Order of protection:
A temporary order prevents the new owners of the Phoenix Chinese Cultural Center building from demolishing some key “heritage” elements — the center’s green and gold glazed-tile roofing and its traditional Chinese-garden statues — as the legal process proceeds.
A temporary restraining order issued Wednesday will prohibit the Phoenix Chinese Cultural Center’s new owners from removing two of the property’s key “heritage” elements for at least five weeks.
The order, signed by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner, protects the center’s green and gold glazed-tile roofing and its traditional Chinese-garden statues from demolition until Nov. 3.
“The consequence of granting a TRO (temporary restraining order) will be a short delay in construction,” Warner wrote. The “consequence of denying a TRO could be the irreparable destruction of a distinctive design feature.”
The order assumes CJ Design & Construction, the company behind the complaint that preceded it, will post a $25,000 bond by Oct. 13. The bond acts as a safeguard if the court later determines the interruption was unnecessary.
Representatives for True North Companies — which purchased the property through subsidiary 668 North in June — and for the hundreds of Chinese-Americans who have fought to preserve the center’s cultural character interpreted Warner’s decision differently Wednesday afternoon.
Thomas Simon, a spokesman for the preservationists, said the “court recognized irreparable harm” would be done if True North were allowed to proceed with its plans to transform the center into a corporate headquarters.
The “craftsmanship used to design and install the roof tiles and wood timber is of ancient origin” and can’t be easily disassembled, according to the Chinese United Association of Greater Phoenix.
True North spokesman Jason Rose,
however, said the judge “held up all of our property rights, with the exception of one,” and that it would be “full speed ahead with remodeling and revitalization.”
Envisioned as a tourist attraction that would connect Arizona and China, the Cultural Center cost tens of millions of dollars to build in 1997.
Community members raised money to outfit its “Garden of Harmony,” which features handmade replicas of Chinese pavilions and monuments.
For years, the 165,000-square-foot center hosted festivals, Phoenix Chinese Week and school field trips. It had a dim sum restaurant, a sprawling Asian supermarket and a Chinese medicine shop, among other businesses.
In recent years, occupancy rates fell. “The reality is, it didn’t work as a commercial enterprise,” Rose said.
Supporters of the center blamed the vacancies on mismanagement, rather than a lack of community support.
True North has offered to maintain the center’s Chinese garden; preserve and relocate sculptures and other architectural elements; and make available extra pallets of roof tiles.
For the more than 16,000 people who signed a petition asking that the full center be saved, though, those offers weren’t enough.
The Phoenix City Council on Sept. 12 voted to allow supporters to commission a survey analyzing the historical significance of the property, after city staff said it couldn’t make a solid case for a historic-preservation designation with the information available now.
Such a survey would not stop True North from proceeding with development plans. But an injunction, which the court will consider at a Nov. 3 evidentiary hearing, could.
A central question at the hearing will involve whether the new owners “received proper approval ... to remove the current roof and replace it with something different,” according to Wednesday’s temporary order.