By Catherine Reagor, Jessica Boehm and Rachel Leingang | Arizona Republic
More construction cranes now dot downtown Phoenix’s skyline than ever.
The area’s population is surging to record levels, as is the number of employers bringing new jobs to the core of the nation’s fifth-largest city.
More than 70,000 workers, residents, tourists and students visit downtown Phoenix each day. The area’s many new restaurants are filling up at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and trendy bars and shops are drawing people from Valley suburbs downtown at night and on weekends.
The downtown Phoenix of today is nearly unrecognizable from the downtown of 30 years ago. And the evolution has required tremendous investment — from taxpayers, urban planners, businesses, university leaders and sports teams.
