Bragg’s Pie Factory Renovation

Our latest renovation project at Bragg’s Pie Factory in Downtown Phoenix is much larger than anything we have ever undertaken before which pulled us into a complicated, and very expensive, city code upgrade process. We’ve spent close to a year renovating the 15,000 sq. ft. cast-in-place concrete building. Their Facebook states, “Bragg’s Pies, one of the last remaining examples of “streamline moderne” architecture in the city, originally opened in 1947 and at the peak of its operations was a state-of-the-art facility that had 35 daily routes that reached as far as Tucson and Yuma. Located on “Lower Grand”, which stretched from Grand Avenue’s terminus at Seventh Avenue and Van Buren (“Five Points”) to the old city/county line at Nineteenth Avenue and McDowell (“Six Points”), the district served as a zone for transportation-related retail (service stations, restaurants, motels, etc.), transient worker housing and industrial/commercial uses.” These types of adaptive re-use projects and distinctive historic arts districts are seen as valuable economic development tools to most successful cities. As Phoenix sprawls into the desert that creates waves of look a like housing and generic shopping districts, this distinct area should be viewed as a little gem in an increasingly generic environment. The Pie Factory originally opened in 1947 as a state of the art facility that had thirty five daily routes for delivery of the pies. Today’s Bragg’s Pies Factory is a wonderful, spacious gallery with ample room for appreciating a wide variety of art. We will be celebrating the reopening of Braggs Pie Factory and will be presenting the biggest event of the year “Deck the Walls 2010”. Yardley Mannix will host a fashion show that will be showcasing Winter Collections by Kelly Calabrese, Devani Weaver, Tiffe Fermaint, Makeshift Apparel, and Dear Raymer. Towards the back of the gallery the Pie Factory features a spectacular collection of art created by local, national and world-renowned graffiti artists. The exhibit features canvases, which are an eclectic collection done by El Mac, Retina, Saber, Sever and Revok. The entire show will be decorated in a minimalist fashion and paintings and photographs of all types will be displayed all around. There is also a break dancing competition that will take place on an elevated dance floor that is covered in traditional black and white linoleum. Several dance teams will perform for our guests and at the end our guests can then join and all have a good time. The gallery provides a multifaceted showcase for art that runs the gamut of our art generation. The artists will be on hand to greet and to introduce you to their work.

The renovations of the building were done all yearlong while working with the city on ordinance codes so that the event could take place with no hiccups at all. There are several other architectural changes that we cannot tell you about that take place inside of the event so if you are into renovated-historic properties then you will not want to miss this event.

~ by nondecker on June 9, 2010.