As an independent chronicler of all things downtown, DPJ takes a comprehensive approach to covering the urban living movement in Phoenix and, with this Conversation series, spotlighting the people who make it move.
“the one thing that can really take Phoenix over the top is a vibrant downtown community”
Ken Van Winkle was born in Texas and lived in “a zillion different places” in the first half of his life, before coming to Phoenix as a summer intern for Lewis & Roca in 1986. He then joined the firm in 1987 and has spent his entire adult career with them. His wife jokes that since he’s lived here more than half of his life, he’s a native.
Van Winkle, who is Managing Partner with Lewis, Roca, Rothgerber, focuses on giving his philanthropic time and energy to what he believes are the most important aspects of a city: culture, transportation, education and healthcare. Previously, he served as chair of Banner Health and, most recently, was chair of Ballet Arizona during their successful campaign to create their new facility at 29th Street and Washington. His decision to get involved with Downtown Phoenix, Inc. was spurred by his growing interest in economic development. Having lived here for 27 years, he’s watched the city grow and feels strongly that “the one thing that can really take Phoenix over the top is a vibrant downtown community.”
“One thing that has contributed to the current vibrancy in downtown has been the developers’ relentless commitment to building down here,” said Van Winkle. “People haven’t given up, even when the easy answer might be to go somewhere else.” He also cites the importance of light rail, the sports venues, restaurants and nightlife, and “last, but certainly not least, ASU bringing young, energetic people to downtown and continuing to expand.”
“If we can bring in companies that will attract highly educated people with highly compensated jobs, we’re going to be more successful as a community. People are going to take us more seriously.”
From the big windows in the 12th floor conference room of his offices at 201 East Washington a hum of construction activity is visible below. “You can see the law school coming out of the ground now,” he continued, gesturing out the window. “Michael Crow and ASU’s commitment, coupled with light rail, coupled with residential, entertainment in the evenings; it’s all important. It’s been everyone’s overall commitment to make it what it can be.” While he’s not sure that the downtown has been fully defined yet, “it’s so much more than it was in 1987, or even in 2000.”
Van Winkle believes that one of the biggest challenges ahead is access and transportation: moving people in and out of downtown. “Our traffic continues to get more and more difficult,” he said. “Finding ways to get more people in here is important.” He emphasized that “The interesting thing is that the city is off the freeway; there are significant surface streets to get through to get downtown.”
He also believes that downtown Phoenix faces competition from other areas of the valley, including places like Gilbert, or even the Camelback and Central area. As he sees it, “the real key is can we get some additional businesses down here? Can we grow the employment base down here? Can we continue to grow significant employment with more significant commercial businesses of scale and size?” He joined the DPI board because he believes that there’s a strong commitment from the Mayor’s office, DPI and the citizens of downtown to make that happen.
His characterizes his first year on the DPI board as “a chance to learn before I speak a lot.” He’s particularly excited about the role DPI can play as a leadership group. “This is a group committed to putting their time and energy into listening and understanding the perspective of a lot of different constituencies,” said Van Winkle. “It’s a group that can listen, understand, and ultimately make some decisions.”
“Super Bowl Central needs to do more than just show off the sponsors; we need to show off the city in a positive way.”
As General Counsel for the Super Bowl Host Committee, he’s excited about showcasing downtown with Super Bowl Central. “I think it will bring people who maybe haven’t been in downtown – that maybe only live 10 miles from here and they’re going to say, ‘wow.’ Super Bowl Central needs to do more than just show off the sponsors; we need to show off the city in a positive way. We need to show people that they can get here easily, that they can park, and that they can feel safe when they’re down here.” He adds, “People will see that there are other things that go on outside of this two week period of the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. That’s really the lasting impact…. It’s going to be incumbent upon downtown to work with the host committee to get it right.”
Van Winkle sees a strong connection between the strength of the arts in a city and successful economic development. “It directly drives the overall economics of our city…. If we can bring in companies that will attract highly educated people with highly compensated jobs, we’re going to be more successful as a community. People are going to take us more seriously.” He adds, “People want to have cultural activities whatever they are. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have football, basketball, hockey; we need those as well. Intellectual people like that as well, but they also say, ‘hey, I want to go to the theater, I want to go to the symphony.'” Van Winkle believes that strong arts components show that the community that cares about more one thing, that there is an engaged, philanthropic community.
Besides working in downtown Phoenix for nearly thirty years, and advocating for both the arts and economic development, Van Winkle and his wife enjoy coming downtown for their own pleasure: to attend the ballet, the symphony and or to see visiting acts at Comerica Theater “because we enjoy smaller venue-type concerts.” They also come downtown frequently for charity events, and on their own for dinner at Piazza Locale (which officially changed its name to La Piazza Phx on Monday, September 1) and Hanny’s. Phoenix is definitely his home.
