By Jen Fifield | Arizona Republic
All eyes are on a drab brick building in the center of downtown Glendale.
The city sold the property, on 57th Avenue near Glendale Avenue, to a local business last month for $25,000 — a steal compared with the $735,000 the city paid for the property and a nearby parking lot in 2008.
The new owners, a Glendale couple that makes high-end custom furniture, promised the Glendale City Council not only that they would get the worn-down 7,000-square-foot building up to code within six months and then move their business in, but also that they would try to persuade some of their artsy friends to move from Roosevelt Row in Phoenix to struggling downtown Glendale.
The council, which voted nearly unanimously to sell the building, believes this could be the start of an art renaissance. Vacant buildings will fill up and money will start flowing in, they believe.
