The largest vacant piece of land in downtown Phoenix — part of which was previously home to a school for homeless children — could soon see private development, most likely apartments.
The city of Phoenix was slated to release a request for proposals today for development of 4.6 acres of land near Fillmore Street and Fourth Avenue.
“The pre-proposal meeting will be conducted at 9 a.m. on May 18, and proposals are due by 5 p.m. on July 15,” said city spokeswoman Cynthia Weaver.
The Fillmore RFP is expected to receive significant interest from developers in the wake of a spate of new and infill developments in and around downtown Phoenix. Roosevelt Row, Grand Avenue, Portland Street and the Warehouse District all have construction work underway via either new projects or rehabilitation of existing space.
The 4.6-acre site could accommodate as many as 900 apartments as well as some ground-level restaurants.
Some of the land up for development used to be home to the Thomas J. Pappas School for homeless children. The Maricopa County-run school was lauded nationwide, but ended up closing and was torn down in the wake of corruption charges against former Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Sandra Dowling.
Dowling maintained her innocence, pleading guilty only to a nepotism charge. She ended up suing and eventually settling with the county government over her arrest and charges bySheriff Joe Arpaio.
The city of Phoenix and Phoenix Industrial Development Authority acquired county-owned land at Fillmore and Fourth earlier this year to combine with adjacent city-owned land.
Mike Sunnucks writes about residential and commercial real estate, government, law, sports business and workplace issues.
