The sights and sounds of the renovation of a historic building in the historic warehouse district of downtown Phoenix are rather inglorious.
Jackhammers pounded away Friday at the cement in the lower level of the nearly 90-year-old warehouse on the corner of Second and Buchanan streets, while workers buzzed around the building restoring what they could and creating where they see it impossible to restore.
The goal: complete new office space by the end of the year.
The warehouse will become the new home of the Phoenix branch of PR firm R&R Partners, said Matt Silverman, the vice president and managing director of the branch. R&R has had offices all over the Valley for the last 20 years, but in recent years desired a permanent home downtown.
“We really believe in a place that has character,” Silverman said. “We looked at this area as an area that had a lot of potential.”
The company bought the warehouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 2007 to become an office space for the more than 40 employees R&R has in Phoenix. However, the recession halted those plans and delayed work on the building until the fall of 2013.
Henry Ong Sr., a Chinese immigrant, built the warehouse in the 1920s. According to a statement from R&R, the building has had many tenants throughout its lifetime and still bears the name of its last active tenant, the Trombetta Brothers.
Silverman said this project and others in the area, including the move of some graduate programs of Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, shows that the district might be an up-and-coming place downtown.
“As innovators, we really wanted to be a part of starting exciting,” Silverman said.
Martin Ball, of Phoenix-based CCBG Architects, is the project manager for the renovation effort. He said preserving the historic aspects of the building while making sure it is updated to fulfill the needs of a modern company has proved to be challenging, but rewarding.
“It’s always an interesting thing when you get a chance to get your hands on an old building and try to make it new again without losing the character of the structure,” Ball said.
The building was in extremely poor condition when work began, Ball said. Among other parts of the building, workers had to fix the walls and roof, both of which were so badly worn down that the building was unstable.
Despite the challenges, Ball said he tried to ensure that the exterior of the building would be left alone as much as possible.
The inside, however, is a different story. The building will have a new elevator shaft, new staircases, a new air conditioning unit and some other modern necessities, Ball said.
The blend between new and old was very important to R&R, Silverman said.
“This building represents a vibrant part of Phoenix’s industry back in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t keep that but preserve it in a way that keeps it stable physically and breathes new life into it for new businesses,” Silverman said.
That is why CCBG went through great pains during renovation to ensure the building’s character was preserved. For example, Ball said two new roof beams supported any original beams that could be salvaged. In addition, the original floor will remain largely untouched and actually holds the roof of the building up.
While R&R will occupy most of the space in the building, two spaces will be set aside for local businesses, Silverman said. Phil Breidenbach of Colliers International, the company that represents the leasing interests for the property, said the property has generated a lot of interest even though the renovations aren’t complete.
Silverman said the warehouse district as a whole has seen renewed interest after the recession stifled the momentum it was building. The R&R project is emblematic of the challenges of warehouse district development, as it has endured a period of inactivity and uncertainty because of those economic pressures.
Despite that renewed interest, the warehouse district has a long way to go before it becomes the bustling center of economic and social activity that its supporters desire.
“We know it’s going to take more than just business owners,” Silverman said. “We need local shops who are interested in opening retail. We need coffee shops, we need flower shops, we need business owners and we need people to live here.”
Future developments in the area will face many of the same challenges that CCBG and R&R faced in renovating the warehouse. However, as Silverman tells it, these historic buildings have something to offer future property owners and developers.
“This is a great part of the city, and they don’t build buildings like this anymore,” Silverman said. “In a city that’s pretty young, I think it’s pretty cool to preserve its roots.”
Contact the reporter at agnel.philip@asu.edu
