Located on the corner of Third and Buchanan Streets in downtown Phoenix, two historical buildings from the 1900s remain intact.
These two establishments — Gerardo’s Building and Arvizu’s El Fresnal Grocery Store — are all that remains of a lively Hispanic neighborhood that once existed in the area now called the Warehouse District.
Arvizu’s El Fresnal Grocery was built around 1900, according to Donna Reiner, a historian at the Phoenix Historical Society. Grocer Trinidad Arvizu ran the store for about twenty years, and it later served as a masonic temple. Today, it remains the oldest intact neighborhood grocery store in Phoenix, according to the Phoenix Warehouse District website.
Its neighbor, Gerardo’s Building, was built in 1925 by Gerardo Verdugo Walker, according to Reiner. This two-story brick structure initially served as a pool hall, and later became a café, store, and bar — all run by Gerardo. His operations, along with Arvizu’s El Fresnal Grocery, are significant for being some of the earliest Hispanic-owned businesses in Phoenix.
The City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Landmark Status protects these two structures, but like many other historic buildings in the Warehouse District, they are undergoing renovation.
The Battery Apartments, a four-story apartment complex, will incorporate them into their layout.
“Our current plan is to take the historic buildings in their nature and expose more of the historic parts of them,” said Dusty Dallas, a senior project manager at JMA Ventures, a development firm involved in the project.
While he is still uncertain of the final design of the property, he says these two structures will most likely be used as amenities, such as “a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop.”
There are many standards a construction company must follow when working with historical buildings. For this project, the exterior of each must be preserved, but the interior allows for more flexibility, according to Donna Reiner.
“Because they are brick, they can’t stucco them, because that would ruin the exterior,” she said.
However, given that their original construction might not be up to today’s standards, they may have to do some reinforcing. The developer may also be required to install a sign explaining the historical background of each building, Reiner said.
Another concern with the preservation of historical buildings is that they may lose their historical context when surrounded by the modern look of new businesses.
“Developers are coming in and seeing this as prime property, they don’t care about the building,” Reiner said.
Reiner has witnessed historical sights in the past lose their integrity in the process of renovation, especially when developers engage in facadism. This occurs when only the front of a structure is kept in order to retain the façade of an old building.
However, the Battery does not plan on facadism, and will instead incorporate the entirety of the buildings in their project.
The Battery Apartments are set to be complete in the first quarter of 2021, according to the JMA Ventures website.
Contact the reporter at omccann1@asu.edu.
