The city of Phoenix is home to many old and historic properties. Some are well known — like the Orpheum Theatre, which first opened in 1929. Others are less known like the Arizona Citrus Growers Association Warehouse, which is attached to Chase Field.
On paper, the city has strong protections when it comes to these kinds of buildings. But despite decades of ordinances and mayoral support, some preservationists find the city has what they call a “tear down culture.”
Kimber Lanning is a long-time preservation advocate and is the founder of Local First Arizona, a coalition of local businesses. She’s also served on Phoenix’s Development Advisory Board, and she says there are many economic benefits to keeping older buildings.
“Including real estate performance, jobs per block, entrepreneurs, small business development, character, tourism,” Lanning said.
Phoenix has many avenues to preserve historic properties, including its Historic Property Register. It also has the Adaptive Reuse Program, which retrofits old buildings for new businesses.
Lanning says despite those efforts, many old structures are still torn down.
“We lost an entire generation of professionals that left this place because they were looking for something with more culture and more soul,” Lanning said.
Phoenix Historic Preservation Officer Helana Ruter says people move here from all over the country, and they don’t always have the same level of attachment to the city’s history.
“They see it just as a really new city and like, ‘Why do these things necessarily need to be preserved? We just need more houses,’ which I understand.”
Ruter says the pressure for increased development is always challenging for preservation.
“I think we have a better job to do in terms of public engagement and trying to figure out how to really convey why these places are important and why they matter to our city,” Ruter said.
Lanning says larger projects and developers bring in compensation through fees for the city. She says historic preservation can cost more up front, but that it could also save the city more in the long run.
“Path of least resistance,” Lanning said. “If it's easier to tear it down than it is to save it, you're going to tear it down.”
Another challenge for the city is even protected properties face uncertainty when the state or federal government gets involved.
Earlier this year, the Arizona Board of Regents, the state’s governing body for the public university system, sued to claim eminent domain over the privately-owned Louis Emerson House, which is on Phoenix’s historic property register.
The lawsuit was dropped following immense public scrutiny. The 89-year-old owner, Robert Young, also credits the intervention of a special envoy for American landowners, who was recently appointed by President Donald Trump.
Young says if the suit had not been dropped, he would have been forced to move the house, or face its demolition for greenspace for Arizona State University’s new medical campus.
“Everybody that sees the house, comes by the house, they love the house, the single exception being ASU and the city of Phoenix. It’s an embarrassment,” Young said.
The city was not named in the state’s lawsuit seeking eminent domain.
Some who were in support of keeping the Louis Emerson House wanted the city to be more involved in fighting back against ASU and the state, especially since the house is on its register of historic properties.
That list doesn’t guarantee total safety from demolition, but it does promise owners zoning protections through a special permit review process.
Ruter says the protections outlined by the city are actually greater than what federal lists offer.
“So most people, when they hear about the National Register of Historic Places, they're like, ‘Oh, that's the one with the big protection,’” Ruter said. “And it's like, well, actually that one's the more honorific designation. And it's here at the local level with the zoning that creates that regulatory authority.”
But she says those city protections can be overridden by the state or the federal government if they decide to get involved in a dispute like with the Louis Emerson House.
A lawyer representing ASU and the state said since the city did not own the property, it was irrelevant to the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the city said in an email that it was up to the courts to decide whether ASU could use eminent domain and “the City does not have a role to play.”
Mike Hardesty with Preserve Phoenix, which advocates for historic preservation, believes the city should have still stepped in.
“Before the government takes private property, especially something with historic significance, it should be able to demonstrate that there is no reasonable alternative,” Hardesty said.
Ruter says alternatives were discussed with the owner at the time of the lawsuit — mainly to relocate the house.
But Lanning says that process can be immense and challenging. She’s moved a historic property herself.
“There's really not a well-worn path for you to follow and for the city staff to be able to jump into action to be helpful,” Lanning said.
Lanning says she’d like to see the city do more to streamline the process and dedicate more resources and staffing to its planning and development office.
Ruter says her office is seeking additional sources of funding.
“I think that, well, we’ve got great staff here and we want to continue kind of trying to find these additional tools,” Ruter said.
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