By DiAngelea Millar and Preston Sotelo
An average street in Phoenix runs either north and south or east and west. It probably has more banks than cafes if it’s downtown, or more shopping plazas than boutiques in the suburbs.
Grand Avenue is not an average street.
It’s lined with eclectic shops and businesses, such as the Trunk Space, an experimental theatre and music venue that also sells espresso and handmade gifts, or Deus Ex Machina, a gallery of five artists’ work held in a historic building. On Oct. 22, the area will hold its annual Grand Avenue Festival, showcasing the creative businesses that populate the street.
But Grand Avenue has seen better days, and the impact of the recession has taken its toll on the area. For all its character, Grand Avenue has its own challenges for the future.
However, one man and his team have a plan to revive Grand Avenue and make it a little quirkier. Bob Graham, an architect and owner of Motley Design Group, has a plan to install a street car system that would run down Grand Avenue from the I-10 overpass to Van Buren Street.
“It’s not really a transportation project,” he said. “It’s an economic tool. This is supposed to be an attraction to enhance Grand Avenue.”
The Grand Avenue Rail Project recently won an $80,000 Greening of Americas grant that will be used for services. The grant came from the Environmental Protection Agency for their plan to make the Grand Avenue more pedestrian friendly. But they still need more funding.
“I’m trying to get across to them that we’re not looking for a handout, but a leg up,” Graham said.
Step by step
Graham’s plan is to set up tracks in phases, a little at a time, in the middle of the street. The system would have a stop about every four blocks.
He also stressed that the streetcar system would be completely different from Valley Metro’s light rail. It would not interrupt traffic during or after construction, and cars would be able to drive over the tracks.
Graham said Grand Avenue needs this project in order to bring people to the area and money to businesses. He added that right now the area struggles because downtown Phoenix is not designed to be a walkable urban area, especially given the high temperatures Phoenix experiences most of the year. The solution is to not make people walk everywhere, he said.
“I love downtown,” Graham said. “You look around at other places, and Phoenix is way behind in creating these urban environments.”
Graham said now is the time to try to get this project rolling because “the trend now is back to urbanism and away from suburbia.” Thus, the project aims to make downtown Phoenix a more pedestrian-friendly area that people can walk around and explore.
Graham added that the biggest impediment is the City of Phoenix and the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG). The city owns the street and must approve any use of it. As of now, the city council and their councilmembers have not been very supportive, he said.
He also said he needs the City Council’s support to get on MAG’s list. MAG is the regional agency that governs over transportation issues and helps fund transportation projects. In order for the street car system to get going, Graham will need their support as well.
City Council can go to MAG and support and issue, which helps put it on MAG’s priority list.
“It all still comes back to City Council,” Graham pointed out. “It’s in a flux. We still don’t know who our mayor is going to be.”
So for now, Graham waits, hoping city Councilman Michael Nowakowski will take a more supportive stance after the elections.
In the meantime, he focuses on getting the nonprofit group Grand Avenue Rail Project, otherwise known as GARP, running. GARP can help facilitate the MAG process as well as help raise money for the project.
Graham said they’re not trying to rely on local public money, but the chances of receiving federal money are diminishing, and he will likely have to seek private funding from investors. Graham does not want to charge passengers a lot of money to use the trolley system.
“Money is still the hitch, but that’s true of every project,” he said. “The whole idea of this project is how do we do it on the cheap? Compared to the light rail system this is a smoking bargain.”
Despite the potential economic benefits, the current plan for GARP may have some downfalls. Urban transportation expert Sean Sweat said there are some problems with the design.
The way the project is currently designed, construction would begin on Grand Avenue in phases, heading toward the Central Avenue light-rail stop.
“The project will fail if it follows that particular planning route,” he said. Sweat sketched out a small map of the proposed route on a sticky note outlining the section of Grand Avenue between the intersections of Roosevelt and 15th St., and Van Buren and 7th St. as well as its connection via Van Buren to Central Ave. Sweat identified the sections as Phase One and Phase Two, respectively.
“If it wants to succeed, Phase One has to connect to the light rail,” he said, circling the section of Van Buren that connects to Central Ave. Sweat added that this makes more sense because more people are located or are traveling on Central and via the light rail. He stressed the importance of connecting a large number of people to a location. “Transit requires density and there is currently no density on Grand Avenue,” he said.
Sweat is not directly involved in the project but is keeping an eye on it and hopes it succeeds.
Hardships along Grand
Empty buildings with boarded up windows are abundant along Grand Avenue. But a growing number of businesses, new and old, are working to revitalize the street.
Beatrice Moore, the owner of Kooky Krafts, is a member of the Grand Avenue Merchants’ Association (GAMA). She heads up the renovation of old buildings on Grand Avenue in order to maintain them, and rents them out to local artists or prospective business owners.
By renovating and reusing old spaces, Moore preserves the area’s history and character. Moore said Grand Avenue flourished with tourist activity and businesses before the recession. She said that the poor management of the properties along the route led to the general decline of the area.
Moore said developers want to tear down old buildings and turn them into more profitable spaces. She argued that such practices eroded the historic element of the city by eliminating unique architecture for the sake of profit. Her idea is that by renovating and reusing old buildings, the history of an area is preserved and allows for the growth of new businesses.
Moore hopes that the trolley and renovated buildings will “set an example for the rest of Phoenix and will send a message to the developers that there won’t be high-rises in a particular neighborhood.”
She believes the streetcar would positively affect the community by drawing people to Grand Avenue, make businesses in the area look better and draw attention to renovation and preservation efforts.
Sandy Hathy, the owner of Bikini Lounge, agreed that GARP would benefit the area, particularly the art business. She said that it is important to preserve the historic and unique buildings we have in Phoenix.
“We have a lot of positive things going on and we’d like to keep it going,” she said. “GARP will open doors for people to see.”
The Paisley Violin is considered Grand Avenue’s anchor as one of the few places holding strong amid the harsh economic downturn. Owner Derek Suarez likes the idea of GARP and says the area but expressed concern over the possibility of a fare that could be charged to passengers.
“It has to be free or it won’t work,” he said.
Graham said maintenance costs would require riders to pay a small fee but that the system is not intended to be a moneymaker.
A brief history of transit
Phoenix’s trolley system ran during the days of America’s Old West, past the decade of the flappers and even through the Great Depression. From 1888 to 1948, Phoenix’s Trolley system was how most people got around.
Most of the system was constructed by Moses Hazeltine Sherman and ran north and south. Eighteen streetcars ran on the line, which covered Phoenix and extended into Glendale.
A 1928 flood in Cave Creek led to the closing of the Grand Avenue segment of the line.
Two of the 18 streetcars have been found and preserved by the Phoenix Trolley Museum. Some were saved from being melted down into scrap metal and others were purchased at auctions held by the city. The other cars were lost in various disasters such as a 1947 fire in the warehouse where the streetcars were stored and a flood that swept away two in 1978.
The Phoenix Trolley Museum started in 1975 when the museum’s founders purchased one of the last remaining streetcars. The nonprofit group restores these streetcars and is entirely funded by federal grants.
Rudy Workman, a member of the Phoenix Trolley Museum, thinks GARP will draw attention to businesses in the area but that the construction of the project looks to be a slow process due to the number of expenses.
John Jacquemart, a tour guide for the Grand Avenue Festival, said Grand Avenue has a history of being a transportation hot spot. It used to be the main road to Wickenburg, Ariz., and California, with horse-drawn carriages that would transport riders along the length of Grand Avenue during the 1890s.
Eventually these carriages were replaced with the Grand Avenue Trolley during the early 1940s, which in turn was replaced with a major bus route on the street.
According to Jacquemart, the developers who created Grand Avenue planned to build large houses and make Grand Avenue part of a new upper-class neighborhood. In a way, Grand Avenue enjoyed a short period of prosperity during the latter half of the 20th century as tourist motels and resorts sprung up along the length of the boulevard.
As time passed, the properties along Grand Avenue suffered as the economy began to decline, and some of the properties also were mismanaged by their owners. The now defunct Phoenix Gazette reported one owner was arrested during November of 1989 on charges related to prostitution and theft. Authorities seized the four motels he owned on Grand Avenue.
Looking forward
GARP is the latest plan to target Grand Avenue for change. In 1986, several plans were put forth by the City of Phoenix to renovate the area, resulting in the road being expanded into the larger expressway it is today.
“GARP fulfills a need for transportation and it’s an important low-tech way of doing it,” Jacquemart said. “GARP will be a great way to show the difference between downtown and the unique character of Grand Avenue.”
Graham and other supporters of GARP want to see the empty buildings turn into prosperous and successful businesses. They want to see the street lined with people, investing in the economy and local businesses.
“The variety that exists on Grand Avenue is important for everyone,” Jacquemart said. “It has local color and we need that.”
Graham said he hopes his project will be an improvement to Grand Avenue that will benefit everyone, and he see GARP possessing the innovative spirit necessary to kick start a once thriving sector of the city.
“The thing about urban pioneers is that we move on to the next thing that hasn’t been discovered yet,” he said.
Contact the reporters at diangelea.millar@asu.edu and preston.sotelo@asu.edu
