Benjamin Leatherman
Audio By Carbonatix
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Downtown Tempe’s new Mill Avenue sign is less than a week old, and it already has haters.
Installed Monday just north of University Drive, the gateway-style structure stretches about 94 feet across the street.
It features 4-foot-tall silver letters spelling out “MILL AVE,” suspended roughly 20 feet above the roadway between two V-shaped pylons.
The 36,300-pound sign is designed to glow at night and serve as a new visual marker for the city’s busiest strip.
Benjamin Leatherman
The project, which reportedly cost $20 million, is part of Tempe’s Downtown Refresh effort to upgrade Mill Avenue with wider sidewalks, added trees and other streetscape changes.
It didn’t take long for the backlash to start.
Across social media, Valley residents have ripped into the sign, calling it cheap-looking and a waste of money.
Readers piled on, too. Posts on this publication’s Facebook page drew more than 141 comments, many of them trashing the design and questioning the price tag.
James wasn’t impressed:
I can feel the vibrancy from here
Bryan didn’t like the sign’s appearance:
Looks cheap AF
Terri thinks it could use a few more letters:
Was the “NUE” out of budget?
Kurt expects the sign and its pylons will soon become part of Mill Avenue’s weekend shit show:
If I was 21 and drunk, it would definitely be a temptation.
