Sun Mercantile

As is so often the case with downtown, there’s good news and bad news.

Hansji Urban of Irvine, Calif., will apparently renovate the Luhrs Tower and the Luhrs Building in the block on Jefferson between Central and First Ave. These are among the few large buildings left from old Phoenix. The Luhrs Tower is a wonderful deco baby skyscraper. Phoenix might have had more if the Depression had not intervened. Afterward, the city was cursed with horrid international boxes.

The bad news? The developer apparently has the right to tear down the arcade that connects the two, and an adjoining building that faces Central.