A northwest Phoenix area is ready to move to its next chapter after a two-decade slide into blight.
The City Council on March 19 unanimously approved the North Mountain Redevelopment Area plan, which will shape a 2,500-acre site over a decade. The plan outlines a set of goals and strategies for land uses, upgraded infrastructure and public transportation to the area, roughly 10 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix.
The redevelopment area stretches into several council districts. Metrocenter mall is its high-profile landmark.
“It (Metrocenter) had the potential of turning into a slum,” said District 1 Councilwoman Thelda Williams. “Now, it will bring confidence to neighbors, businesses and will bring potential retailers seeking space inside the mall.”
When the council designated the area a blight using state laws in February 2013, it asked residents, businesses and other stakeholders what they would like to see it become. The council asked for economic development, light-rail extension, such recreational amenities as swimming pools, college campuses and a cleanup.
District 3 Councilman Bill Gates said word is out about the designation and that businesses are inquiring.
“In meetings as recently as last week, we have had real-estate brokers interested in learning more about the area, the designation and what it ultimately means,” Gates said. “We have also had a group approach the city and is working to install a frisbee golf course in the area.”
History of area
The area’s boundary is 19th and 15th avenues on the east; Alice Avenue, Butler Drive and the Arizona Canal on the south; 35th Avenue on the west;and Cholla Street, Sahuaro and Peoria avenues on the north.
The area is home to such landmarks as the Rose Mofford Sports Complex, the Arizona Canal and the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. It is home to 26,000 people, according to the plan.
It also has 300 businesses, including Metrocenter, which opened in the early 1970s as growth marched to the northwest. The mall and surrounding area thrived until about the early 1990s, when the demographics and housing began to change.
The Great Recession pushed the area into greater decline, city officials said. Retail was hit hard as major retail outlets shuttered at Metrocenter.
According to the plan, the average retail vacancy rate between Peoria and Dunlap avenues and Interstate 17 and 35th Avenue is 28 percent. Citywide, the rate is 12.4 percent.
Vacant buildings attract graffiti, and a lack of property maintenance causes blight, hindering investment, according to the report.
About the plan
The goals of the plan are to bring private investment and development to the area, market underused property, get rid of blight, upgrade infrastructure and create jobs.
“It’s a multiyear effort,” said Alan Stephenson, Phoenix’s Planning and Development Department’s acting director. “There are no set time frames for it and no set cost for it. It’s not redeveloping one site. … It’s a multiple-year action plan for the community to revitalize the area.”
The city’s role would be to do such things as improve parks and provide lighting for parking lots, he said.
Redevelopment can turn controversial, especially if it calls for condemning property and uprooting residents. Many times, those residents are from middle-class or low-income areas, according to national publications.
The North Mountain plan is not expected to take such an approach.
“The city is not going to condemn any private property as a result of the plan,” Stephenson said. “We do not have the legal authority to condemn private property and then turn it over to other interests for redevelopment anymore.”
The draft plan also proposes to raise taxes to pay for services. A city services district, for example, would impose a special property tax to bolster public safety, fire protection, refuse collection or landscape maintenance.
Since the council declared the area blighted nearly a year ago, the city staff has identified possible funding sources to help cover costs, Stephenson said. They include low-interest loans, design-assistance grants and support from government partners, private and quasi-public groups, and foundations. Additional sources could become available later, Stephenson said.
Metrocenter mall
Warren Fink, CEO of Carlyle Development Group, bought Metrocenter mall several years ago. A redevelopment district allows certain movement to make businesses more efficient to make changes economically, Fink said.
He is not a stranger to redevelopment projects. Fink’s group worked on two major projects over four years.
Fink is a 40-year veteran of the commercial real-estate industry. Of that, he spent 15 years focused entirely on redeveloping and repositioning projects.
One of those projects took place near Oakland between 2002 and 2007. The Emeryville Redevelopment Agency was approved in 1976 and dissolved in 2012. Its plan eliminated economic and visual blight in 95 percent of Emeryville, according to the city’s website.
“We redeveloped 20 acres into 370,000 square feet of open-lifestyle retail and 250 condos on top of retail shops,” Fink said.
Carlyle is the largest landowner in the North Mountain Development Area, and Fink envisions sharply reducing the 30 percent vacancy rate at Metrocenter.
His vision would allow for other uses, such as a venue for a college campus, health care, senior housing or office space. These ideas would require working closely with the city for zoning changes, he said.
Councilwoman Williams said that although conditions at the mall have improved, landscaping, rerouting traffic and adding buildings on its outer ring would give the old mall a chance for a strong comeback.
Plan’s highlights
The North Mountain Redevelopment Area plan focuses on five areas: economic development, connectivity, recreation, safety and code compliance, and community education and engagement. It has three phases. Following are highlights:
• Identify sites with high potential for development or adaptive reuse, such as turning a vacant big box building into a restaurant.
• Strong use of Planned Unit Development, which gives businesses greater flexibility to bring new uses to the area.
• Work with Ottawa University to expand college campuses. This would include looking at the feasibility of unifying sports programs into the Rose Mofford Sports Complex and a possible light-rail expansion to bring fans to the complex.
• Extending light rail 3.2 miles along 19th Avenue from Montebello to Dunlap Avenue and west toward Metrocenter. The plan projects 5,000 additional riders daily.
• The city’s Street Transportation Department would study area streets to improve their appearance. Funds for the improvements could come from a possible tax increase.
• Install new streetlights, crosswalks and left-turn lanes along Dunlap from 31st to 43rd avenues.
• Partner with the Maricopa Association of Governments, Valley Metro, other cities and an ad hoc citizens committee to update the Phoenix Bikeway Plan.
More: phoenix.gov/pdd/pz/nmtnredev.html.
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