Arizona Center

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name= One Arizona Center


caption= Tower One
year_built= 1989
location= 400 E Van Buren St
Phoenix
status= completed
constructed= 1989
roof= 240 feet (73 meters)
top_floor= 18
floor_count= 18
architect= HKS, Inc
engineer=
contractor=
developer= Rouse Company
owner=

Arizona Center is a shopping center and office complex located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.

Arizona Center was designed by the Rouse Company (on its festival marketplace model, which worked to great success in other cities) and opened in the fall of 1990 to great fanfare and high expectations, as it was considered one of the original components of the ongoing downtown revitalization efforts in Phoenix taking place since the early 1990s.

The expectations were high since it was developed by the same firm that created the highly successful Faneuil Hall Marketplace (Boston) and Harborplace (Baltimore). Arizona Center was expected to be a retail, dining and entertainment magnet which would jump-start interest in downtown redevelopment, but some critics felt suburban-oriented Phoenix was not ready to embrace a downtown development of this caliber. To some extent the critics were correct; many of the initial retailers struggled to attract customers, and by 2003, the large second-story food court, similar to those found in suburban shopping malls, was closed and reconfigured into the Phoenix regional office of Detroit-based architectural firm SmithGroup. [cite news |first=Mike |last=Padgett |author=Mike Padgett |title=SmithGroup carves its own offices out of food court |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2003/09/29/newscolumn6.html |work= |publisher=The Business Journal of Phoenix |date=2003-09-26 |accessdate=2007-03-13 ] Critics have also pointed out the relative scarcity of permanent upscale apartment and/or condominium housing in the immediate vicinity as a factor in the lackluster performance of the mall. [cite news |first=Adam |last=Kress |author=Adam Kress |title= Downtown retail may grow as ASU, light rail proceed|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/09/19/story1.html?t=printable |work= |publisher=The Business Journal of Phoenix |date=2005-09-16 |accessdate=2007-03-13 ] Most of the residential districts surrounding the downtown area are middle-to-lower income, not adequate to support the middle-to-high end marketing mix that Arizona Center set out to provide.

Arizona Center features three office buildings.

One Arizona Center is 240 feet (73 meters) tall and has 18 floors. It was completed in 1989. This tower houses various legal firms with Snell and Wilmer being the largest. Other tenants include the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor's Bureau (PHX CVB), Phoenix Regional Sports Commission (PRSC), and the main corporate offices of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Two Arizona Center stands at 260 feet (79 meters) tall and has 20 floors. It was completed in 1990 and is the headquarters of local electric utility Arizona Public Service or APS.

Arizona Republic Building, at 124 feet (38 meters) is only 10 floors, yet it is the headquarters for the Arizona Republic, the state's largest daily newspaper.

Arizona Center also has convert|120000|sqft|m2|-3 of retail space (including a 24-screen AMC movie theater), built around richly landscaped courtyards and fountains. While no longer the huge draw it was designed to be at inception, it still draws relatively healthy lunchtime office-worker crowds to its remaining eateries, as well as large numbers of local residents (from the largely blue-collar and middle-class neighborhoods surrounding downtown) on weekends to the movie theater, which is the only one for several square miles. Out-of-town conventioneers, tourists and sports fans who come downtown to attend games of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks also provide acceptably healthy foot traffic.

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name= Two Arizona Center


caption= Tower Two
year_built= 1990
location= 455 N 3rd St
Phoenix
status= completed
constructed= 1990
roof= 260 feet (79 meters)
top_floor= 20
floor_count= 20
architect= HNTB Architecture
engineer=
contractor=
developer= Rouse Company
owner=

In the summer of 2006, Arizona State University announced plans to use convert|4000|sqft|m2|-2 on the second floor as a student union for its newly expanding Downtown Phoenix branch campus. [cite news |first=Ginger D. |last= Richardson |author=Ginger D. Richardson |title=ASU To Use Arizona Center For Student Union |url=http://www.asufoundation.org/news/stories/072406-student-union.asp |publisher=The Arizona Republic |date=2006-07-24 |accessdate=2007-03-13 ]

Arizona Center's fortunes are expected to revive as a 30-story Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel is under construction on the block shared by the Arizona Republic headquarters, and is expected to open in late 2008. Also, several high-end condo projects in the downtown area are either under construction, newly opened, or in the planning stages.

ee also

* Downtown Phoenix

References

External links

*http://www.arizonacenter.com
*http://www.aps.com
*http://www.arizonarepublic.com
*http://www.swlaw.com/phoenix
*http://www.visitphoenix.com/.com
*http://www.phxsports.org
*http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/