<![CDATA[Brick & West - Blog]]>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:23:25 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[MIDCENTURY MARVELS]]>Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:47:25 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/modern-marvels"Midcentury Marvels" is a great find for the architect buff or just any art and history appreciating scholar. It contains photos, history and narrative around most all of the commercial architecture from 1945 through 1975. It can be found at Amazon.com.
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]]><![CDATA[Okra at the Crown!]]>Fri, 04 Sep 2015 01:10:04 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/okra-at-the-crown

We are delighted that Okra is settling in at the Crown on 7th! Here is a link to a review from the fine folks at EaterAZ! http://bit.ly/1L8skod

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]]><![CDATA[Even more progress at the crown]]>Tue, 25 Aug 2015 18:13:14 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/even-more-progress-at-the-crown
Image of the front canopy at the Crown
The Crown building facade--almost ready!
The courtyard at the crown
The courtyard at the Crown is an amazing bit of green space. 
]]><![CDATA[Venture Cap firms are making bigger bets on food startups]]>Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:46:33 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/venture-cap-firms-are-making-bigger-bets-on-food-startupsThe new VC boom is steering away from pure-play technology start ups and toward restaurant investments. Venture Cap firms are looking at the economy comprehensively and understand where the largest, fastest-growing growth sectors can be found.

Essentially Venture Cap firms are looking for profitable ventures to augment their portfolio and it appears that more and more that includes restaurant funding,

This article is a good read:  NYT Venture Capitalists Are Making Bigger Bets on Food Start-Ups

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]]><![CDATA[Some of our projects along 7th Street]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:44:56 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/some-of-our-projects-along-7th-street
Colony South Under Construction
The Colony South
Part of The Colony, Colony South is an adaptive re-use of a mid-century building for new restaurant and retail uses. Brick & West did the design for Colony South as well as the design for the ground-up Colony North building. Brick & West is also designing a new restaurant on the ground floor of colony south and a new bar on the second floor.

The Yard Parking Lot Expansion
The Yard Parking Expansion
Brick & West continues to improve on The Yard NCP with a new parking lot! Set to open soon it will supply much-needed parking for this successful project!

Future home of Pomo Pizzeria
Pomo Central
Brick & West designed a ground-up 5,300 SF building and the interiors for a new restaurant for the owners of Pomo Pizzeria. Construction has begun directly across from the Yard!

The Crown Adaptive Reuse Retail and Restaurant Project
The Crown
The Crown, a 20,000 SF adaptive re-use of a 1950's building opens soon. Several new restaurants including Okra (from the owners of Crudo) will fill the renovated space!

Adaptive reuse project current home to a drive through liquor store
6101 and 6107 N. 7th Street

In addition to designing two adaptive re-use projects on this site, Brick & West is also designing a new restaurant inside one of the buildings at 6101 and 6107 N 7th Street. The new restaurant will occupy the former 'Joe's Liquor' a mid-century drive-thru liquor store.

]]><![CDATA[THE CULTURE OF DINING OUT]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2015 15:06:38 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/the-culture-of-dining-outFrom GQ's July 2015 Issue, this article looks at a ticketing system called 'Tock' where users pre-pay for tickets to dine out at the hottest new restaurants. An interesting quote form the article states that 'for a long time now food culture has been culture' - in other words, dining out isn't just a facet of the evening's events, it is the event itself. This is something we've understood for a while, maybe just because we love dining out so much. The article also talks about other platforms within the restaurant reservations space including one that users 'bid' on hard-to-get seats by promising to pay a certain percentage over the menu price. Much of the impetus for the depth of this market is 'no-show' diners who make reservations and then simply don't show up (or call to cancel). 


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]]><![CDATA[ARIZONA #1 for restaurant growth]]>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 23:57:19 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/arizona-1-for-restaurant-growth
Following our blog post about national trends in restaurant growth last week, a story in today's Arizona Republic talks about the growth of Arizona's restaurant industry. Sales from 2013 to 2014 increased $500 Million, and are expected to do the same in 2015. Overall, valley restaurant growth is up 55% since 2005, and a 23.8% growth in restaurant jobs is expected by 2025 - the highest growth in the nation. Check out some of the restaurants mentioned in the article that are also Brick & West projects like SkySong Restaurants Building, Joyride Taco House, Old School and Taco Guild, and Annex. 
]]><![CDATA[OUR COLORED CONCRETE]]>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 23:56:28 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/our-colored-concreteWorking today with our general contractors and likely the best concrete team in the industry. The specialty concrete we are using at the SkySong Restaurants building is starting to come to life (at least in form of the custom color samples). The building's west elevation, a collaboration with Twin Engine, is an artistic interpretation of farm land patterns as seen from the air in celebration of the history of agriculture on this site that we were able to trace back to 600AD. This is one of hundreds of important details that it takes teams of talented, passionate, and committed individuals to ultimately execute.

Concrete samples
]]><![CDATA[RESEARCH]]>Tue, 07 Jul 2015 23:27:59 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/researchA very important part of what we do when designing adaptive reuse project is research. It isn't always evident what aspects of a given building are original and what was added over its lifetime. We strive to understand what drove the decisions to modify these buildings over time, and how these modifications impact our perception of the building today. Sometimes this process is a physical exploration of the building, a peeling back of these layers of history in an excavation of the past. Other times our research extends to historical plans or photographs of the building. Yesterday we visited with the head archivist at Arizona State University's archives department in an attempt to gain some insights into one of our new projects; a beautiful mid century building in downtown Scottsdale.

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]]><![CDATA[Restaurant Spending Expected to Rise]]>Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:09:55 GMThttps://www.brickandwest.com/blog/restaurant-spending-expected-to-riseAccording to Mintel's report  'American Lifestyles 2015', per capita restaurant visits may increase by as much as 27% over the next five years. Taking advantage of this trend, according to NPD restaurant analyst Bonnie Riggs, will depend on restauranteurs understanding and meeting consumer expectations.

See the full article on 'Eat Beat' here
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