From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

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Phoenix Heats Up Over Last Chinatown Building


Story by Allison Firestone / Jan. 24, 2006

In Phoenix, tension is escalating this month over the last remaining structure from the city's early 20th-century Chinatown neighborhood.

Thirteen community and preservation organizations filed an appeal with Maricopa County Superior Court on Jan. 13, challenging the city council's approval of a downtown development project that would remove the roof of the 1929 Sun Mercantile building. The groups say plans for the city-owned, National Register-listed structure violate the city's historic preservation code.

The Southwest Value Partners, led by Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver, wants to build a $200 million luxury apartment and condominium complex that includes an 11-story addition atop the existing "Sun Merc" building and an adjacent 39-story complex. Local organizations sought 4,500 square feet of museum space dedicated to the building's cultural history, but at a meeting on Dec. 14, the council would only authorize 1,000 square feet, an amount to which developers would not commit.

Since the appeal's filing, the city has decided to reopen negotiations with the Save the Sun Merc Coalition. Arizona Preservation Foundation President Jim McPherson, one of the representatives planning to meet with the city this week, says his coalition wants "to see that the [11-story addition] does not happen and that the full-size Asian American museum is there." It is not opposed to the construction north of the Sun Mercantile building.

Cantonese immigrant Shing Tang built the brick warehouse, establishing the city's largest wholesale grocery company. "The building was consciously spared [in] the regrettable demolition of … historic Chinatown" that occurred after World War II, Anthea Hartig, director of the National Trust's Western Office, wrote in a Dec. 14 letter to the city council and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. The Western Office has has been working with the Save Sun Merc Coalition to save the building.

Despite the appeal, developers are scheduled to break ground this summer.

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