Title
Acceptance of Funds from Suns Legacy Properties LLC.
Description
This is a request to accept a donation of $20,000 from Suns Legacy LLC for interpretive signage related to the Hotel St. James.
THIS ITEM IS FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION.
Report
Summary
The Hotel St. James was constructed in 1929 at Madison and First Streets in downtown and served the working class. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Attempts were made in 1990 and 1999 to designate the property on the Phoenix Historic Property Register, but the cases were withdrawn by City Council due to owner opposition. Suns Legacy Properties LLC acquired the property in 2007. In 2012 they requested a demolition permit, but agreed to save the front third of the building to repurpose it. The hotel was delisted from the National Register in 2015. In May 2021, Suns Legacy Properties LLC sought demolition approval for the remaining portion of the building. To mitigate the loss of the building, they allowed the city to salvage the neon sign, balcony railing, a few decorative roof tiles and several bricks to be incorporated into historic interpretive signage that would tell the story of the history of the hotel and the role of working class hotels in the development of downtown Phoenix in the early twentieth century. North Wind Resource Consulting has an on-call contract with the City for historic preservation services and will provide services for the preparation, fabrication, and installation of the interpretative signage.
Suns Legacy Properties LLC agreed to contribute $20,000 toward the development of the interpretive signage. Once fabricated, the signage would be installed within the right-of-way within the Warehouse Character Area.
Financial Impact
Approval of this request would provide $20,000 of private funds to be used toward fabrication and installation of historic interpretive signage. A separate action for approval of Community Economic Development funds of up to $30,000, if approved, would cover the remaining costs of the signage.
Location
Public right-of-way within the Warehouse Character Area of the Downtown Code.
Council District 7
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer and the Planning and Development Department.