Car lights illuminate Mill Avenue late Wednesday night. Starting in 2014, the City of Tempe will construct a streetcar running along the avenue. (Photo by Ana Ramirez)The City of Tempe is working to bring more business back to Mill Avenue.
In the past few years, the city has talked about adding a streetcar and bringing new restaurants, ice cream shops and bars to the area in an effort to restore the heart of the city.
Mill Avenue borders the Tempe campus, making it a prime spot for business.
However, since the opening of Tempe Marketplace in 2007, business on Mill Avenue has been suffering.
Criminology senior Julia Martin has worked at Hippie Gypsy on Mill Avenue and 6th Street for seven years.
“I think it was a poor decision on the city’s part to move opportunity for revenue and to put it in a place far away from the city’s central district at a time (when) Mill Avenue really needed the revenue,” Martin said. “It would have helped strengthen the backbone of the city.”
However, new businesses are popping up along the popular corridor, especially between 3rd and 7th streets.
Devil’s Diner and Rita’s Italian Ice both opened in June. July saw Desert Roots Kitchen open, and World of Beer opened in August.
There are also plans for a Loco Patron in October.
“Most of the new businesses opening on Mill Avenue are local,” Martin said. “Those businesses are what we needed for years, and we need to keep fostering them.”
Melissa Towe, manager at Crave Café and Lounge on Mill Avenue between 5th and 6th streets, said the new bars and restaurants haven’t affected business negatively.
“It’s actually getting better,“ she said.
The city is also working with Valley Metro to make the street more accessible, hoping this will draw more visitors. They plan to add a streetcar by 2016.
Valley Metro estimates the project, which is scheduled to start construction in early 2014, will cost $130 million.
The project will be funded with federal grant dollars and county funds allocated for street construction and public transportation from a half-cent sales tax increase approved in 2004.
The one-way loop will run 2.6 miles, going north on Mill Avenue and south on Ash Avenue between Rio Salado Parkway and University Drive.
The vehicle will hold roughly 125 passengers and will run on tracks along the street, eliminating excess asphalt.
With the addition of the streetcar, the city plans to work with Valley Metro in redesigning the streets it crosses to give a better atmosphere.
Herman and Carol Court, who live just one house from where the tracks of the streetcar are to be built, worry about the construction.
Carol said it’s already difficult to leave their house during rush hour.
“We already have different forms of transportation,” she said. “Are they going to eliminate some?”
Rush hour is already hectic and neither can imagine the traffic once the streetcar is being constructed.
“It’s a lot of money for a streetcar,” Herman said.
The Tempe streetcar is in its first phase, environmental assessment, and will begin its second phase of design in spring.
Reach the reporter at amrami13@asu.edu
