| NEWS | Steele Gates Uptown Phoenix neighbors question a luxury development near a light rail stop. BY KATYA SCHWENK sits squarely in uptown Phoenix. Some argue the project is considered A infill development and not a utopia for people who want a suburban lifestyle. Either way, the area has received signifi- cant taxpayer money for pedestrian- friendly transit development. And as other developers make signifi- cant strides in building dense urban communities nearby, this project sticks out like a sore thumb, critics complain. The new project, named simply Uptown, is billed as a “luxury” gated community. It would consist exclusively of attached town- homes, each with its own two-car garage and private roads to connect the commu- nity, including an exclusive entrance to the beloved public park. Uptown is not the first set of plans for the land, though, just the latest, and quite a far cry from affordable condos envisioned before the economic collapse of 2008. Across Central Avenue, and the Indian School light rail train stop, construction workers are meticulously building a different luxury high-rise complete with retail on the ground floor stretching an entire city block. The 8-acre site was sold in recent years for nearly $18 million for the land alone. The 402-unit, four-story, multifamily building has been under construction for months. Just south of the proposed town- homes would be a massive mixed-use development with high-rise apartments, a movie theater, and a pedestrian plaza, renderings show. As it stands, there would be upward of 1,000 new urban apartments next to a townhome community where residents have personal garages for their vehicles. “That site is such a prime location,” said Ryan Boyd, president of Urban Phoenix Project, a local urbanist advocacy group. Some neighbors claim that there are tensions about whether single-family townhomes fit in a community centered around public transportation. Especially when Phoenix residents voted to approve a tax hike for light rail train development. Others in the neighborhood, though, 8 argue that the pushback could delay a needed new source of housing in the area. The 4.5-acre development would include 72 attached townhomes, each new housing development proposed along the western edge of Steele Indian School Park has all the trappings of classic Phoenix suburbia. Except that it’s not in the suburbs. It living space more than 2,000 square feet. The homes would have several bedrooms and possibly private yards. In their plans for the area, the developers called them “luxury” homes. While townhomes are a denser housing development than a neighborhood of detached single-family homes complete with a cul-de-sac, the project has struck a nerve with those fighting for fewer vehi- cles on the road. Some activists and neighborhood groups are frustrated by the plans for a luxury development within walking distance of a bustling light rail train station. “It is between light rail stops. It is next to a major city park. It’s a point of pride,” Boyd said. It would cut off access to the park, neighbors said, and bring lower-density homes to an area that needs affordable housing. It also represents a departure from the city’s plans for the site. “This is the place where you can actu- ally put dense housing that’s in a walkable environment,” Boyd said. “And if we fail to do that, we’re basically just going to continue to build this sprawling suburbia.” Over the past several years, the city of Phoenix has set lofty goals to leave unre- strained suburban sprawl in the dust. City officials have repeatedly paid lip service to encourage a more walkable and sustainable future. Some developers have followed their lead to make it a reality, as is the case nearby Steele Indian School Park. But as property values spike and housing developers rush in, critics worry that Phoenix is falling short of its goals. In this case, despite opposition from some nearby neighborhood groups, the local developer — Cresleigh Homes — has been given a green light by two city plan- ning commissions. The proposal is now before the City Council. Laura Pastor, the councilmember who represents District 4, which includes the development, has not signaled her stance on the plan. Two representatives from her office did not return queries from Phoenix New Times and it was not immediately clear why. Wade Kempton, senior vice president of Cresleigh Homes, as well as other of the developer’s staff, did not return New Times’ inquiries for this story. But the developer submitted extensive documentation to the city of Phoenix about its plans and argued that the project is pedestrian-friendly and in line with the spirit of the city’s transit plans. The project would create an “inviting community experience” with shade, Kristen Mosbrucker gathering areas, and a bicycle repair station, according to the developer’s plans. And it would adopt a design that “enhances comfort, provides shade, and promotes multiple walkable connection points to the project and the greater Central Avenue public corridor.” The property is owned by a real estate shell business, Midtown Central Hotel Corporation. According to Arizona Corporation Commission records, Midtown Central Hotel Corporation is a subsidiary of a hotel property development company headquartered in San Francisco called Stanford Hotels. The company operates one of the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton hotels in Phoenix. Back in 2006, Cresleigh Homes announced a project to build 256 condos on the parcel — four times more units than the current plans. The group touted the plans as a way to provide “attainable” housing to the nearby community. The original plan was also conceived as pedestrian-friendly after tearing down an old hotel at the site. “No one will ever be confronted with a big sea of cars,” Brad Bull, who worked with the original architecture firm on the project, told the Phoenix Business Journal back in 2007. The plans never came to fruition. Instead, the developer has hung onto land, records show. In 2015, the city of Phoenix announced its “Reinvent PHX” plan — partly a result of a partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. City planners spent more than $3 million in federal funding trying to reimagine a radically different future for an otherwise car-centric city. Along the light rail line, the city would encourage walkable neighborhoods, acces- sible shopping, and denser, more afford- able housing, the plan said. At times, neighborhoods have struggled to make sure developers lived up to the There are dense multifamily projects nearby the proposed townhomes. goals of these plans. In South Phoenix, residents said that without a stronger policy, they have feared displacement as investors try to get rich in a hot market. Nicole Rodriguez, a member of the Encanto Village Planning Committee, expressed similar sentiments regarding developments along the light rail in uptown Phoenix. “What is the point of all that human capital that went into [the plan] if we’re not going to honor it?” Rodriguez said, noting that the Reinvent PHX district plans took years to draft and ran hundreds of pages. “This sets the stage for developers to go down a similar avenue,” Rodriguez said. The city worked with community groups and individual residents for years to draw up plans for multiple districts around the city, all under the umbrella of more sustainable, dense development. The city defines the uptown district as spanning from Indian School Road up to Missouri Avenue, between Seventh Street and 15th Avenue. In its plan for the district, back in 2015, the city professed its plans to create a “walkable, opportunity-rich community,” and to provide neighborhoods with “new urban living choices in a city planned almost entirely for the automobile.” The parcel of land now slated for a gated community was meant to be — ideally — a “walkable urban center,” according to the plan, full of small busi- nesses and urban housing. But city officials have pushed back on activists for focusing on blocking a single development when there will be plenty of high rises for urban dwellers in the coming years. “From my perspective, we have to eval- uate things holistically,” said Joel Carrasco, a planner with the city of Phoenix who specializes in transit- oriented development. “I can see, from a MARCH 10TH– MARCH 16TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
