The historic preservationists of Arizona are expressing concern about the preservation of the building that housed Circles Records and Tapes.
Empire Commercial Development LLC released conceptual plans for the building that preservationists felt did not properly maintain its historic elements.
The building, commonly referred to as the Stewart Motor building, is considered historic by some. However, it’s not technically on any registries, such as the National Register of Historic Places, which would provide it with protection from demolition or alterations.
It previously was Circles Records and Tapes, a record store. Originally, the building housed the Stewart Motor Studebaker Company and was a part of Phoenix’s Auto Row.
In 2012, the Postwar Architecture Task Force of Greater Phoenix created a list of the top 25 properties they felt were best representative to qualify for historic preservation but were not protected. The Circles Records building was included in this list, but it was never officially protected and still remains on the list of non-protected potential qualifiers.
“The spotlight is really on them now in the preservation community because the building is significant and part of the larger story of automobile row in Phoenix,” said Alison King, a founder of the Postwar Architecture Task Force. “We’re pretty concerned about the proposed use of that real estate to make a high rise complex.”
In January, representatives of the Postwar Architecture Task Force, Arizona Preservation Foundation and Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission went on a tour of the building. They were invited to give feedback and response to the plans, face-to-face as well as in a letter.
Those on the tour, including King, Jim McPherson of the Arizona Preservation Foundation and Bill Scheel of the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission, responded to the tour with a letter detailing their concerns for the building. They believe the building should be maintained fully, if possible, through adaptive reuse.
“The plans that were proposed and shown to us were going to encroach on the existing building in a way that did not preserve the integrity of the building as a whole,” King said. “And that is why the preservation community as a whole are going to be giving some pretty special attention as this project moves forward.”
The plans for the building are to turn it into a multifamily mid-rise residential building, but all building plans are still in conceptual stages according to Larry Lazarus, a land-use attorney who represents the property owners and Empire Commercial.
According to these conceptual plans, the building will be 19 stories and house 321 mix-use apartments. There is no specific timeline for the development at the moment. Lazarus and the developers currently still need to meet with the city of Phoenix.
“We’re talking to the city on discussions with what could be built there, how it would be built there, what the potential is with what could be built on the site. None of that has occurred yet,” Lazarus said. “At this point the plan is to save the iconic portions of the building.”
The idea of what the iconic or historic portions of the building that should be saved are part of what Robert Graham, the principal architect of Motley Design Group, is concerned about. Graham is familiar with the building because Motley Design Group, which has roots in historic preservation, previously did analysis on the building when the city considered buying the building for the Arizona Opera.
“That’s not preservation. They may be preserving what they believe is the iconic side of the building,” Graham said. “That’s not what preservationist would call preservation.”
Lazarus and the developers plan on scheduling meetings with the preservationists to further discuss the concerns about the building.
Graham said he hopes an agreement can be reached with the developers that would maintain the building, while still allowing the developers to profit.
“Our position is that you can obtain his rate of return without destroying a historic building. It should be possible to create a development model that it would still qualify for the National Historic Register,” Graham said.
Contact the reporter at Kara.Carlson@asu.edu.
