Phoenix is planning to give developers millions of dollars to improve the area around the city's first shopping mall.
Just two miles north of downtown, along Central Avenue, is Park Central Mall. Once a destination for shoppers, the 46-acre property has struggled for decades.
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Park Central’s new owners want to combine its mid-century design with a focus on technology and innovation to create a destination for people to work, shop, dine and play.
The revitalization concept, according to the property’s website, is to separate the 337,000 square feet into several distinct districts. For example, an area dubbed “The Porch” for food and drink. Another area called “The Hub” would feature creative work space while “The Yard” would provide outdoor space for work and play.
Plans also include a new publicly accessible pedestrian plaza, bike lanes and landscaping along Central Avenue. In exchange for those improvements, Phoenix will reimburse the developer up to $2 million dollars over a 10-year period. The money will come from the city’s Strategic Economic Development Fund.
