Urban Life

What to do in Downtown Phoenix

People often ask us what to do in downtown Phoenix? What are the best restaurants? Do we have a favorite nightclub or bar? Are there tours of downtown Phoenix. What cultural venues and events happen in downtown Phoenix? I think you get the idea.

Since we specialize in downtown real estate, it is natural to think we know where to go and what to do. In response, we've been putting together a list of over 100 things to do and places to go in in downtown Phoenix. I'll tell you, it is quite a project.

The initial phase is done and we have created our list that includes some of our favorite restaurants, bars, places to listen to music, places to shop, museums, theaters and lots more. Over time we will be adding individual posts on the different places with our thoughts.

In the meantime, you can check our the list on our sister site that specialized in all things downtown... www.UrbanConnectionRealty.com. For a direct link to the article simply go to,

What To Do and Places to Go in Downtown Phoenix Arizona

Downtown Phoenix Sports District to Light Up Things

An article in the Arizona Republic and on AZCentral.com today has stirred up a lot of controversy on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites.

As is usual, many of the comments are spot on and some are riff with unsupported allegations and false information... welcome to social news.

I read through the articles, made a few calls and feel I have a decent understanding of the plan. I say decent because everyone puts their spin on things and the full picture is often hard to paint, especially for a paint by numbers guy like me.

My base take on things is there are a number of people out there who are trying to figure out what to do to re-energize the fallen downtown Phoenix “sports district”. Rather than the epic entertainment and sports neighborhood many envisioned, we have a condo tower in questionable recovery,vacant storefronts and more questions than answers.

The plan discussed on AZCentral uses “flashy Vegas-type signs” to enliven the area and create ad space. The digital ads would create revenue for both the organization behind them and the City of Phoenix.

The organization mentioned above has  a vested interest in the future of downtown sports since they also have ownership interests in the DBacks and Suns. To some folks that makes them evil,while others say, yeah for the home team.

Personally, I see both pros and cons. Lights, cameras, action is not just a director’s statement, it is used to spark action.  Digital ads are energetic and energy is what the region needs. Ads create revenue and getting national retailers to drop money downtown can be advantageous... not always but not never either. The ad revenue is a taxable event so a City suffering from revenue shortfalls would have a new food source.

On the con side of things, lots of large signs may not add positively to the flavor of the district. That will depend on where they are placed, how they are structured and the creativity of the ads being shown. They could be very cool or they could just throw off a lot of light pollution without adding a cultural advantage.

I’d love to hear your take on things. Hopefully with well thought ideas verses simple rants... we get enough of those on AZCentral and other blogs... UrbanLIfe readers are above that in most cases.

Best to you

Gene Urban
The Urban Team
602-234-5777

CityScape Hosts Octoberfest Celebration

CityScape wants to add to the fun that is downtown Phoenix by hosting a big Octoberfest party on Friday October 22nd and Saturday October 23rd.

The Octoberfest celebration is both a fun event and a charitable one benefiting the Phoenix Sister Cites. Phoenix Sister Cities is a local organization that promotes relationships and understanding between people of many cultures. Today they work with 9 cities in countries such as China, Canada, Israel and more.

Below are the details we received about the festival.

A BIT ABOUT THE BEERS:

Spaten Oktoberfest Beer
Spaten Oktoberfest Beer, created in 1872, world's first Oktoberfest beer
Bitburger Premium Pils
200 year old brewery, #3 best selling beer in Germany, Bitburger Brewery founded in 1817.
Erdinger Oktoberfest Beer
Like all ERDINGER beers, Erdinger Oktoberfest-Weizen is refermented in the bottle and keg - rarely used for beer, similar to champagne method. 

GERMAN STYLE FESTIVAL DESIGN

Festival goers will find long rows of tables, cups of cold German beer, fabulous food from one of the top chefs in Arizona, sausage eating contest, along with a major stage and dance floor featuring music and, yes, polka!

FOOD
Arizona's own Aaron May of Vitamin T at CityScape (among other dining establishments) will offer Munich style sausages, brats and, of course, giant pretzels.

 

ENTERTAINMENT LINEUP
Friday
4-6pm, Christ Putrino Trio
6:30-8pm, Hans Olson
8:30-10pm, John Smoltz Polka Band

Saturday
12:30-2pm, Polka Dance Lessons
2:30-4pm, Bad Cactus Brass Band
4:30-6pm, Schreiner's German Sausage Eating Contest
6:30-8pm, The Elevens
8:30-10pm, The AfterDark Band

TICKETS
FREE while supplies last at CityScape businesses:  Lucky Strike Lanes & Lounge; 5 Guys Burgers & Fries; Gold's Gym; CVS Pharmacy; Designer District; Par Exsalonce Salon; and West of SoHo.
*DAY OF: Tickets $10 at the gate

Enjoy your Octoberfest celebrations.

Gene Urban
The Urban Team
602-234-5777

Downtown Phoenix Goes Red on November 4th

A free event is always a good thing and one that includes food, music and the Mayor's State of Downtown address is even better.

Here are the details:

Event: State of Downtown Mayor's Address
When: Thursday, November 4th
Time: 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Where: CityScape in downtown Phoenix (1 West Washington)
Cost: Free to the public

Fun Stuff: Music by The Phoenix Symphony and The Sugar Thieves. Food samples from various downtown restaurants.

See you there for the fun.

Magic At The Duce

Many of you only know Gene Urban as a realtor and blog guy. In a former life Gene traveled around the world performing close up magic and mentalism. He still performs about a hundred shows a year for corporate groups and private parties in Scottsdale, Phoenix and Paradise Valley. Now he is has added a public venue... the Duce in downtown Phoenix.

On Tuesdays from 6:30 – 9:00 Gene, aka The Card Guy, will be available to entertain you and your friends with his special brand of magic and mental effects. See why companies like Lucent, Google, UBS, The NFL, and Microsoft have and do make the magic of Gene Urban part of their events.

Come see Gene Urban perform magic at the Duce in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday nights... bring a friend, maybe lots of friends and together we’ll make Magic Tuesdays a fixture in downtown Phoenix, AZ.

A Great Real Estate Story and Proof Why FHA Loans Can Be Frustrating

A friend forwarded this wonderful story about someone trying to get an FHA loan. You will laugh and clap your hands to the response a savvy real estate attorney gave to the FHA. 

THE STORY:

Part of rebuilding  New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years.. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Here's a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client:

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.
(Actual reply from FHA):

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:

Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that  Louisiana was purchased by the United States from  France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.

For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from  Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus's expedition...Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory.Now, may we have our damn loan?"

The loan was immediately approved.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Make me feel much better about attorneys.

Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

Radiate Phoenix Talks About Coffee in Downtown Phoenix

Radiate Phoenix is a gathering of people passionate about the urban experience in downtown Phoenix. It is often called a non-traditional networking event and the June 29th meeting was a fine example. Rather than do the pathetic and often shallow exchange of business cards, people were treated to a lively discussion about coffee and the coffee house experience in downtown Phoenix.

Catrina Knoebl of Downtown Phoenix Journal fame, gathered a group of coffee house owner/managers to offer an insiders look at the java industry. The panel included:

Brian Clemens of Cartel Coffee Lab

Michelle Lavis-White of Fair Trade Coffee

Bill Sandweg of Copper Star Coffee

Matt Pool of Giant Coffee

Each of the java gurus responded to topic/questions such as “coffee as a product”, “what inspired your location, and "the effect of light rail on their business?” 

I found the motivation for their businesses very interesting. Brian is a bean/roasting aficionado. It was clear that the perfect cup was essential to him as well as knowing a lot about the supply chain behind the product. Michelle is a human rights advocate and offering “fair trade” coffee and support to people and the community makes her happy. Both Bill and Matt are restaurant guys so offering a great product with ambiance and fine service is important. As you might expect... they all do love coffee.

I, being a techy sort, asked about wi-fi and adding wireless printing to the mix. All four panelists talked about the constant issues they have with wi-fi and problems associated with their suppliers. Made sense when I thought about what happens when 20+ people all vie for limited bandwidth.

All in all it was a great evening. I think most everyone leaned a lot more about coffee, tea and the behind the scenes operation of a coffee house. Many thanks to Catrina and her support team for making Radiate Phoenix so much fun.

Gene Urban
The Urban Connection Team
602-234-5777

Vanishing Phoenix Looks at Buildings Gone Bye

The City of Phoenix hosted a lecture by Rob Melikian yesterday. Melikian, owner of the Hotel San Carlos, recently published his second book entitled Vanishing Phoenix.

Vanishing Phoenix looks at buildings, homes and businesses that have vanished from the landscape of downtown Phoenix. For those of us who have "seen the light" and value the our historical heritage, Melikian offers a rich account of building gone bye-bye and a valuable argument for why we need historic preservation.

On our sister site, www.UrbanConnectionRealty.com, we posted an article that looks at the rise and fall of an amazing theater... The Fox West Coast Phoenix. If you would like to read this piece we have a link for you.

Urban Connection Looks at the Rise and Fall of the Fox Theater in Phoenix

We strongly urge you to pick up a copy of Vanishing Phoenix. You can stop by the Hotel San Carlos and get an autographed copy or it is available at Bard's Books and online too.

We believe you will be astounded by the architecture and design of the buildings and homes while the stories will both gladden and sadden as you read about what we had and lost. 

Gene Urban and Ron Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

Hot Deals In Downtown Phoenix for Memorial Day Weekend

We wish all our Urban Life readers a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We hope you take a few minutes to honor those who are not with any more. Some of you will be out shopping for deals this weekend as Memorial Weekend is known for its deals. We called a few merchants to see what they were offering and here are the details;

Bellas Artes de Mexico
2137 East Indian School Road
(602) 957-8078

The are having a 50% off sale this weekend. If you've never been there, they have some very cool stuff... not all from Mexico.

Passport Imports:
1206 E Indian School
(602) 327-3271

They are selling their bookshelves at 15% off. There are not your ordinary bookshelves... more like words of art.

The French Bee
2324 East Indian School Road
(602) 954-2024

They begin their summer mark down specials this weekend as well as selling off some of the floor samples.

Peaceful Soul is closing this Saturday... a sad day.

Bunky Boutique
1437 N 1st St.

Rachel has finished moving into the new location just south of McDowell next to Giant Coffee. She has changed her hours and will be open earlier than before.

Make sure and stop by for a look and grab a coffee at Matt & Ereina's new place.

We hope you enjoy your memorial day weekend. Gene will be heading up to the Rim but Ron will be here if you have a real estate question.

Best to you...

Gene Urban & Ron Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

connecting you to the community and great living spaces too.

Short Sale Horror Story as Evil Bank Sweeps Checking Account

Those of you who often visit Urban Life know we are highly involved with short sales. Ron has the coveted Master Short Sale Consultant (MSSC) certification and we both hold SRF designations.

Naturally, we hear a lot of strange stories about short sales, lenders, evil banks and more. That said, the most recent was beyond belief and offers a bit of advise for those who have bank accounts with the same company that services their mortgage.

THE STORY:

A borrower had a nearly empty checking account with $1000 of overdraft protection.  The bank, without the consent or permission of the borrower, increased that overdraft amount to $10,000 so the bank could process a mortgage payment through this account. Yes, they really did that. 

To add insult to injury, the bank’s action created a negative balance for the account holder, a problem that would have to be cleared up before he could close the account.

You may wonder how that could possibly happen. The fine print in many account agreements signed when opening a new bank account provides the bank the ability to sweep funds in an account to pay other delinquent accounts. 

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t keep your checking and savings accounts with the same company that services your mortgage or mortgages.

Make sure you share this story with your friends, workmates and others who could be hurt by such evil business practices.

Be safe out there…

Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

This story was provided by Thomson Conant, a Phoenix based law firm with a dedicated short sale practice.