By Steve Stockmar | YourValley
After a controversial roll-out of design ideas for the upcoming downtown renovation project at city hall in Glendale, a do-over of sorts is underway.
About 50 residents turned out for a Wednesday night meeting inside council chambers for the first in a series of community meetings on the $72 million project.
Leading the presentation was Diane Jacobs, founder of Phoenix-based Holly Street Studio, the project’s principal architect, who was joined by her design team as well as leads from project partners Lightvox Studio, Colwell Shelor and Okland Builders.
When the city released preliminary renderings earlier this year featuring potential design elements for the project that will completely renovate city hall, council chambers, the parking garage, the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre and Murphy Park, opinions varied. Residents and small business owners alike panned early ideas and what they especially perceived as inappropriate changes to the downtown center’s Murphy Park, which was donated to the city by its namesake — and Glendale founder — William J. Murphy in 1909.
