Competition sees new life for aging malls

Imagine Scottsdale stripped of strip malls.

A group of architects and designers have taken a soft step in that direction, offering ideas for transforming aging strip malls into vibrant and sustainable community assets.

It's part of Flip a Strip, a design competition sponsored by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

The downtown museum is hosting an exhibit illustrating some of the design concepts through Jan. 18.

Nearly 100 entries offered makeover concepts for three strip malls, one each in Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tempe.

"A lot of the designs were interested in making (the strip malls) more walkable, to make it more a part of the community instead of having to drive in off the street," said Elizabeth Theisen, Flip a Strip project coordinator.

Strip malls, as common as cactus, have been a staple of Valley sprawl for a half century. It's as if a strip-mall crew raced around putting up cookie-cutter, stucco architecture with vast asphalt parking lots and Charlie Brown trees.

We welcome them and their shops at first. Then time screeches on. Facades fade, signs sag and vacant stores contribute to neighborhood blight.

"They are part of our urban fabric and we need to make them work for us," said Bob Wood, Scottsdale urban design coordinator.

Architects full of ideas

How to do that is one of the challenges that the architects addressed with their brainstorming ideas for redesigning three Flip a Strip shopping centers.

That includes 2200 N. Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale, 17236 N. 28th Street in Phoenix and 524 W. Broadway Road in Tempe.

The 40-year-old Scottsdale strip center south of Oak Street includes Kam's Garden Restaurant, Frasher's Restaurant, Roma Design Studios, Appliance Parts Co. and Siam Alterations.

Plus, a day spa, accountant, print shop and laundry. The shops line up in an L-shape on the 2.5-acre site but there is little cohesiveness.

Merchants see potential

Amanda Heimer, a design consultant for Roma Design Studios, which sells Italian cabinetry, was impressed with the architectural concepts.

"It's a real cool project," she said of the Flip a Strip ideas. "There are a lot of possibilities, especially to make it more sustainable."

Some of the ideas submitted included adding a second level with residences above the shops, rooftop gardens and sports parks.

Sculptural canopies could provide shade for parking and pedestrians.

"A good majority of the entries were based on the idea of getting rid of the heat island," Theisen said.

One architect proposed a two-story gateway façade along Scottsdale Road that included a stairway and bridge over the entry driveways.

Architects submitted cost estimates as high as $15 million for renovating the strip centers.

Designs look to future

Wood, the city's urban design coordinator, said the concepts were creative even if they were not always practical or likely to be built soon.

"We want these properties to revitalize and be successful but there is a dialogue that needs to happen on what is going to be acceptable to the community," he said. "(The architects) were dreaming and looking out into the future and imagining what could be."

Architects Casey Jones and Reed Krolof in a summary on the Flip a Strip entries, said that some consistent themes emerged from all the entries including:

• Introduce more activity, including daytime and nighttime uses.

• Think outside the box with specialized uses that contradict the generic natures of strip centers.

• Be bold and attract attention with bright colors, a parking tower or a signage wall at the perimeter of the site.

Michael Waxman, senior investment specialist for Retail Brokers Inc., which leases the Scottsdale shopping center, said the owner had started renovations a year ago but decided to wait until the architects submitted their ideas before doing additional improvements.

Architects and designers submitted dozens of ideas for refurbishing this Scottsdale strip mall at 2200 N. Scottsdale Road. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art's 'Flip A Strip' exhibit highlights some of those ideas.