A sculpture by local artist Mark Carroll, combined with a decorative median, creates a vibrant entry to the Hatcher Road corridor at 19th Avenue. The years-long project has been a true community collaboration (photo by Kathryn M. Miller).
Sunnyslope residents who have driven east on Hatcher Road from 19th Avenue in recent weeks have seen the progress on a “gateway” project that will welcome residents and visitors alike. The project is part of a community-wide beautification effort that has been years in the making, says Caroline Lobo.
Lobo is founding principal and owner of suoLL Architects and co-chair of theHUB, a group of business owners, property owners and residents along Hatcher Road in Sunnyslope, who are harnessing their interest, energy and activism to revitalize the area along the stretch of road east of 19th Avenue to Cave Creek Road (www.sunnyslopehub.com).
The original funding was an $8,000 grant from Keep Phoenix Beautiful. Another Sunnyslope community activist, Stacia Hurst, found out about the grant in late 2022, early 2023, Lobo recalled.
“She got wind of it and she contacted me and said, ‘Hey, there is about $8,000 for perhaps a sculpture, some beautification, would you like to take advantage of that for Hatcher?’ And I jumped right on it. We had less than three months to make it all happen.”
They found a sculptor, Mark Carroll, who has a studio in Cave Creek, and gave him their specs.
“We wanted a sculpture that speaks to the different community groups working together, the collective wisdom that lies in the Sunnyslope neighborhoods…everyone working together, moving in the same direction to make Sunnyslope a vibrant community,” Lobo said.
While Carroll worked out the details of the art piece, theHUB (Hatcher Urban Businesses) looked for a site to house the artwork. The piece of land just east of 19th Avenue was the perfect spot to serve as a gateway, but it was owned by the Maricopa County Flood Control District. Calls to District 3 Councilwoman Stark and then District 3 County Supervisor Bill Gates put the wheels of an intergovernmental exchange in motion.
“That exchange took about a year to fall into place, but then the water department took over that particular property,” Lobo said. “There were some underground utility issues that we had to deal with. So, all said and done, the sculpture was ready in three months. But the rest of it took forever.”
A new median with decorative planters
welcomes drivers to Hatcher Road (photo by
Kathryn M. Miller).
Through the Neighborhood Services Department’s Krista Roy and the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, the project gained momentum and additional funds. In the meantime, Lobo’s architectural firm worked on the overall layout of what the landscape would look like.
“We wanted to figure out how we could place the sculpture with a very integrated landscape, so people can walk through it and really immerse themselves with the way the sculpture has been designed,” she said. “That’s why you’ve seen all these swervey curves. It has lighting design, pavers and cacti all integrated into the design.”
To pay for the landscaping, the group turned to the city’s Community and Economic Development (CED) team. The new median adjacent to the sculpture includes metal planter boxes, gravel and decorative metal cacti (there is not water in the center of the street). The area surrounding the sculpture will eventually have live landscaping.
“We worked on a package to get the Storefront Improvement Grant. CED pulled that out of the ARPA funding that was a result of the pandemic,” Lobo said. “We applied for that grant and got a half million dollars to do several storefront improvement projects, some of the signage that you see, like the HUB signs, along with the median. We wanted to create a really vibrant entry as you come in on Hatcher Road.”
The neighborhood continues to look toward the future of the area and are working on ways that they can activate this corner in the future. In the meantime, there is still work to be done on the gateway – beyond finishing the landscaping, they want to bring in an artist to integrate all of the neighborhood associations and block watches onto one of the walls of the sculpture area. An official dedication event will be held down the road.
“The goal is to dedicate this to all the community groups of Sunnyslope that are working together to lift the community and continue to make it a vibrant place,” Lobo said. “It just feels it was a step in the right direction. There are many such projects that need to be taken on. We have our eye on several such projects that, even though it takes time, it’s important. If you don’t start moving the needle, one project after the other, then the vibrancy is never going to happen.”
