Phoenix gets malled

Dear Robrt: I have a question, rather than a comment. At the end of the "Malled" print article you asked for suggestions of buildings to cover in your column. I am very curious about a building on the south side of East Van Buren at 47th Street which many years ago was a banquet hall and was surrounded by mature landscaping. It's just east of the freeway and the canal. You can't miss it. Several years ago, maybe three or four years, I can't remember how long, someone started "renovating" this old building. The construction activity has gone on so long I'm starting to wonder if it's a money laundering scheme. It was advertised as a breakfast, brunch, lunch place with small billboards of black and white cows. One of the cow signs is still there to the east, although it has been painted yellow, and there is a black and white cow statue on top of an old wooden wagon on the west side. I was looking forward the opening of the restaurant in my part of town, but construction was never completed and the restaurant never opened. Construction activity ebbs and flows. It looks like there is new activity astirring. Somewhere underneath the block and stucco is the old building. At some point, the north-facing windows of the old building were bricked up, then an expansion was built on the north side. The landscaping is gone. I hope you will investigate and write a story about the old banquet hall and the current activity. I enjoyed your article about Phoenix getting malled, as well as your other articles, and your reviews on KJZZ.