About the substation
In order to ensure clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for the vibrant and growing downtown Phoenix community, Arizona Public Service (“APS”) is in the process of expanding and upgrading the Grant Street Substation facility, as well as two other downtown substations (Evans Churchill North Substation, on the southwest corner of 7th Street and Roosevelt Street, and Garfield Substation, located at the intersection of 2nd Street and Garfield Street).
APS, with the support of Arizona Strategies and Espiritu Loci Incorporated (“ELI”), conducted a neighborhood engagement and due diligence process to ensure the satisfaction from surrounding inhabitants. Neighborhood stakeholders and residents requested the new substation be located north of Grant Street to limit the impact of the new substation on the Grant Park Neighborhood. APS then worked to acquire property that combined the new substation with the existing substation at 3rd Avenue and Lincoln Street. The new substation will dovetail into the existing substation, and the surrounding wall will be redone to integrate the new substation to create a single, fully screened substation.
Despite the city labeling the substation as being a part of the Warehouse District in the Downtown Code, the residents of Grant Park view the site as part of their neighborhood. As such, we have worked closely with Grant Park residents for the design of this substation.
For example, despite the Downtown Code designating Lincoln Street as a pedestrian street, it has none of the qualities or attributes as a walkable street. There are five public facilities along it with a surface level parking lot, has no active frontages, and has very narrow sidewalks with no shade. Grant Street was identified as the neighborhood’s pedestrian route, providing an East/West connection to key amenities and neighborhood services, and the residents requested that Grant Street from 4th Avenue to Lincoln Street be reestablished to further enhance this pedestrian route.
The design of this substation responds to the feedback from the neighborhood and area stakeholders. Grant Street will be rebuilt, and become a private street from Lincoln Street to 4th Avenue so that residents may easily close the street for festivals and events. From 4th Avenue to Montezuma Avenue and 3rd Avenue, the street will be public. Grant Street is also designed to slow traffic from Lincoln Street by adding angled parking and elevating sidewalks and crosswalks. Grant Street and 3rd Avenue are also designed to be proud entries into the neighborhood, with ample placemaking elements.
The walls of the substation will feature up to 70 murals, spanning roughly 800 linear feet around the substation. The murals will celebrate the proud history of the neighborhood, legacy families, local icons, and culture of the Grant Park Neighborhood.
The proposed plan provides an urban solution to the complicated process of adding a much-needed electrical substation in Downtown. This plan provides for the safety and security concerns of the utility while creating a pedestrian scaled design that helps to transition between the industrial uses of the Warehouse District into the Grant Park Neighborhood. The design of the substation demonstrates design excellence with its innovative community engagement process that enabled residents to participate in designing the Site.