The groundbreaking of Center 8 townhomes just outside the downtown core three weeks ago is part of the continuation of a young housing boom that will drastically reshape Phoenix’s urban core.
In all, 15 new apartments and condos are under construction, with more in the beginning stages. Developers and downtown advocates say they are being built to keep up with the growing population.
These new buildings are scheduled to open in the next two years and will provide at least 1,584 apartments and 273 condos. The city’s housing is currently at 95 percent occupancy, said Dan Klocke, vice president of development for Downtown Phoenix Inc.
“The city of Phoenix is predicted, in the next three, four years, to have the strongest job growth in the country,” Klocke said. “Which means when you have job growth you have people coming here and they need places to live. I think that bodes really well. Obviously it’s based on trends and so forth and things can change, but I think it’s a very positive look at it.”
Maricopa County ranked second in the nation for population increase, as 74,000 new residents arrived from July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2014.
Klocke said with the projected numbers of soon-to-be available housing, he can see four or five thousand more people living downtown in the next three or four years.
“If you look at the number of jobs that are already slated to come into Phoenix, the housing that’s currently being developed doesn’t even meet that,” said Bryan Fasulo, regional property manager at Pinnacle Property Management, which is developing an 118-unit project on Roosevelt Row. “That is why you see so much renovation happening again.”
Downtown Phoenix is approximately two square miles, and prime real estate for these complexes is near Roosevelt Row. But the arts district is a prime spot for businesses and restaurants as well.
Recently, PAZ Cantina, on Third and Roosevelt streets, temporarily shut their doors after Alliance Residential Company bought the location.
“We could never plant roots here because we knew that they would come,” said Michael Reyes, the restaurant’s owner.
Related: Roosevelt buildings will bid farewell at final First Friday before demolition
The community rallied for PAZ, and the support led to Alliance giving PAZ the anchor location on the apartment complex’s first floor. The ground floor will be utilized for restaurants and retail.
“How beautiful and poetic for this little brand to have the success it did,” Reyes said. “It’s all going to come down and its all going to come back up.”
Some businesses didn’t have the same luck as PAZ and were permanently displaced, like the SoRo businesses on Fourth and McKinley Streets, home of a new Pinnacle development.
The new apartment complex will open in spring, and owners hope it will become a part of the property. They have hired the same artist who painted the original colorful buildings to paint murals inside the apartment complex.
A new trend for these apartments is to utilize their first floor for businesses, and the Pinnacle building is no exception. Their first floor will feature 10 live and work spaces.
“I think we are going to continue to see good growth in the restaurant area,” Klocke said. “I think retail is going to take a little bit longer, but it is starting to pick up. There are a lot of great little boutiques, shops and interesting places to go to, and that’s only going to get helped if we have more residents down here.”
Contact the reporter at courtney.pedroza@asu.edu.
