By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal
The city of Phoenix is preparing to issue a request for proposals to redevelop Seventh Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Phoenix.
The RFP would be issued either later this year or early next year, said Christine Mackay, community and economic development director for the city of Phoenix. The city owns properties on the southwest, northwest and northeast corners of Seventh Avenue and Washington, she said.
The police headquarters at the southwest corner will be moved into the former Wells Fargo tower at 100 W. Washington St., which the city bought for $46.5 million in 2021. Renovations of the 525,000-square-foot tower are expected to be completed for the police HQ move by next year.
Meanwhile, the existing, aging police headquarters would be razed to pave the way for new development. Mackay envisions a mixed-use project that would include apartments and ground-floor retail and restaurant space. Affordable and workforce housing units would also need to be included in the development.
“What a great location for a mixed-income residential development on one corner,” she said.
Over the past two or three years, there’s been more effort to expand outside the downtown area between Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street, she said.
“We’re going to take out the RFP by the end of the year or early next year at Seventh Avenue and Washington to connect us to the capital mall,” Mackay said.
Last spring, Phoenix City Council approved an RFP to develop a mixed-use project that would include affordable, workforce and market-rate units on 1.49 acres at the southwest and southeast corners of First Avenue and McKinley Street.
“It’s an exciting RFP,” Mackay said. “It was the first time the city council in an RFP approved mandating an affordable, workforce and market rate mixed-use project.”
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