Roosevelt Row business owners oppose proposed Mexican bar and restaurant

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A new Mexican bar and restaurant already in cities like Denver, Dallas and Chicago could be coming to the Phoenix area. The city approved the zoning permits, but locals are pushing back. At least 25 business owners in Roosevelt Row oppose the project because they say the chain does not fit the arts community and culture.

Roosevelt Row is about a mile northeast of downtown Phoenix, full of murals, boutiques and restaurants. “It’s such an experience. And it’s not just an experience through the eyes, through the taste, smell and hearing. It’s the heart. You can feel the care and love and thoughtfulness of this entire neighborhood,” said Stephanie Vasquez, owner of Fair Trade Cafe.

Like the surrounding neighborhoods, it’s had its share of rapid growth in recent years. “It’s not an adaptive reuse; it’s a new build. That’s highly different than what we outlined here in the character district,” said Kimber Lanning, owner of Modified Arts.

It’s a unique character that business owners are afraid of losing with this project. “If you look at my coffee shop, I sit at about 2,100 square feet. That’s 10x the size of what my shop is and what the normal, average business is here in the neighborhood,” Vasquez said.

Carla Wade Logan, the co-owner of Carly’s Bistro, who has been in the area for over 10 years, also feels the same. “There’s real concern on what’s going to happen in our future for rent a viability for future small businesses to be successful,” she said.

According to a spokesperson, the concept is a Mexican bar and restaurant similar to the Federales restaurant already in Chicago. In a statement, they say, “The project will add to and support the existing arts community.” The development would be in a vacant lot near 2nd Street and Roosevelt. The new bar and restaurant applied for a series 6 license, which most bars have. However, Carly’s Bistro has a series 12, the kind of license Logan says most restaurants have. “There’s concern that volume of liquor sales could be problematic for the community,” she said. A series 12 liquor license requires that at least 40% of sales from the restaurant comes from the sale of food. A series 6 does not.

The Board of Adjustment scheduled a meeting for Thursday to discuss a couple of variance requests. The outcome may decide the fate of the project.

The developer says they’ll decide on the restaurant’s name once they receive the building permit. “We definitely want to keep the family-friendly reputation that we have,” Lanning said.

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