Downtown Tempe & Mill Avenue Commercial Landscaping

Tight sites, busy sidewalks, a fresh streetscape

Also known as: Mill Avenue District, Mill Ave, Downtown Tempe/Mill

Mill Avenue has seen a lot of late nights. Your planters should still look rested.

The City of Tempe lists Downtown Tempe/Mill as one of its innovation hubs, served by light rail and the streetcar, with high-rise offices, hotels and ASU next door. The Downtown Tempe Enhanced Services District was formed in 1993, and the Downtown Tempe Authority now runs clean-and-safe crews, litter pickup, graffiti removal and 12 free signature events a year. Properties here are judged against a pretty high bar, set by people who walk past them every day.

Mill Avenue itself is in the middle of its first big streetscape refresh in about 40 years, running from University Drive to Rio Salado Parkway. The city lists wider sidewalks, new pavers, irrigation and electrical upgrades, new bus shelters and some new trees, and KTAR reported a new planting scheme with water harvesting. If your frontage meets the new public edge, we help your beds, tree wells and drip lines match it instead of looking like the before photo. Nobody wants to be the 'before' photo.

Downtown work is mostly about timing and tidiness. We schedule blowing and trimming before patios open and steer clear of event setups, bag our debris instead of pushing it into the street, and keep canopies raised over sidewalks so pedestrians and scooters pass without ducking. Drip in raised planters and pots gets checked often, because one stuck valve downtown means water across a sidewalk full of people. Our crews come from our yard on East Baseline Road, and our 24/7 emergency line reaches a live person if a broken line shows up at 2 a.m.