Phoenix Celebrates a Milestone (and 140 Years)

Back in the days when Arizona was known for the 5 C’s of citrus, copper, cattle, cotton and climate and downtown Phoenix was a hub of warehouses and industry (and the stockyards’ nearby presence was overwhelmingly manifest), people fled away from the area for their leisure and entertainment pursuits.

Culture and entertainment venues started bringing people back — for the theater, for the ball games and for the arguably most popular draw, Phoenix’s First Fridays Art Walk. Thanks to the bars and restaurants that cropped up to serve that audience, and the Light Rail improving easy access, Downtown Phoenix began to get “stickier” as people began spending more time downtown.

There is still a transitory element to Downtown Phoenix’s population. But there is significant growth of a permanent population — people who work and pursue a number of leisure activities and live full-time in Downtown Phoenix.

In fact, the most densely populated intersection in the entire State of Arizona is 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt Street.

Living up to its name once again, Phoenix is experiencing a regrowth and renewal of identity that its downtown is central to. The city was incorporated on Feb. 25, 1881, and Downtown Phoenix Inc. presents a fascinating then-and-now look at https://dtphx.org/anniversary/ in celebration of this 140th anniversary.

But it’s the most recent 10 years that have been the most transformational in this city core.

Murals abound — more than 150 of them within the bounds of Downtown (Lincoln to McDowell and 7th Avenue to 7th Street). Exterior walls are open-air art galleries that add to the area’s vibrancy. After all, Downtown’s current incarnation was, in many ways, built on the arts. Some murals are rendered on glass on high-rises and can be seen from blocks away. Some of the newer murals specifically celebrate the Black Lives Matter movement, with beautiful portraits of historical leaders.

Downtown has seen a net gain in the number of restaurants over this past year, in spite of losing some due to the pandemic. And 85% of these restaurants are locally owned, making for a wealth of unique dining experiences. Quick eats to sit-and-linger, restaurateurs offer foodies a smorgasbord of tastes. And views, such as what can be enjoyed from hotel rooftop bars at the Cambria and the Palomar.

Speaking of hotels, Downtown still offers convention-size hospitality venues such as the Sheraton, but a number of boutique-y ones serve the area as well.

The Phoenix Suns Arena will be seeing completion of its renovations a lot sooner than expected. With the pandemic shutting down mass events of concerts and games, construction could forge forward uninterrupted by scheduling issues. The arena’s new design promises to be more inclusive for visitors, who can take their ticket to their assigned seat or wander to their choice of restaurants for alternate seating.

Construction elsewhere than the arena is also going strong. Phoenix, in fact, is the only major market that has experienced construction growth from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021. There is more residential construction now than there was in the two decades from 2000 to 2020.

Adaptive reuse is saving much of the historical ambience of the area, preserving historically interesting façades while upgrading interiors to cutting-edge designs for companies in a variety of economic sectors.

And, of course, there’s the BioMed campus — 30 acres in the middle of downtown whose renown as a research hub is elevating Phoenix and impacting the economy far more than the Cardinals stadium originally planned for that land would have done.

Students, to be sure, are moving in thanks to ASU and UArizona establishing campuses here — more than 20,000 students from ASU alone. But area amenities such as the re-envisioned Margaret T. Hance Park attract families as well.

The truism of retail is that it “follows the rooftops.” In the case of Downtown Phoenix, that’s apartments rather than single-family development, but the increasing population of 24-hour residents is helping fuel the area’s continuing growth and transformation. According to a Downtown Phoenix spokesperson, investment into Phoenix — unlike other markets across the country — is not slowing down.