Opinion: Parking garage necessary to sustain live, work, play ‘Entertainment District’

Jon Rosenberg

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We call it the “Entertainment District.” Most people don’t realize that this downtown quadrant, south and east of the corner of Scottsdale Road and Camelback Road, actually contains over 500 small businesses.

Entertainment is offered in the handful of successful bars and nightclubs, which began opening in the area in the late 1990s. These extremely popular hot spots are the place to be every Friday and Saturday night. 

People coming to party in the “Horseshoe” where the bars are located tend to use rideshare since they will be drinking; parking isn’t a problem at night — office workers are long gone. The parking problem in the Entertainment District is a daytime one for the offices and retailers. Add in the hundreds of residents who now call the Entertainment District their home, and you can see why we have a problem. 

We need a parking structure in this bustling business quadrant of Old Town. Parking structures have been built in each of the other three quadrants with hundreds of additional spaces planned in the future.

Bond 2019 provides money for a parking structure in Old Town and it should be placed in the Entertainment District, where studies show it is most needed, and makes the most sense. Not for the bars, but for the businesses.

The history of this area has created the current problem. In 1982, the city determined that relaxing parking restrictions (and creating the P2/P3 Parking Districts), would allow more robust office and shop development on the “postage stamp” sized lots throughout this district. This was a smart move at the time. This parking flexibility prompted the development of much needed offices, shops, and medical professionals.

Without this council action in 1982, these small properties would have otherwise been unable to be developed. Over the years, this worked extremely well until larger projects started getting built and the street parking necessary for these small businesses suddenly dried up. This not only became a challenge for the existing businesses and properties, it also made it almost impossible for private property owners of small buildings to renovate. (Current parking requirements make renovating a small building on a small property too expensive).

There are more than 30 public parking lots and structures throughout Old Town, supplying more than 6,200 public spaces. Looking closer, many of these spaces are not available to the general public and are not located where they are most needed. An example is the Galleria parking garage, which has a “public” portion.

Not only is this garage a distance from most of the Entertainment District businesses, but as anyone who has visited the garage knows, there are only a limited number of daytime spaces available for the public — and those are used by the Galleria’s own tenants first.

There are approximately 2,300 “on street” public parking spaces throughout Old Town, but as explained above, the P2/P3 parking district parking is overwhelmingly used by area employees and has created a major shortfall of availability for the public.

As we look to the future, we need to realize that almost 70% of the buildings in the Entertainment District are at least 40 years old with many well over 50 years old and in need of renovation and/or redevelopment. Without reinvestment here, we are going to see more challenged, blighted, and eventually vacant properties.

We need a new parking structure as soon as possible to provide the parking needed to not only save but improve one of the most economically vibrant business districts in our city. A new parking structure will provide property owners with the opportunity to upgrade, renovate, and revitalize these office, shop, and service buildings into their highest and best use.

This business district will then continue and improve as one of our best small business locations in Scottsdale. Perhaps we can then rename it what it should be called: the “Live/Work/Play” District!

Editor’s Note: Jon Rosenberg is co-founder and managing partner of Levrose Commercial Real Estate; Tammy Caputi is a Scottsdale City Councilwoman and president of Yale Electric West, Inc.