Grand Avenue who embraces this funky character is street newcomer Ruben Gonzales, owner of apparel and design store 11th Monk3y.
Gonzales used to be located along Roosevelt Row before he moved to Grand Avenue. The popularity of that arts district was at times actually a detriment to his business, he said.
“People were just coming in and browsing, not shopping,” Gonzales said. “It was something to do, not somewhere to go.”
Here on Grand Avenue, where 11th Monk3y has been open since August, Gonzales said the people who now visit the store stay for a while, chatting with employees and consistently buying products.
Future improvements
Even while it transitions, members of the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association are still planning ahead.
While he appreciates the slower traffic and brightly colored bike lanes, Gonzales said he also wishes to see more bike racks and bicyclist safety signage on the street.
Bike safety is a recent personal issue for Gonzales, following an accident that took him to the hospital in late October of this year.
“I was on the bike lane, and then I woke up on the curb and then they took me to the hospital,” he said, unable to remember details of the crash that temporarily stalled his business.
Gonzales’s accident occurred in an area that was poorly lit. He worries that there aren’t enough safety measures to prevent accidents like his on Grand Avenue either.
“As a cyclist, I’d never been in an accident like that before, it made me so angry,” he said. “This shouldn’t have to be like this.”
Moore also said she would like to see business and property owners begin to decorate and customize their generic bike racks.
“The next place”
Expanding the association’s ability to create an identity for Grand Avenue is exciting for association co-chair Tim Sprague.
“Anytime people are involved in a neighborhood, whether it just be where they live or where they live and they work or where they just go hang out, the ability to have an identity or a reference point is so important,” he said. “They take ownership in it, it’s something that they’re proud of.”
Between the influx of new businesses, the success of multiple adaptive reuse buildings and the street improvements, Sprague said he believes Grand is definitely in a renaissance period.
“The bottom line for me is this: Grand is the next place,” Sprague said, pausing before firmly, confidently repeating himself once more. “Grand is the next place.”
Contact the reporter at ascovill@asu.edu
