(Photo via City of Phoenix)
By Paul Maryniak | Ahwatukee Foothills News
City officials took a step last week toward creating an entertainment district in downtown Phoenix that they hope can become big tourist destinations like the French Quarter in New Orleans and Times Square in New York City.
At the administration’s request, the council’s Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee unanimously approved a $529,000 contract with HR&A Advisors, Inc., for consulting services “to assist in the identification, establishment, and activation of an entertainment district.”
HR&A, a consulting group with offices in major cities across the country, including Phoenix, boasts on its website that since 1976, it has helped real estate owners and investors, hospitals and universities, cultural institutions, community development organizations and governments “create more equitable, resilient, and dynamic communities” by creating “actionable plans” and turning them into “job-producing, community-strengthening assets.”In Phoenix’s case, that asset would be an entertainment district to broaden downtown’s reach especially after the Phoenix Convention Center last calendar drew 294,374 attendees – “the highest number of convention delegates since the PCC’s first year after completion of the expansion in 2009,” a city memo said.
