DownTown Phoenix

I live in downtown Phoenix, and Saturday night downtown was happening.  I was impressed by the volume of people out on the streets, the type of crowd normally seen during a sporting event. The main reason for this phenomenon was the weekend long festivities at the new City Scape with free concerts and activities for the entire family. I have to admit that I was a bit excited at the sight of what could become the new hangout in the valley just blocks a way from my home, not to mention the beneficial effect on my property value. But I'm also skeptical about its success, as other projects downtown have failed to create a major buzz. The Mercado never created a buzz because tenants never moved in. The Arizona Center originally had the Gap and Foot Locker, but those stores closed down because nobody shopped downtown. The restaurants, movie theater, and Hooters survived, but it was never a very interesting place. City Scape has a Gold's Gym, art gallery, clothing stores, an upscale hotel, the bowling alley lounge, and it will soon have a branch of La Grand Orange, famous in Arcadia for becoming the local hangout. I would love to see the project take off, but I'm dubious. It's certainly an improvement over Patriots' Park, which was an sad, ugly brick monument to homelessness (It was supposed to be a park, but it failed, too.)