Hidden behind the news of residential projects along Roosevelt Row and city government conflict-of-interest allegations is a push to develop in a seemingly overlooked sector of downtown.
West of Central Avenue and north of Fillmore Street lies the Roosevelt Historic District, one of downtown Phoenix’s oldest communities and the site of a scramble to fill acres of vacant lots with housing and retail.
“Right now if you look at the southern part of Roosevelt, there’s still a lot of dirt, still a lot of blight and these projects are going to help improve that and increase the energy,” said Karl Obergh, president of the Roosevelt Action Association.
The largest of these projects was the West Fillmore RFP. The 7.5 acre mixed-use developed would have added more than 600 residential units to what is currently a set of vacant lots on Sixth Avenue and Fillmore Street.
But the city cancelled the sale of the land to Trammell Crow Company and the Cesar Chavez Foundation on Wednesday following an investigation concerning a conflict-of-interest claim against District 7 Councilman Michael Nowakowski. A city-commissioned report cleared Nowakowski of wrongdoing, but City Manager Ed Zuercher cancelled the sale, saying he wanted to keep the public’s trust in the bidding process, according to the Arizona Republic.
Nowakowski’s office, Trammell Crow Company and the Cesar Chavez Foundation did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
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Obergh said Trammell Crow Company had planned to visit a Roosevelt Action Association monthly meeting, but cancelled when it couldn’t schedule the project architects in time. A future meeting seems unlikely now that the sale has been revoked.
But the speed bumps along the way haven’t stemmed the tide of residential projects. Trammell Crow may have been knocked out, but other developers are still in the ring.
“I think it’s way past due,” Obergh said. “We have so much dirt … so to me we’re about 100 years behind schedule. For a vibrant downtown you need people downtown and density is where it’s at, so I’m excited to see it happen.”
Metrowest is on a mission
From new and renovated townhouses to mixed-use properties, Metrowest Development is aggressively expanding its reach through the northwest downtown area. Earlier this year, the company broke ground on the Union @ Roosevelt, an 80-unit residential and retail space on First Avenue and Roosevelt Street.
Metrowest hasn’t stopped there, with the addition of the Townhomes on Third project on Third Avenue and townhouse renovation on Second Avenue, all along or near McKinley Street.
Related: Mixed-use development to fill empty lot on Roosevelt after 50 years of vacancy
In the future, it might be difficult to drive west on McKinley Street and encounter a project that Metrowest hasn’t had a hand in bringing to life. For now, much of this development is still in the early stages.
Speaking to the company’s additional work on Third and Second avenues, Development Partner Matt Seaman said Metrowest is still in negotiations with the city that will likely last through the end of the year. Seaman said the resulting project will be part apartments, part townhouses.
“We’re also proposing a lot of on-street parking and streetscape pedestrian improvements as well,” he said.
Seaman said Metrowest had been eyeing developing in the neighborhood for “some time.”
“All of our projects that are in Roosevelt, and we have several of them, really have looked at the vacant lots, smaller vacant lots, and really trying to fill out the areas in the south part of Roosevelt,” he said.
Beyond the boundary
This development push isn’t just limited to the Roosevelt District. Despite the chasm of Seventh Avenue, Van Norman Development’s townhouse project is actually closer to the failed West Fillmore RFP than the RFP is to the Union @ Roosevelt.
It’s there in the fledgling Triangle Neighborhood that Cole Van Norman and his company are trying to make a mark in the northwest downtown land rush.
Van Norman Development is working on a few projects, but its current signature product is a set of four townhouses on 10th Avenue and Fillmore Street.
“We definitely are building a different type of model that we think will be something that can be replicated throughout downtown,” Van Norman said. “You have these small residential housing lots that are now zoned for higher-density use, so you have to get them to work without making it look like a suburban development, and what we’re doing is showing an example of urban form.”
For Van Norman, this is about more than building an urban residential property: It’s about helping to create a neighborhood from a community stuck in limbo.
Sandwiched between Seventh Avenue and the Roosevelt District on the east, and Grand Avenue to the west, residents have long had only a loose affiliation with each other. But all of that is changing.
“We’re actually in the process of organizing the neighborhood,” Van Norman said. “We have a Facebook group of over 130 people and we’ve had two neighborhood meetings, but I think that it’s over time. . . Things have changed. I don’t think it’s gotten the same focus as some of the other neighborhoods, but I think it will in the future. ”
It’s about the energy
Obergh remembers a time when downtown Phoenix and the Roosevelt District were different. Pedestrian traffic was more sparse and projects like these were rare. Developer and city representatives only occasionally reached out to the community for input.
“It’s pretty neat to see the changes,” Obergh said. “It’s amazing. My family and I love riding our bikes everywhere and taking the light rail everywhere, and it’s just phenomenal to see the changes in the energy.”
Now developers aren’t just encouraged to meet with the community, they’re expected to do so. Obergh said the companies have been very interactive with the neighborhood, making an effort to come to community meetings.
As those developers flock to the northwest sector of downtown — and their projects bring new people along for the ride — Obergh said there is still one more change he’d like to see.
“The only thing I’m bummed about is that I want to see higher, I want to see more dense, taller (buildings),” Obergh said. “If we’re going to be infilling the downtown area I don’t want to see four-, five-, six-story buildings, I want to see 36-story buildings. I need a skyline.”
Reporters Caleb Manning and Kevin Lane contributed to the reporting of this story.
Contact the reporter at travis.arbon@asu.edu.
