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Had I known they were also going to demolish this church in the quest for "that Park Place mall sweet spot where a lot of retailers and restaurants want to be," I would have made sure to get some photos of the before and after. As it is, a building 50 years old or older, regardless of historical merit, is supposed to be properly surveyed so the city has a record of it. I'm not sure that this was done, but I am working on it. Apparently the "Christian Faith Fellowship leaders were already looking for a bigger home when they were approached by a developer inquiring about buying the Broadway location". I read somewhere else about how many great job opportunities will be added when the shops open. Oh, like the fast food chain that's opening on the corner, and the minimum wage retail jobs that will get added once the stores go in. Yup, we can be proud of all the great jobs this is going to open up.
I guess none of these great job maker retail stores have seen all of the great retail space up and down Grant Road (not in the area where they are bulldozing some wonderful mid century and earlier age houses for the widening), Speedway, Pima, 22nd, and further west (away from the great Park Mall location) on Broadway that have been sitting empty for years, some buildings that were bought, reconstructed, remodeled, restored, that have been EMPTY for so long. No they have to tear down something totally viable and usable and build something brand new because they can't use the buildings already available for whatever reason. The good news is that some companies have found that with a few changes several of these older buildings CAN be used, and it costs a lot less, but still puts people to work in construction, etc.
I think we should make a referendum that states that as long as a certain percentage of already built buildings are sitting empty, you can't build new unless its something that absolutely can't go in any of those areas. Grant is becoming a ghost town of empty storefronts, and the rest of those main east/west streets west of Craycroft are getting to be the same.
Those of us in preservation need to make sure that when we know a building is going to come down, especially if its over the 50 year mark like this beautiful 1957 church, regardless of historic status, we need to do a write up and take photos before its destroyed. Carlos and Demion, I'm available to do that if you know of other buildings that need to be surveyed. Also, I have not found an article in the Citizen for the name of the architect, perhaps its in the Star, but the church started as Calvary Lutheran (1957-2003) then became Christian Fellowship.
Sorry for the long rant :)
Catherine