Tucson Development Thread [Archive] - Page 5

kaneui

Jul 9, 2007, 12:21 PM

Here's a lengthy--but still incomplete--list of past, present, and future Rio Nuevo projects (additional photos added):

25 downtown projects put face on Rio Nuevo
Story on Rio Nuevo awaits last chapters

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
07.09.2007

How do you determine Rio Nuevo's age? Is it eight years old, based on the 1999 vote to create the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District? Is it 25, based on the 1982 Rio Nuevo Redevelopment Plan? Or even 28, when the Rio Nuevo name first was coined in 1979? Some say the clock didn't start until the latest update of the Rio Nuevo master plan was adopted in 2004 or when the city started collecting tax increment financing in 2003.

One thing widely agreed upon by city leaders and the community at large is that there's not much to show for Rio Nuevo yet. Downtown's largely the same downtown it's been for decades. There remains no compelling reason to venture downtown unless you have a court date, a taste for the theatrical, a leaning toward the bar scene, an appetite for the few name restaurants or a desire to attend an event. Many in Tucson have none of those needs.

What's missing is retail, retail, retail. The driving force for booming downtowns around the world is the ability to spend money in ways you can't at the suburban mall. That brings people downtown for the day to shop, shop, eat, shop more, eat more. And without that, some people have come to call it Rio No-Show.

Yet downtown revitalization has a dozen finished projects (including 256 homes), a handful more under construction or about to start construction, and another dozen high-profile projects in various planning and waiting stages. These amount to more than $117 million in private-sector dollars already spent along with some $37 million in Rio Nuevo spending and $46 million in other government spending. "If you look at the West Side, as an example, if you look hard, you can see the build out literally happening right now," Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. "We're starting to see the build out of almost 50 acres on the West Side. That doesn't happen overnight."

Rio Nuevo and downtown revitalization is a story of what's done (quite a bit, actually), what's under construction (not much), what's on the verge of construction (a couple of high-profile housing projects) and the biggest list: who knows when or if these projects will come to light.

Completed

1. The Fox Theatre reopened Dec. 31, 2005 after a $13 million restoration to a building that had sat shuttered since 1974. The structure, built in 1930, has hosted 232 events and drawn 70,657 people since its reopening.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/FoxTheatre-interior.jpg http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/FoxMarquee.jpg

2. The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., reopened in April 2005 after undergoing $3 million in renovations. Since then another $385,000 went into giving the theater, built in 1919, an air conditioning system for the first time. The theater, owned by the city Rio Nuevo district but privately operated, has put on 250 events, attracting 175,000 people.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/RialtoTheatre-newMarquee.jpg

3. The Tucson Convention Center built a new box office in 2003. This sounds entirely innocuous. but this project started the 10-year clock on Rio Nuevo's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. That's when Tucson got to keep all the increased sales tax revenue generated in the Rio Nuevo district, which includes downtown and the Broadway corridor to Park Place. So far about $40 million in TIF revenue has been collected. The Legislature in 2006 added another 12 years to extend the Rio Nuevo TIF district to 2025, which will generate an estimated $581 million for downtown public projects.

4. El Presidio del Tucson opened in May at the corner of Church Avenue and Washington Street. This is a $2.8 million reconstruction of one corner of the presidio fortress that established Tucson in the 1770s. This is the first completed facility for Tucson Origins, the rest of which will be built on the West Side, anchored by a rebuilt Mission San Agustín.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ElPresidiodeTucson-house.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/PresidioReconstruction.jpg

5. Academy Lofts opened in the summer of 2006 after Steve Fenton converted an 1886 church school and convent at Sixth Avenue and 15th Street into 25 rental loft units that range from $825 to $1,400 and 11 lofts for purchase in a second building priced at $200,000 to $325,000.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/formerImmaculateHeartConvent.jpg

6. Ice House Lofts, 1001 E. 17th St., opened in summer 2005 as a 51-unit loft complex built into a 1920 industrial plant that once housed the Arizona Ice and Storage Co. Developers Warren Michaels and Phil Lipman partnered with architect Rob Paulus and his wife, Randi Dorman, to create one of Rio Nuevo's first completed downtown housing projects, where units sold from about $100,000 to nearly $500,000.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/IceHouseLofts.jpg

7. Armory Park Del Sol has brought 87 homes that start at $373,000 to the 400 block of South Third Avenue since 1999 that incorporate low-water usage, solar water heaters, solar electric, thermal storage masonry and double-glass argon-filled windows.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ArmoryParkdelSolHome.jpg

8. The $11.5 million Pennington Street Garage brought a green, Art Deco look and 750 new parking spaces on street level to the corner of Scott Avenue and Pennington Street in late 2005. As an added bonus, Café Poca Cosa moved into the garage's street level in February 2006.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/Penningtons.jpg

9. The 1907 Historic Depot became a fully functioning building again in 2004 after a two-year, $7 million reconstruction project on a building that the city acquired in 1998 from Southern Pacific Railroad. The building sat largely unused before then except for the Amtrak station and Southern Arizona Transportation Museum. Since then, Central Bistro, Norris Design, LP&G public relations, Hertz and Mahlia Collection have been added. The depot was considered the first substantial project completed in the Rio Nuevo district.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/HistoricDepot.jpg

10 and 11. Franklin Court opened in July 2005 as a nine-home upscale community at Franklin Street and Court Avenue that reflects the historic past of downtown by employing pre-1800s Sonoran row house, 1880s Territorial, and turn-of-the-century modified Craftsman designs. Homes started at $395,000. Right around the corner, the Court and Meyer development brought six mixed- income homes onto a vacant piece of land, starting at $237,000. A wall closed the street off from Sixth Street, creating a quiet neighborhood.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/FranklinCourt.jpg

12. La Entrada Apartments added 66 luxury apartments to an existing luxury-style rental development at Granada Avenue and Franklin Street with rents starting at $689 per month. The addition was built on vacant land in 2006.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/LaEntradaApts.jpg

Under construction

13. The first three homes were finished in June at the Mercado District at Menlo Park near the west end of Congress Street. Master developer Rio Development launched construction on 15 homes in August 2006 on a 14.3-acre site ultimately destined for 99 homes ranging in price from $350,000 to $900,000, managing partner Justin Dixon said.

Dixon expects 60 to 70 homes to be done in two years. Mercado District is the largest downtown housing development in terms of acreage. Four builders are bringing different styles to the Mercado District: Innovative Living Design & Development is building 10 custom homes in the Sonoran row and Spanish colonial styles; City Lofts will build three Sonoran row houses; Street Scene Development will build 50 homes in a Mexican Colonial Plaza concept; and Tucson Artisan Builders plans to build 17 detached all-masonry homes. Dixon has not lined up a builder for the remaining 19 homes at the property's south edge.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/MercadoDistrictConstruction.jpg http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/MercadoDistResidential.jpg

14. Tucson Origins formally started on-site work June 18 at the Mission San Agustín site. Until Sept. 20, all work will revolve around removing 112,000 cubic yards of landfill from the mission, visitor center and plaza sites. The first adobe bricks to rebuild the mission should be laid in November.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ConventoandGardens-2.jpg

Upcoming Projects

15. The Post lofts awaits a building permit and then its owners will build the 52-unit, six-story condo complex at 20 E. Congress St. Project manager Oscar Turner at Bourn Partners thinks the permit will be delivered in early August and for the project to finish by the end of 2008. Bourn is in the process of putting buyers under contract, but "we still have a few units left to sell," Turner said. Prices range from the low $200,000s for a 650 square-foot studio to $1 million-plus for penthouses exceeding 2,000 square feet. Bourn is also looking for merchants such as coffee or sandwich shops to fill the four shops on street level that add up to 7,500 square feet. Interested merchants can contact Amanda Signori at Bourn at 323-1005. Bourn acquired the city-owned land for $100.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ThePost-rendering.jpg

16. Depot Plaza - This month, kitchen and bathroom fixtures will be torn out of the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments, the first step in their transformation into One North Fifth, a market-rate 96-unit apartment complex that will anchor Depot Plaza. July's demolition work will also entail removing the heavy balcony panels and widening door jams.

Nine months later, in March 2008, One North Fifth should be ready for rental tenants paying in the $600s for a studio and in the $700s for a one-bedroom apartment per month, said Ron Schwabe of Peach Properties, the Tucson partner for Williams & Dame of Portland, Ore. In August, Williams & Dame will break ground on a three-deck underground parking garage behind the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments. One year later, a five-story tower with 80 to 100 market-rate condos will be built atop the garage. Expected completion date is July 2009.

Williams & Dame also plans to build a 10-story condo tower with about 160 units across the street from MLK on the south side of the 200 block of East Congress Street. Construction is slated for two years out.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/MLKApts.jpg
The balcony panels at the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments will be torn away next month as work starts to transform the 1970s structure.

Pending Projects

17. The 101-unit Presidio Terrace condo project was supposed to start construction this summer but was pushed back six months as developer Peggy Noonan awaited a second appraisal. She believes the high-end housing project on Paseo Redondo west of the Tucson Museum of Art will be ready for residents in 2 1/2 years. Designs call for 92 units in a modernistic barrio-style structure that steps up from four stories at Paseo Redondo to eight stories in back. Prices range from under $200,000 for a 570-square-foot-studio, an average $550,000 for a typical 1,600-square-foot unit, up to $1.1 million. Noonan has 31 reservations and is taking reservations at 624-7020.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/PresidioTerracerendering.jpg

18. Rialto Block - Doug Biggers shoots for a completion date of December 2008 for his retail/restaurant/apartment mix to coincide with the opening of the new Fourth Avenue underpass. He owns the two-story commercial strip, built in 1919, that's attached to the Rialto Theatre at the east end of Congress Street.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/RialtoTheatreblock.jpg

19. Plaza Centro is envisioned as a residential-retail-dining eastern gateway to downtown on the 2.25 acres on either side of Toole Avenue where Congress Street, Broadway and Fourth Avenue converge. Land developer Jim Campbell has an option on the land where the Greyhound Station once stood and across the street on the parcel between Toole and the railroad tracks. Construction can't start until after the new Fourth Avenue underpass is completed at the end of 2008.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/PlazaCentroproposal.png

20. 44 Broadway - Land developer James LeBeau plans to resume construction in two months on the former federal courthouse annex building at 44 E. Broadway that he is converting into a 30-unit condo complex with 7,000 square feet of retail/restaurant on street level. Condo prices will range from $350,000 to $700,000. LeBeau anticipates having the structure ready for tenants in a year. He estimates construction is about 35 percent done.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/rendering-convertedfederalcourthous.jpg

21. Developer Mike Teufel and El Charro Café CEO Ray Flores Jr. plan to start work this summer to revive the 1904 Santa Rita Hotel into a 66-room boutique hotel, plus 48 rooms that will be sold as condo hotel rooms, where owners can lease rooms back for use as hotel rooms. The team plans to add a second structure at the spot with 99 condominium units, a parking garage and a gourmet supermarket. Teufel and Flores project a 2009 completion date.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/SantaRitaHotel-newfacade.jpg

22. The city will find out Sept. 1 what developers will propose for a hotel to support the Tucson Convention Center. Initial hints have included a basic hotel, a hotel with retail village and even one proposal with no hotel but an elaborate home-office-retail complex filling much of the parking lot behind the TCC. That hotel financing package will determine how the TCC renovation and expansion and new arena will proceed. That should be known sometime in October when the city picks a hotel developer, said Rich Singer, TCC's director.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/HotelArizona-render.jpg
This rendition of a new tower for Hotel Arizona is one of five proposals for the hotel to serve the Tucson Convention Center.

23. Conceptual designs are done for a new Tucson Arena west of the Tucson Convention Center and on the west side of Granada Avenue. The project awaits the winning hotel proposal. Singer hopes to start construction in summer 2008 and open in summer 2010.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/TucsonArena-ConceptualDesign.jpg

24. TCC will convert the existing arena into an exhibit hall as soon as the new arena opens, projected for summer 2010. In summer 2008, Singer plans to start work on 35,000 square feet of new TCC meeting rooms.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/TCCRenovation.jpg

25. Three developers will vie to determine who will develop the vacant 14.3 acres between Congress Street and Tucson Origins on the West Side. TJ Bednar Homes, the Gadsden Co., and Williams & Dame Development responded to a city request for qualification June 28. Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko expects to pick a developer in November.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/larged-tparcels.png

ItsAndrewOMG

Jul 10, 2007, 3:26 AM

i pray they choose the 30 floor hotel on september 1st

vertex

Jul 10, 2007, 4:24 AM

Nice! I gotta get back down to Tucson again to see these changes (it's been 4 years since my last trip).

Btw, is downtown really going to be the clusterf*ck some say it might be, due to construction?

kaneui

Jul 14, 2007, 10:17 AM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ElPresidioPlazaPimaCtyCourthouse.jpg
El Presidio Plaza, 1929 Pima County Courthouse

Museum asks Rio Nuevo to help create plaza
By TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
07.13.2007

The Tucson Museum of Art will ask for Rio Nuevo to pay for its vision of creating a cultural plaza that ties together the museum, El Presidio Plaza, the old Pima County Courthouse and the west side of the main library plaza. Museum officials on Thursday piqued the interest of the City Council's Rio Nuevo subcommittee, which wants Robert Knight, TMA's executive director, to return in September with a more specific proposal. In the meantime, Knight will hash out details with Rio Nuevo and city urban planning staff. "This is exactly what we need downtown," Councilman José Ibarra said. "The question is, is the city of Tucson willing to step forward to truly partner with you?"

The city owns El Presidio Plaza, so the council must approve the museum's redevelopment plan as well as the museum's request to use Rio Nuevo tax increment financing for the plaza work and to build a 280-vehicle garage for museum use. Rio Nuevo can be used for infrastructure projects, such as parking garages for private projects, Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said.

Council member Nina Trasoff, who chairs the Rio Nuevo subcommittee, said she was enthusiastic about the museum plan and wants Knight to work with city staff to create a more specific proposal "so we can see our role in this." Knight has had several talks with Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to see if the old courthouse building, built in 1929, could be converted for museum use. Huckelberry has said he is willing to share the north third of the building, but it's contingent on a new city/county courthouse expected to open in three years.

Ibarra, who leaves the City Council at the end of the year, said the Tucson Museum of Art's proposal merits city attention, especially since the museum has stuck to downtown through decades of decline. "There has to be some real connection and real commitment to show it was worth it for you to stay here all these years," Ibarra said. "I think we have to do everything we can to get a true partnership."

kaneui

Jul 27, 2007, 6:09 AM

With a dearth of development news during these dog days of summer, here is some food for thought from the Daily Star (another in their series examining metro Tucson, whose population has topped 1 million):

Can Tucson ever be a pro sports town?
Sidewinders' move to Reno follows demise or departure of many other teams, events

By Patrick Finley
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
07.22.2007

When he served as the UA's athletic director, Cedric Dempsey had a nickname for Tucson. "We used to call it the biggest college town in America," he said. Some would say he's still correct.

Pima County has passed 1 million residents — more than enough to support a minor-league sports team — yet the area is littered with gravestones of franchises that have failed to turn a profit, or survive, in Tucson. For many reasons — our demographics, our transient nature and the business market, to name a few — minor-league sports franchises have failed to find a foothold here.

The unsuccessful past impacts the future of pro sports in Tucson. "It's a proven statistic that it's not working," Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll said. Does the area need a pro sports franchise? Some say it improves the quality of life and instills community pride, while others believe the University of Arizona serves as the town's main point of interest.

At least 18 franchises or sporting events have folded or left Tucson in the last three decades. That number will grow in the next two years. The Triple-A Sidewinders are being sold to a group that will likely move them to Reno, Nev., for the 2009 season. The Chicago White Sox want to move their spring training operations to Glendale in 2009, but first need to find a replacement team to move to Tucson Electric Park or pay a buyout. With the Sidewinders' departure, Tucson will become the second-largest city in America without a big-league team in one of the four major sports or a Triple-A baseball team. On that list, only El Paso is bigger.

According to 2006 U.S. Census figures, Tucson is the 32nd-largest city and the sixth-largest without a major pro sports team. Louisville, Ky., Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and the Austin area all have Triple-A baseball. On paper, Pima County seems ripe for a minor-league team. It is home to world-class events during temperate months in the fall, winter and spring — the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championships, spring training, UA football and basketball and La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, to name a few. But those are events, and easier to support than a 40- or 72-game season. Sidewinders owner Jay Zucker calls it his "season handicap."

"Different people have attempted to crack this animal," said Todd Woodford, the Sidewinders' general manager in 2001 and assistant GM from 1997-2000. "And I don't see the dynamic of the infrastructure, demographic mix and weather pattern changing drastically enough to offset this."

The marketplace
Despite the 1 million label, some involved in minor-league sports in Tucson believe the marketplace is deceiving. Beside factors like summer heat and monsoons, many feel the very nature of the market — our demographic — makes us different:
● Pima County is isolated. Despite being the 32nd-largest city in terms of population, metropolitan Tucson — defined as Pima County — is the 52nd largest in the country, according to 2005 U.S. Census figures. While Tucson has a larger metro area than Albuquerque or El Paso, it is smaller than 10 other metro areas in the 16-team Pacific Coast League. "It's not been a good site for pro ventures," Dempsey said. "The isolation of Tucson always had an impact on its ability to draw. Minor league teams have to depend pretty much on that community for support."
● Pima County's population is transient, and people leave for the summers. For every three people who move to Pima County, two leave, the city of Tucson says. The average Tucsonan moves every 3 1/2 years, be it within the area or out of town. Because of that, there's little allegiance to minor-league sports teams. Fans of out-of-market teams can watch their favorite teams on pay cable packages or drive to Phoenix when they come to town.
● UA alums and employees — the university is the second-largest employer in the area — save their loyalty for the Wildcats.
● The area's population peaks in mid-February and mid-March because of good golf weather, spring training and the gem show, said David Taylor, a Tucson city planner for 30 years who now works for the Pima Association of Governments. City planner Anna Sanchez estimates the area has 10,000 fewer people in the summer, depending on how you define a visitor; Taylor guesses 40,000. He said summer visitors are "a small-budget movie" compared to winter residents. "The people that could afford the luxury of spending a lot of money (in) or investing in a pro sports team don't spend the entire year here," Carroll said.

Business
Corporate support might not be large enough here to support a pro sports team. While in Albuquerque last week for the Triple-A all-star game, Zucker was amazed by the 32 luxury boxes at Isotopes Park. Tucson Electric Park has eight. "There is not that corporate structure. Tucson lacks that corporate base," Zucker said. Only four publicly traded companies are headquartered in metro Tucson.

Southern Arizona's eight leading full-time employers are Raytheon Missile Systems, the UA, the state, Fort Huachuca, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the Tucson Unified School District, Pima County and the city itself. WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship Executive Director Michael Garten said his tournament's corporate support "was fantastic" in its first year in Tucson. "But the dollars that we're talking about (for a pro sports team) — a stadium naming-rights deal — that's a whole different animal," he said. "There's a complete lack of Fortune 500 companies. You look at Tucson, and even the regional headquarters offices for Fortune 500 companies land somewhere in Phoenix." Garten has said the Match Play tournament moved here — instead of Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas or Phoenix — in part because Tucson was not oversaturated with sports.

Comparable cities
Two cities — Albuquerque and El Paso — have responded to their baseball teams' leaving in different ways. After the 2000 baseball season, the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes departed for Portland, Ore., leaving New Mexico's largest city without a baseball team for the first time since 1959. Albuquerque, with about 14,000 fewer city residents than Tucson, lured a team back. In May 2001, voters approved a $15 million bond issue for the $25 million renovation of Albuquerque Sports Stadium. Rebranded as the Isotopes, the Calgary Cannons moved to Albuquerque in 2003. "It made the city look at, 'What direction are we going here?' " said Brian O'Neill, deputy director of the New Mexico Sports Authority. "We're not a major-league city yet, we understand that. But we definitely are a minor-league city. There was a wakeup call that put a little sense of urgency in it."

El Paso, with about 90,000 more city residents than Tucson — but, like Tucson and Albuquerque, a Southwestern college town — has taken a different tack. At the end of the 2004 season, the city's Double-A Diablos were sold and moved to Springfield, Mo. Instead of finding a new affiliated team, the city kept the Diablos name and placed them in the independent American Association. El Paso's sports community does not center around baseball, but rather the Sun Bowl, first played in 1935. "There's a lot that feeds off the success of the Sun Bowl," said Bill Lee, operations director of the El Paso Sports Commission. "We're looking at duplicating success through sports tourism."

That means recruiting youth tournaments — "moms and dads and kids traveling to hotels and putting heads in beds," he said — in addition to trying to land annual tour stop events. The city has a junior-league hockey team, but not many other franchises compete for financial support against University of Texas-El Paso sports. "The pie can only be sliced so many ways," he said.

The future
Supervisor Carroll wants to see Tucson market itself as a destination for amateur sporting events. He said he doubts the county would pay for another ballpark, as Albuquerque did. "The government made an attempt to subsidize the industry, and that's TEP," he said.

Some owners are not scared off by Tucson's history. The Sidewinders' Zucker says he would like to keep baseball in Tucson in some form, though he would not elaborate. The Tucson Flame will begin play in the minor-league American Basketball Association this fall. Mike Feder, general manager of the Toros/Sidewinders from 1989 to 2001, wants to bring an Arena Football League 2 team to the proposed Downtown arena. AF2 is a 30-team league that plays games indoors and serves as the feeder for the Arena Football League. Feder was the executive director of AFL's New Orleans VooDoo and later the league's Austin Wranglers. The arena at Tucson Convention Center has a ceiling that's too low for the sport, Feder said. McKale Center is big enough, but would not allow a team to sell beer. "It's eight home games in an air-conditioned building in the summer," Feder said. "We have to draw 6-10,000 people eight times. Arena football is more than just a football game; it's a party."

Carroll is skeptical. He imagines a potential owner doing his homework on the teams that have failed here. "I would say, 'What makes this next opportunity different?' " he said. "How could it succeed when the last 20 years have not?
"I don't know how many times you can sit through a presentation geared toward expansion of a professional league and ignore the fact all these other hopefuls fell by the wayside." The future of minor-league sports in Tucson is cloudy at best. But given Tucson's size — and despite its demographic, weather and college-town quirks — owners figure to keep trying to make it work. "I believe Tucson has a lot of potential," Zucker said. "It's a matter of learning how to motivate the market."

Learn more about Pima County at a million, including stories looking at how we got here and where we're headed, a mini-documentary video examining the effects of growth on the city and more videos and slide shows.
Go to go.azstarnet.com/onemillion

What we've lost
Seventeen teams and events, and one national organization, have folded in the Old Pueblo or left since 1975.
hockey
Tucson Mavericks
1975-76
Tucson Icemen
1976-77
Tucson Rustlers
1978-79
Arizona Thunder Blades
1996
(folded after three away games)
Tucson Gila Monsters
1997-98
Tucson Scorch
2000
(folded hours before first game)
baseball
Clev. Indians sp. training
1947-92
Tucson Javelinas
1992-93
USA Baseball
1997-03
softball
Tucson Rattlers
1976
Arizona Heat
2003-06
basketball
Tucson Gunners
1978-79
volleyball
Tucson Turquoise/Sky
1976-80
Arizona Flames
1997
soccer
Tucson Amigos
1989-99
Tucson Fireballs
2000-01
football
Copper Bowl/ Insight Bowl
1989-99
golf
LPGA Tour event
1981-04

What we have (for now)
• The Sidewinders
• Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies spring training
• The Accenture Match Play Championship in late February
• La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in late February
• The Tucson Flame of the American Basketball Association team will begin play in November
• The Tucson Monsoon of the Independent Women's Football League, who play from April to June
• Scorpions, a Tucson-based team in the mixed martial arts International Fight League

CITY STATS
Tucson is the sixth-largest city in the United States without a team in one of the four major American team sports — Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Of the cities ranked ahead of Tucson, one — Las Vegas — has been shunned by leagues because of its gambling influence. Another, Oklahoma City, inherited the New Orleans Hornets for two years following Hurricane Katrina. A third, Louisville, Ky., hosts the world's most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby, every year.

City/Population/ Pro Teams
The Top 3
1. New York City / 8,214,426/Yankees and Mets (MLB), Giants and Jets (NFL), Knicks and Nets (NBA), Rangers, Devils and Islanders (NHL)
2. Los Angeles / 3,849,378/Dodgers and Angeles (MLB), Lakers and Clippers (NBA), Ducks and Kings (NHL)
3. Chicago/2,833,321 / Cubs and White Sox (MLB), Bears (NFL), Bulls (NBA), Blackhawks (NHL)

Around us
30. Oklahoma City / 537,734/
31. Portland, Ore. / 537,081/Trail Blazers (NBA)'
32. Tucson / 518,956
33. Albuquerque/504,949
34. Atlanta/486,411 / Braves (MLB), Falcons (NFL), Hawks (NBA), Thrashers (NHL)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2006

METRO STATS
The Tucson metro area is the 12th-largest in the country without a team in one of the four major American team sports — Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. The U.S. Census Bureau considers the Tucson metropolitan area to be all of Pima County.

Metro Area/ Population/Teams
The Top 3
1. New York City / 18,747,320/Mets and Yankees (MLB), Jets and Giants (NFL), Nets and Knicks (NBA), Rangers, Devils and Islanders (NHL)
2. Los Angeles / 12,923,547/Dodgers and Angels (MLB), Lakers and Clippers (NBA), Ducks and Kings (NHL)
3. Chicago / 9,443,356/Cubs and White Sox (MLB), Bears (NFL), Bulls (NBA), Blackhawks (NHL)

Around us
50. Salt Lake City / 1,034,484/Jazz (NBA)
51. Raleigh-Cary, N.C./949,681/Hurricanes (NHL)
52. Tucson / 924,786
53. Honolulu / 905,266
54. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. / 902,775
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2005 (latest figures available)

kaneui

Jul 27, 2007, 7:48 AM

A historic downtown office building sells for only $80/sq.ft.:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ChaseBankBldg.1985.jpg
former Valley National Bank building, 2 E. Congress St., in 1985

Tucson's 'first skyscraper' sold to local investors
By Christie Smythe
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
07.26.2007

A historic Downtown office building owned by banks for decades has been sold to two local property investors. The Chase Bank building, built in 1929, was purchased by Rob Caylor, owner of Caylor Construction Co., and apartment investor Art Wadlund for $5.5 million, said broker Buzz Isaacson. The deal — a bargain, according to local brokers — closed Friday, he said.

Seller Chase took over the 10-story tower at 2 E. Congress St. — known as Tucson’s first skyscraper — in 2005 when it merged with previous owner Bank One. Before that, it was owned by Valley National Bank and Consolidated National Bank. Chase Bank plans to continue to operate in the building on a long-term lease, said spokeswoman Mary Jane Rogers. The building in Tucson is one of many properties that have been sold and leased back by Chase, including the Chase Tower at 201 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix, Rogers said. “Across the country, Chase has been looking at ways to focus less on managing real estate assets and more on banking services,” she said.

The Tucson building is known for its ornate styling, including marble columns and a grand staircase in the interior, and intricate detailing on the ceiling, Isaacson said. “It’s just breathtaking,” he said.

Though the building might have been high-end in the 1930s, its recent sale price fell on the low side for office space in Tucson, said two local commercial brokers. Sales of Tucson-area office properties are averaging about $150-per-square-foot so far this year, with some going as high as $370-per-square-foot, said Don Ahee, research analyst for CB Richard Ellis. The bank building has about 68,800 square feet, Isaacson said — making its price about $80 per square foot. That price is “rock-bottom in today’s market” even considering upgrades the building might need, said Rick Kleiner, a broker with Picor Commercial Real Estate Services.

Isaacson said the property attracted seven or eight potential buyers, most of which were local investors he declined to identify. The bank reviewed each, he said. “The bank was, in effect, picking its landlord,” Isaacson said.

Chase occupies five floors, part of the basement and the mezzanine level of the building, Isaacson said. The only other occupant is the Lawrence Schiever accounting firm, which has been leasing space there since at least the 1970s, Isaacson said. The buyers are planning to make some “infrastructure” upgrades to the building, and are in the process of negotiating leases with law firms and other professional businesses, he said.

Caylor and Wadlund were traveling and not available for comment Thursday, according to their assistants. Wadlund is a partner in property investment firm Hendricks & Partners. Isaacson said the buyers were proud to be chosen to purchase the property, and plan to own it for years to come. “They are very enthusiastic about Downtown and they love the building,” Isaacson said.

Locofresh55

Jul 29, 2007, 11:00 PM

That is my favorite building in Tucson....I really don't like the fact that the Post Lofts are gonna be nudging up against the Chase building. I also like that it faces the UniSource Energy Tower (Another building I like).

ItsAndrewOMG

Jul 30, 2007, 3:42 AM

speaking of the unisource energy tower (which is my fav) go look at the tucson diagram. i added a new diagram for unisource energy towert.

andrewkfromaz

Aug 1, 2007, 4:54 AM

Tucson pro sports? They don't need any, they have the 'Cats!

ljbuild

Aug 3, 2007, 5:44 AM

With a dearth of development news during these dog days of summer, here is some food for thought from the Daily Star (another in their series examining metro Tucson, whose population has topped 1 million):

Can Tucson ever be a pro sports town?
Sidewinders' move to Reno follows demise or departure of many other teams, events

[
Patrick Finley
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
07.22.2007

When he served as the UA's athletic director, Cedric Dempsey had a nickname for Tucson. "We used to call it the biggest college town in America," he said. Some would say he's still correct.

Pima County has passed 1 million residents — more than enough to support a minor-league sports team — yet the area is littered with gravestones of franchises that have failed to turn a profit, or survive, in Tucson. For many reasons — our demographics, our transient nature and the business market, to name a few — minor-league sports franchises have failed to find a foothold here.

The unsuccessful past impacts the future of pro sports in Tucson. "It's a proven statistic that it's not working," Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll said. Does the area need a pro sports franchise? Some say it improves the quality of life and instills community pride, while others believe the University of Arizona serves as the town's main point of interest.

At least 18 franchises or sporting events have folded or left Tucson in the last three decades. That number will grow in the next two years. The Triple-A Sidewinders are being sold to a group that will likely move them to Reno, Nev., for the 2009 season. The Chicago White Sox want to move their spring training operations to Glendale in 2009, but first need to find a replacement team to move to Tucson Electric Park or pay a buyout. With the Sidewinders' departure, Tucson will become the second-largest city in America without a big-league team in one of the four major sports or a Triple-A baseball team. On that list, only El Paso is bigger.

According to 2006 U.S. Census figures, Tucson is the 32nd-largest city and the sixth-largest without a major pro sports team. Louisville, Ky., Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and the Austin area all have Triple-A baseball. On paper, Pima County seems ripe for a minor-league team. It is home to world-class events during temperate months in the fall, winter and spring — the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championships, spring training, UA football and basketball and La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, to name a few. But those are events, and easier to support than a 40- or 72-game season. Sidewinders owner Jay Zucker calls it his "season handicap."

"Different people have attempted to crack this animal," said Todd Woodford, the Sidewinders' general manager in 2001 and assistant GM from 1997-2000. "And I don't see the dynamic of the infrastructure, demographic mix and weather pattern changing drastically enough to offset this."

The marketplace
Despite the 1 million label, some involved in minor-league sports in Tucson believe the marketplace is deceiving. Beside factors like summer heat and monsoons, many feel the very nature of the market — our demographic — makes us different:
● Pima County is isolated. Despite being the 32nd-largest city in terms of population, metropolitan Tucson — defined as Pima County — is the 52nd largest in the country, according to 2005 U.S. Census figures. While Tucson has a larger metro area than Albuquerque or El Paso, it is smaller than 10 other metro areas in the 16-team Pacific Coast League. "It's not been a good site for pro ventures," Dempsey said. "The isolation of Tucson always had an impact on its ability to draw. Minor league teams have to depend pretty much on that community for support."
● Pima County's population is transient, and people leave for the summers. For every three people who move to Pima County, two leave, the city of Tucson says. The average Tucsonan moves every 3 1/2 years, be it within the area or out of town. Because of that, there's little allegiance to minor-league sports teams. Fans of out-of-market teams can watch their favorite teams on pay cable packages or drive to Phoenix when they come to town.
● UA alums and employees — the university is the second-largest employer in the area — save their loyalty for the Wildcats.
● The area's population peaks in mid-February and mid-March because of good golf weather, spring training and the gem show, said David Taylor, a Tucson city planner for 30 years who now works for the Pima Association of Governments. City planner Anna Sanchez estimates the area has 10,000 fewer people in the summer, depending on how you define a visitor; Taylor guesses 40,000. He said summer visitors are "a small-budget movie" compared to winter residents. "The people that could afford the luxury of spending a lot of money (in) or investing in a pro sports team don't spend the entire year here," Carroll said.

Business
Corporate support might not be large enough here to support a pro sports team. While in Albuquerque last week for the Triple-A all-star game, Zucker was amazed by the 32 luxury boxes at Isotopes Park. Tucson Electric Park has eight. "There is not that corporate structure. Tucson lacks that corporate base," Zucker said. Only four publicly traded companies are headquartered in metro Tucson.

Southern Arizona's eight leading full-time employers are Raytheon Missile Systems, the UA, the state, Fort Huachuca, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the Tucson Unified School District, Pima County and the city itself. WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship Executive Director Michael Garten said his tournament's corporate support "was fantastic" in its first year in Tucson. "But the dollars that we're talking about (for a pro sports team) — a stadium naming-rights deal — that's a whole different animal," he said. "There's a complete lack of Fortune 500 companies. You look at Tucson, and even the regional headquarters offices for Fortune 500 companies land somewhere in Phoenix." Garten has said the Match Play tournament moved here — instead of Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas or Phoenix — in part because Tucson was not oversaturated with sports.

Comparable cities
Two cities — Albuquerque and El Paso — have responded to their baseball teams' leaving in different ways. After the 2000 baseball season, the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes departed for Portland, Ore., leaving New Mexico's largest city without a baseball team for the first time since 1959. Albuquerque, with about 14,000 fewer city residents than Tucson, lured a team back. In May 2001, voters approved a $15 million bond issue for the $25 million renovation of Albuquerque Sports Stadium. Rebranded as the Isotopes, the Calgary Cannons moved to Albuquerque in 2003. "It made the city look at, 'What direction are we going here?' " said Brian O'Neill, deputy director of the New Mexico Sports Authority. "We're not a major-league city yet, we understand that. But we definitely are a minor-league city. There was a wakeup call that put a little sense of urgency in it."

El Paso, with about 90,000 more city residents than Tucson — but, like Tucson and Albuquerque, a Southwestern college town — has taken a different tack. At the end of the 2004 season, the city's Double-A Diablos were sold and moved to Springfield, Mo. Instead of finding a new affiliated team, the city kept the Diablos name and placed them in the independent American Association. El Paso's sports community does not center around baseball, but rather the Sun Bowl, first played in 1935. "There's a lot that feeds off the success of the Sun Bowl," said Bill Lee, operations director of the El Paso Sports Commission. "We're looking at duplicating success through sports tourism."

That means recruiting youth tournaments — "moms and dads and kids traveling to hotels and putting heads in beds," he said — in addition to trying to land annual tour stop events. The city has a junior-league hockey team, but not many other franchises compete for financial support against University of Texas-El Paso sports. "The pie can only be sliced so many ways," he said.

The future
Supervisor Carroll wants to see Tucson market itself as a destination for amateur sporting events. He said he doubts the county would pay for another ballpark, as Albuquerque did. "The government made an attempt to subsidize the industry, and that's TEP," he said.

Some owners are not scared off by Tucson's history. The Sidewinders' Zucker says he would like to keep baseball in Tucson in some form, though he would not elaborate. The Tucson Flame will begin play in the minor-league American Basketball Association this fall. Mike Feder, general manager of the Toros/Sidewinders from 1989 to 2001, wants to bring an Arena Football League 2 team to the proposed Downtown arena. AF2 is a 30-team league that plays games indoors and serves as the feeder for the Arena Football League. Feder was the executive director of AFL's New Orleans VooDoo and later the league's Austin Wranglers. The arena at Tucson Convention Center has a ceiling that's too low for the sport, Feder said. McKale Center is big enough, but would not allow a team to sell beer. "It's eight home games in an air-conditioned building in the summer," Feder said. "We have to draw 6-10,000 people eight times. Arena football is more than just a football game; it's a party."

Carroll is skeptical. He imagines a potential owner doing his homework on the teams that have failed here. "I would say, 'What makes this next opportunity different?' " he said. "How could it succeed when the last 20 years have not?
"I don't know how many times you can sit through a presentation geared toward expansion of a professional league and ignore the fact all these other hopefuls fell by the wayside." The future of minor-league sports in Tucson is cloudy at best. But given Tucson's size — and despite its demographic, weather and college-town quirks — owners figure to keep trying to make it work. "I believe Tucson has a lot of potential," Zucker said. "It's a matter of learning how to motivate the market."

Learn more about Pima County at a million, including stories looking at how we got here and where we're headed, a mini-documentary video examining the effects of growth on the city and more videos and slide shows.
Go to go.azstarnet.com/onemillion

What we've lost
Seventeen teams and events, and one national organization, have folded in the Old Pueblo or left since 1975.
hockey
Tucson Mavericks
1975-76
Tucson Icemen
1976-77
Tucson Rustlers
1978-79
Arizona Thunder Blades
1996
(folded after three away games)
Tucson Gila Monsters
1997-98
Tucson Scorch
2000
(folded hours before first game)
baseball
Clev. Indians sp. training
1947-92
Tucson Javelinas
1992-93
USA Baseball
1997-03
softball
Tucson Rattlers
1976
Arizona Heat
2003-06
basketball
Tucson Gunners
1978-79
volleyball
Tucson Turquoise/Sky
1976-80
Arizona Flames
1997
soccer
Tucson Amigos
1989-99
Tucson Fireballs
2000-01
football
Copper Bowl/ Insight Bowl
1989-99
golf
LPGA Tour event
1981-04

What we have (for now)
• The Sidewinders
• Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies spring training
• The Accenture Match Play Championship in late February
• La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in late February
• The Tucson Flame of the American Basketball Association team will begin play in November
• The Tucson Monsoon of the Independent Women's Football League, who play from April to June
• Scorpions, a Tucson-based team in the mixed martial arts International Fight League

CITY STATS
Tucson is the sixth-largest city in the United States without a team in one of the four major American team sports — Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Of the cities ranked ahead of Tucson, one — Las Vegas — has been shunned by leagues because of its gambling influence. Another, Oklahoma City, inherited the New Orleans Hornets for two years following Hurricane Katrina. A third, Louisville, Ky., hosts the world's most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby, every year.

City/Population/ Pro Teams
The Top 3
1. New York City / 8,214,426/Yankees and Mets (MLB), Giants and Jets (NFL), Knicks and Nets (NBA), Rangers, Devils and Islanders (NHL)
2. Los Angeles / 3,849,378/Dodgers and Angeles (MLB), Lakers and Clippers (NBA), Ducks and Kings (NHL)
3. Chicago/2,833,321 / Cubs and White Sox (MLB), Bears (NFL), Bulls (NBA), Blackhawks (NHL)

Around us
30. Oklahoma City / 537,734/
31. Portland, Ore. / 537,081/Trail Blazers (NBA)'
32. Tucson / 518,956
33. Albuquerque/504,949
34. Atlanta/486,411 / Braves (MLB), Falcons (NFL), Hawks (NBA), Thrashers (NHL)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2006

METRO STATS
The Tucson metro area is the 12th-largest in the country without a team in one of the four major American team sports — Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. The U.S. Census Bureau considers the Tucson metropolitan area to be all of Pima County.

Metro Area/ Population/Teams
The Top 3
1. New York City / 18,747,320/Mets and Yankees (MLB), Jets and Giants (NFL), Nets and Knicks (NBA), Rangers, Devils and Islanders (NHL)
2. Los Angeles / 12,923,547/Dodgers and Angels (MLB), Lakers and Clippers (NBA), Ducks and Kings (NHL)
3. Chicago / 9,443,356/Cubs and White Sox (MLB), Bears (NFL), Bulls (NBA), Blackhawks (NHL)

Around us
50. Salt Lake City / 1,034,484/Jazz (NBA)
51. Raleigh-Cary, N.C./949,681/Hurricanes (NHL)
52. Tucson / 924,786
53. Honolulu / 905,266
54. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. / 902,775
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2005 (latest figures available)

B]TUCSON IS A TRANSIT TOWN [/B], meaning that people always come and go. Half the population consists of people from other states and even other countries. You see people there wearing lakers uniforms, spurs uniforms, new york uniforms at even the wildcat games. (what guts !!!!)
The SNOWBIRDS ARE PROOF. with that said there will be hardly anyone left in town to watch a PRO SPORTS team.!!:cool:

combusean

Aug 3, 2007, 6:40 AM

^ The word is transient. :)

kaneui

Aug 5, 2007, 1:15 AM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/5-PointsGatewayPlaza.jpg
5-Points Gateway Plaza, at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, would evoke a historic look with a bell tower and tile roof.
(rendering courtesy of The Architecture Company)

Project at Stone, Sixth up for city OK
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
08.03.2007

The south edge of downtown, frozen in the 1950s, is on the verge of getting a two-story office-retail building where South Stone and Sixth avenues converge with 18th Street. The City Council on Monday is expected to approve a development agreement with Roy and Annie Laos to build their 5-Points Gateway Plaza, which would bring a couple of lawyers, an accountant and perhaps an eatery to the quirky, five-way intersection.

It would be the first project approved to make use of the downtown infill incentive district that was put in place in October. This gives city officials flexibility with codes, development standards and fees on projects costing at least $250,000, to speed up project approvals. "A parking variance was the main one," Annie Laos said.

The size of the property calls for a business to have 51 parking spaces, but the city will allow the Laoses to have 10 spaces, said Ernie Duarte, director of the city's Development Services Department. "Code requirements make it difficult (for some downtown projects without the infill district)," Duarte said. No financial incentives and no Rio Nuevo incentives are in play, Duarte said. The Laoses want to start construction as soon as the city issues a building permit. "I'd like to start next week," Annie Laos said.

She said the $1.5 million project would take eight to nine months to complete. The 6,000-square-foot, brick-and-stucco 5-Points Gateway Plaza building would have a stretch of covered balcony, rectangular windows that evoke a historic look, a bell tower and a tile roof.

kaneui

Aug 6, 2007, 8:14 AM

The city should have RFP's in hand from five development teams for a new convention center hotel by September 7:

AND NOW THERE ARE FIVE
(excerpt from Downtown Lowdown)
Downtown Tucsonan
August, 2007

Two of seven candidates to build a Downtown convention hotel have been eliminated from further consideration. City of Tucson project manager Jaret Barr has announced that Bourn Partners and Gaylord Hotels are now out of the running, leaving five development teams to submit proposals.

Still in the running are Phelps Development LLC/Hilton Hotels; local landowners Allan Norville teamed with Marriott; Southwest Value Partners and General Growth Properties; and two Texas firms, one proposing a Sheraton hotel, the other opting for a Hyatt facility.

Formal bid invitations have been let and are due back in early September. The City is planning a series of public forums to introduce the public to the proposals and invite feedback. A five-member selection committee wants to make its recommendation on the winning bid by later this year.

...also, more musings and yet another rendering on the proposed El Mirador mixed-use project (a painful reminder of the glacial pace of downtown redevelopment):

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ElMiradorrender.jpg

El Mirador: Moving Tucson Beyond “Frontier Mentality”
Public Investment in Downtown Spurring Private Sector Confidence

by Tom Whittingslow
Downtown Tucsonan
August, 2007

While it might not be characterized as a “feeding frenzy”, downtown appears to be exploding with new projects moving forward with design and pre-development. Encouraged by more concrete reality grounding the rhetoric of public/private partnership — and with several Rio Nuevo projects happening concurrently — the private sector is beginning to step up to the plate.

The latest project in the pipeline is El Mirador, a premiere mixed-use development at the northern gateway to Downtown Tucson, in the Warehouse Arts District. As envisioned by Town West, the concrete and glass curtain wall building calls for three interconnecting towers at the northwest corner of Franklin Street and Stone Avenue, on what has sometimes been called the “Platforms Site”. The towers would be 7, 9, and 15 stories tall, with the tallest tower closest to Stone Avenue, and the shortest one closest to the largely single-story El Presidio Historic District.

When completed, El Mirador as presently envisioned will include a boutique hotel with 220 suites, a public art walk, upscale health spa, 100 private condominiums, plus offices and retail. Off-street parking will be accommodated in a 420-car deck structure, located north of the towers adjacent to the Southern Pacific railroad tracks. The finished structure would blend with the surrounding Warehouse Arts District.

According to a presentation booklet that Town West prepared for the Mayor and Council, El Mirador would be a “green building”, L.E.E.D.-certified. Water harvesting, grey water recycling, use of some recyclable materials, some solar energy components, and efficient central heating and cooling systems would be among the sustainable building features to be included.

The project’s genesis dates back to the 2004 proposal by Nimbus Brewery to locate a new site downtown, but the project really took off again when Town West became involved. Town West owns several Tucson-area retail centers: Joesler Village, Sam Hughes Place, Villa del Oro, and Embassy Plaza, among others.

“We were following Nimbus’ attempt to find a new location, in the newspaper, and it looked like they could use some help,” said Town West’s designer, Raul Reyes, AIA. Town West’s latest proposal includes a 36,000-square-foot, two-level restaurant and brewery space set aside for Nimbus.

One feels the spirit of Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead in the passion and dedication of Reyes as he describes this latest project. A lifelong Tucson architect, Reyes’ goal is to create something noteworthy and unique for downtown. Reyes’ reputation and credentials are impeccable; his completed projects include the $25-million First Magnus headquarters and the Sam Hughes project, one of the few mixed-use buildings in Tucson.

The next step is finalizing the development plan. In the first public meeting with the El Presidio neighborhood, some of the participants expressed concerns about traffic and design. Others commented that there aren’t enough arts uses. Following this meeting the Mayor and Council had certain items that they wanted to address and have asked the developer to come back with further clarifications.

The Warehouse Arts Management Organization (WAMO) has been steadfast in its position that whatever is developed at the Platforms site must be consistent with the Tucson Historic Warehouse Arts District Master Plan (2004). The master plan recommends that the site be developed “as mixed-use: outdoor performance plaza, housing, entertainment, retail, office and/or an arts school”. While the El Mirador project seems to be very consistent with that recommendation, many artists in the district expect the housing to be affordable for working artists.

Says WAMO President Charles Alexander, “If Town West works closely with the local community, including artists and WAMO, and really listens and implements what people want, then I’m happy to support it. Looking at the current design, there are things that excite me, and aspects I would really like to see changed.”

Jaret Barr, Assistant to the City Manager said, “We’re going to get as many people involved early on as possible before we finalize the development agreement. We want to hear everything before we make our recommendations; the zoning will follow.” Barr continued,” The usage is not inconsistent with what we recommend for downtown, we just want to make sure that the design, the coordination, the traffic circulation – that everyone gets their say.”

Downtown Tucsonan asked Jim Counts, Managing Partner of Nimbus Brewery, if there have been any marketing feasibility studies on the efficacy of micro-breweries as an anchor for downtown tourism. “Breweries, especially good ones have been revitalizing areas of cities, especially downtown areas, from one end of the country to another. One does not have to do much of a marketing study other than go on the internet and type in: Downtown, Revitalization and Breweries. Immediately stories of cities across the country that have used microbreweries to bring back people to a less desirable portion of their city pop up.”

Hell…even a monkey could figure that out! The project designer Raul Reyes, cited downtown Tempe as an example. “In the recently developed urban area of Mill Avenue in Tempe there is the micro brewery Gordon Biersch; you see microbreweries in downtown Toronto, Seattle and Washington DC as well.”

The Nimbus brewery structure would be designed to capture Tucson’s robust history of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Architect and interior design consultant Roy Noggle is working with Counts to create a theme destination that will incorporate some of the latest technology for energy-efficiency while featuring outdoor seating and live entertainment.

Raul Reyes personally has his heart in the project; El Mirador could be the fulfillment of one of his life goals to create something that would bring Downtown Tucson into the 21st century, in terms of urban design. Reyes would like to build something to get Tucson beyond what he calls the “Frontier Mentality”–which he defines as “a reluctance to seriously invest in Tucson’s future with substantial buildings and design”. Reyes says that the “Frontier Mentality” manifests itself in attitudes about new buildings in Tucson: “. . . it’s going to be small but we want to park directly in front of it . . . it won’t be tall, but it must be tan.”

Town West worked closely with Lloyd Construction in building the $25-million First Magnus’ corporate headquarters at Fifth and Wilmot. The process was remarkable in that there were no cost overruns and absolutely no change orders, other than the owners’.

Despite its appeal, El Mirador has its challenges. “The first few years are going to be very difficult and it’s important for other things to develop downtown.” Based on Lloyd Construction’s analysis, the project will cost between $90 and $100 million. Town West is “totally committed to completing the mixed-use project, despite the obstacles,” says Reyes.

Downtown Tucsonan asked Reyes what makes downtown investments so attractive this at this point time. “Two things: the Rio Nuevo money eventually is going to cause something to happen. Second, there’s the convention center and arena that will bring fresh investment downtown.” Reyes added, “There’s another thing. We’ve been traveling around the country. I’ve been to twenty or thirty cities both in the US and Europe and this is what’s happening in urban areas. A lot of people don’t realize it but we’re behind the times.”

El Mirador would be a joint venture project. Reyes says that several people have expressed an interest in financing the project, including Trans West, a local company with 650 hotel rooms in Tucson, plus hotels in Scottsdale and a hotel in Rocky Point. Unlike the convention hotel project, Reyes claims that the city doesn’t need to own the property in order to obtain attractive financing.

The project is in the preliminary development stages, getting ready to finalize the purchase of the property from the City of Tucson. Reyes says that in Tucson, neighborhood groups carry a lot of clout and the city council takes their opinions seriously. It is impossible to predict with any accuracy how long the process will take,” Reyes explained, “We’re beginning to set those up, along with informal meetings with the WAMO art group.

A key question will be to attract the dining and retail entities to support the hotel guests and new residents that these projects envision. Reyes admits that there hasn’t been a lot done in this area yet. It is difficult because it is high-risk and the retailers would be pioneers. Reyes concluded, “It should be an opportunity but what comes first, ‘the chicken or the egg?” This is obviously a Gordian1 knot but clearly the synergy has begun.

1EDITOR: The Gordian Knot is a legend associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem, solved by a bold stroke (“cutting the Gordian knot”). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander cuts the Gordian Knot, by Jean-Simon Berthélemy (1743–1811)

atbg8654

Aug 6, 2007, 10:19 PM

whats the latest news on the proposed light rail system connecting downton and UA?

btw this is a slow thread, whats up with that?!

kaneui

Aug 8, 2007, 9:47 PM

^Regarding the expanded streetcar/trolley line, Tucson still needs to secure approximately $60M of matching federal funds to add to the $90M already allocated in the new transportation plan approved last year. Best-case scenario has it up and running by 2010, but I'd add another or year or two.

PHX31

Aug 8, 2007, 10:02 PM

/\ Do you have any images or better yet, a map of where it is proposed to run? thanks.

ljbuild

Aug 9, 2007, 5:12 AM

TUCSON IS OVER A MILLON PEOPLE

BUT!!!!!!!! I dont think THE BRAINLESS NIMBY RECLUSES know that.

Currently Tucson doesnt really have an Identity yet, but a portion of the population has these BRAINLESS NIMBY RECLUSES who puts birds before education.
This doesnt really help Tucsons cause.
A little while ago there was this piece of land that a local school district wanted to build a new high school since conditions at the existing schools were over crowded.
BUT !!!!!!!!!!!! THEN COMES THE NIMBYS

who blocks the construction of that high school (IRONWOOD RIDGE HIGH) I believe, for at least two years because they claimed that there was an
endangered bird (PYGMY OWL) living on the property.

IF YOU GO TO APPLY FOR A JOB AT MOTOROLA OR EVEN THE PHOENIX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, do you think you will get a high paying job by putting on your application

"I HAVE STUDIED THIS PYGMY OWL FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND HAS BROWN FEATHERS AND PISSES 3 TIMES A DAY AND EATS FLIES"

But yet that took priority over building a school for people to get

EDUCATED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ITS no wonder why Tucson is in the mess that it is in ( no identiy, little or no downtown life , no pro sports, current sports teams leaving town and NO NEW FREEWAYS) .

A city with a MILLION PEOPLE and only TWO FREEWAYS that dont really even service the main portion of the city is absolutely absurd.

However, you can thank those "BRAINLESS NIMBY RECLUSES" who have nothing better to do than oppose any vital progress and bitch about everything and everybody.

Unfortunately, Tucson is (for the most part )controlled by these idiots,

who wants Tucson to stay small, who dont want any freeways built, who hates or questions a vast amout of vital projects.

The Tucson government is scared of these idiots. Any time the NIMBY RECLUSES disagree with a project, THE GOVERNMENT LITERALLY QUIVERS.

BUT on the contrary I must confess that I kind of like PYGMY OWLS

BECAUSE THEY TASTE LIKE ROAST BEEF WHEN CLEANED AND FRIED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cheers: :banana: :notacrook::yes:

PHX31

Aug 9, 2007, 5:49 AM

/\ WTF?

Well, I tried looking up the Tucson light rail map, but all I found was some seriously outdated "fantasy" maps. Is there a official light rail map/route out there, assuming the thing actually finally gets funding?

BTinSF

Aug 9, 2007, 7:11 AM

btw this is a slow thread, whats up with that?!

All we snowbirds are gone for the summer. :cool:

Want me to bring one of these back with me?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1073/898473530_d9db2a9f97_o.jpg
Photo by tyler82

kaneui

Aug 9, 2007, 10:10 AM

^^The Tucson light rail website is another proposal altogether--the planned streetcar line is not light rail like Phoenix is building, but a less expensive alternative, similar to what is in Portland, OR.

Check out the following site for more details, including a map of the proposed streetcar line and stops:

http://www.tucsontransitstudy.com/

atbg8654

Aug 9, 2007, 7:45 PM

/\ that video simulation of the street car is really neat! i think it will definately compensate for tucsons highway system

Rive85

Aug 10, 2007, 6:56 AM

since not a whole lot is going on in downtown right now. heres some news in marana.

A shopper's dream coming soon to Marana
Aug 9, 2007 07:08 PM MST
kvoa

The term "shop till you drop' will soon take on a whole new meaning. That's because plans to build two major shopping malls are in the works for the Marana area. They're expected to bring in big names, and big bucks to the economy.
One center, The Marana Spectrum, will be located east of I-10 and north of Camino De Manana. The 170 acre property should open in late 2009 or early 2010, with over one and a half million square feet of shopping space.
The second center is the Shops at Tangerine. It's a 240 acre property nestled on the west side of I-10 north of Tangerine Road. This will be a high end merchandise center, with 1.3 million square feet of shopping space opening in 2011 or 2012.
Kevin Kish, Marana's Planning Director, is looking forward to the new developments. There are rumors of some high end department stores coming, like Nordstroms. Kish says, "The ranking with the Tucson region hitting the million person mark, the Nordstrom type businesses for retail are now ones that would be looking at the Tucson market." Both shopping centers brag a number of attractions, including movie theatres.

So what are residents saying about the new additions.
Barbara McClure says, "I think it's a negative impact on the community because they need the land for other things."
Raquel Jones is thrilled about the idea of having two new shopping centers.
"I think that's a fabulous idea. I'm excited."
Lance Briere adds, "I'm not a big shopper. If it was up to me, I'd be by myself horseback in the wilderness, but the Town of Marana can use it."
Sharon Larkin says, "It's growing fast and I love it. I don't have to go far to get a lot of things I want to eat and shop."

jvbahn

Aug 10, 2007, 2:24 PM

ljbuild, your posts are like looking at a Dadaist collage from the 1920's. Knock it off and choose a font and size and stick with it.

ljbuild

Aug 12, 2007, 8:43 AM

ljbuild, your posts are like looking at a Dadaist collage from the 1920's. Knock it off and choose a font and size and stick with it.

If you dont like it DONT READ IT !!! and thats what I'm sticking with:tup:

This is no dam college grammar school.

I have 1 dad 1 mom and 1 boss and you sure as hell aint any of the three.:notacrook:

with that said quit your whining LIKE A DAM 3YR OLD PROBLEM CHILD:yuck:

ljbuild

Aug 12, 2007, 8:54 AM

And furthermore to that at least I talk about growth issues or
"SKYSCRAPER ISSUES" !!!!!!!!!!! and any thing that pertains to them.
and maybe I"ll comment on some sports issues , BUTI dont sit here and whine like a cry "ME A RIVER" baby :yuck:

about whos posts have the best fonts or "choice words", or nonsense like that.

If you have trouble reading then invest in "READING GLASSES" or simply

DONT READ AT ALL !!!!!!!!!!

azliam

Aug 12, 2007, 10:19 AM

kaneui

Aug 12, 2007, 11:53 AM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/D-THousingProjects8-07.png

Housing market hurts Rio Nuevo
Key projects promised Downtown are delayed by private developers

By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
08.12.2007

Several key private-sector projects meant to be the backbone of Downtown redevelopment have been stung badly by the housing market downturn and won't be completed until at least 2009, stifling progress for Rio Nuevo. The recent downturn is likely to push private-sector condominium projects back another two years, as at least four of the private residential projects counted on to revitalize Downtown are being delayed or substantially revamped because of the soft market.

In addition, two of the private projects already under construction are dealing with financial stresses threatening their viability to jump-start Rio Nuevo. What's more, the City Manager's Office no longer expects three parking garages associated with three key residential projects to be built before 2009. As a result, the office recently abandoned plans to spin off its Parkwise department into a separate parking authority. "That's really telling," said Downtown lawyer Roy Martin, a frequent Rio Nuevo critic, adding that the Parkwise decision contradicts the optimistic timetables given by developers, city officials and Downtown boosters.

Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko has said there would still be demand for high-priced condominiums Downtown despite the market downturn. Councilwoman Nina Trasoff had said visible progress would be made on several private projects Downtown by mid-2007, none of which has materialized. Trasoff said her comments that there would be four construction cranes Downtown by midyear reflected "naivete" that everything would go according to schedule. But she said she still believes all the proposed projects will be built, adding, "It's just taking longer to happen."

Some progress
To be sure, there has been some progress Downtown, including a strong response by developers and hotel chains for a publicly financed convention-center hotel. The city has also begun construction work on rebuilding and widening the Fourth Avenue underpass at the east end of Downtown.

In addition, one residential development — the redevelopment of the former Martin Luther King Jr. housing project — seems to be on track to begin construction in 2007. But the MLK is different from many other projects because Portland developer Williams and Dame is remodeling an existing building and is developing apartments instead of condominiums.

The theory that private residential development would jump-start other redevelopment Downtown hasn't panned out, said Jaret Barr, assistant to the city manager. "It's clear it's not happening," he said. The builders have been buffeted with sky-high construction costs and a declining home market that lowers the amount they can sell for, he said.

Many builders have to charge as much as $400 a square foot — or $400,000 for a 1,000-square-foot condo — to make a profit, Barr said, adding there isn't much of a market for that price Downtown. Barr said no developer wants to be the first to build. "The struggle for us has been to get the first one to go. Everyone wants to be the first in line to be the second person to develop after the first successful project."

Santa Rita Hotel on hold
At least one of the seven projects examined by the Arizona Daily Star seems to have fallen through:
● The renovation of the Santa Rita Hotel into a 66-room boutique hotel complemented with 150 condos and retail space is on hold, and has missed its goal to begin some demolition this summer. The city doesn't expect its parking garage to be built there before 2009.

Co-developer Michael Teufel of Pathway Development said the project is in a "holding pattern" and that he may soon drop out of the project. Humberto S. Lopez, of HSL Properties, said he will likely buy out Teufel and start developing the project in 2008. He may renovate the hotel before building the condos, he said.

Three other projects are behind schedule or face uncertain futures:
● The Post, a five-story 40-unit condo and retail project being developed by Bourn Partners. Developers first said it would start construction in April and then later said it would start by July. Now developer Don Bourn said he would be "thrilled" to start construction by November, because the company still needs to finish obtaining its construction permits and get financing to build.

● El Mirador, an $85 million hotel, brewery and condominium project being built by Town West. It goes back and forth between dying and moving forward on a near-weekly basis, city officials say. Town West lawyer Bob Gugino said he couldn't give any timelines or specifics for the project that features a boutique hotel, 150 condos and retail space other than to say the company is negotiating with the city. The city is unsure if will need to build a parking garage there before 2009.

● Presidio Terrace, a $30 million project that includes 72 lofts, a cafe and neighborhood store. It missed its deadline to begin construction this summer. Developer Peggy Noonan said she expects to begin construction by March, and needs to obtain financing. The city doesn't expect to build a parking garage there before 2009.

Rialto, Mercado stumbling
And the path has become rocky for two projects already under way:

● The developers of the Rialto Block are "regrouping," said Doug Biggers, after he got a new partner to develop the block surrounding the Rialto Theater. Biggers and new partner Don Martin formed a new company to buy off the $1.56 million debt that Biggers owed his previous partner, Tom Powers, who put that debt up for sale. Biggers and Martin expect to complete their plans for retail, apartments and possibly a hotel there by mid-2009.

● Builders of the 14-acre Mercado at Menlo Park on the West Side recently asked the city to waive impact and permit fees and provide security for the Rio Nuevo site because some of the housing projects there are treading water. "We're almost at zero profit," developer Tom Wuelpern said two weeks ago. "We have to think about whether we can survive this storm." The project calls for 100 single-family homes, 160 condos, retail and offices.

Only one project seems on target to start in 2007:
● Developer Williams and Dame seems on target to begin restoration of the MLK housing project by the end of September, turning it into about 90 apartments and retail space. This project is also behind schedule, as last year Williams and Dame said construction would be finished by October 2007.

A need to scale back
Developers may need to change to meet the market. In their bottom lines, many of the financial plans for residential development Downtown assumed the high prices seen during the real estate boom would continue, said local developer Randi Dorman. "Some plans need to be recalibrated" to reflect changes in the marketplace, Dorman said.

Developers need to cut building heights and develop fewer units at lower costs to make the projects pencil out, she said. "They just have to scale back." Dorman said she would also like to see the city give incentives to the first two to three developments to create the momentum for Downtown. She said incentives could include low-cost financing, waiving of fees or subsidies.

Barr said the development community is likely to move away from new construction because it costs so much more than redeveloping an existing building. That is highlighted by the recent sale of the historic Chase Bank Building at Congress Street and Stone Avenue for $80 a square foot, a price not at all possible for new construction, Barr said.

He said private developers may also embrace building apartments instead of condos because they can't sell 1,000-square-foot condos for $400,000. "Just like we're missing the condos for sale, we're missing the apartments for rent (Downtown)," Barr said. "It may be that the rental comes first." The city is looking for a pioneer to be the first to build, Barr said: "People don't seem eager to force it. Getting that first residential property Downtown and getting a private developer to move forward is going to be an exciting moment because no one has been willing to do that."

atbg8654

Aug 13, 2007, 8:59 PM

/\ :previous: that article kinda angers me . i mean ya the housing market decline is really nobodys fault, but the developers or city of tucson should of saw this coming. the market goes up and down all the time. even though noone can really predict when it goes up or down it will happen sometime. And when these projects were planned a few years ago, the housing market was great and all hopes were high. the problem is that the city and/or developers should of forced these projects out the doow and to develop faster before any unforseeable events would happen (ie. housing market decline). if these projects were already on the move this yr. the housing market would have no effect on them during construction. i know funding each project is an issue but this should of been analyzed, planned, and allocated years before the project was official. this housing decline could last 2, 12 or 20 years, whatever, the bottom line is that its going to cause a domino effect and slow everything down. the city needs to do whatever to get its downtown "redevelopment" up, moving and over with so we dont to have to call it a "redevelopment" any more. then when downtown can hold itself up business, industries, and other types of growth will come to it without a helping project like RioNuevo. The city can then worry about bigger better things and move on from our downtown problems. :whip:

kaneui

Aug 14, 2007, 9:17 AM

A new 9-story, 330,000 s.f. city/county courthouse complex planned for downtown is scheduled to open in late 2010:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/CountyCityCourthouserender.jpg
An artist's rendering of the new county-city courthouse

Courthouse plans go over budget
County-city complex approved to enter final phase of design

by A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen
08.14.2007

Design plans for a new courthouse are proceeding even though the project will surpass the $110 million price tag set by a 2004 bond package. An intergovernmental panel overseeing the combined county and city courthouse on Aug. 6 cleared the way for final design plans to be drawn up. The court complex, to be built on a wedge of land bounded by Stone Avenue, Toole Avenue and Alameda Street, will have 10 levels, including a sublevel where in-custody defendants will arrive and depart, as well as secure parking for judges and select judicial staff.

The engineering and architectural firm DMJM, which will build the 330,000-square-foot complex, presented a schematic design in June that established the project's basic concept with a proposed layout, materials and systems. According to the schematic design, the main floor will be above street level and feature a formal entry. Other characteristics of the design:
• The grand scale of the great room creates the feeling of humbleness.
• A glazed, glassed-in north corridor is intended to symbolize the transparency of justice.
Landscaping will include planting of Chinese pistache, red oak, bottle tree, Southern live oak, Ethiopian acacia and featherbush.

The initial cost to build the schematic design was $122.6 million, project manager Gregg Williams told the courthouse panel last week. After a "value engineering" workshop that identified which elements should be retained and which could be eliminated, the cost was cut to $119 million, Williams said. Savings came from shaving the height of the building as well as the height of each floor, moving a truck dock, reducing square footage slightly and substituting electrical heat for hydronic, Williams said. Hydronic systems use panels containing hot water to radiate heat through a building. "I felt that the building was functioning a lot better (after the workshop)," Williams said. The main floor will include offices for the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles and mental health services.

Visitors will have to pass through a screening station to access upper floors, escalators, elevators, two courtrooms and other offices. An information desk will be open on each side of the screening station. Levels two and three will include file rooms for the city and county courts, two high-volume courtrooms and offices. A walkway will connect the court building with pavilions that will house offices. Each of the higher floors will have six courtrooms each and various offices. The pavilions will not go higher than the third floor.

One of the most important features to court administrators was liberal space for pay stations and other services. Williams said the schematic design incorporates queuing systems and seating for about 100 people at each service station. Next to the court building will be a parking garage that will cost more than $22 million. It will have 16,000 square feet for retail operations and parking for about 780 cars. Pima County facilities manager Mike Tunistra said by eliminating sprinklers and other features, parking garage costs could be cut to $21 million or less. The city is expected to run the garage through its revenue-generating ParkWise program.

During the design development phase, DMJM will plan the complex in more detail, including incorporating solar shading and deciding whether skylights can be installed in the great room on the main floor. The final look of the building will take shape as the planners figure out where and what size to make windows and other architectural features. That phase should take several months.

Talks are continuing on how to fully fund the new courthouse complex, which is expected to open in late 2010.

Additional information
Concepts of what a courthouse should be were incorporated into early planning of the new combined city/county complex. Planners determined the courthouse should:
• Symbolize the stability and authority of the judiciary
• Reflect the dignity of its purpose
• Show that the act of entering is an act of transition from one environment to another
• Portray high aesthetic value, grace and proportion
• Demonstrate the principles of fairness and citizen responsibility
• Have a calm and welcoming atmosphere in which people can gather in search of justice
• Provide an entry sequence that is secure, welcoming and clear
Source: DMJM schematic design

A pre-construction excavation has already set the combined city/county courthouse project back a few months.
The construction site was a city cemetery in the 1800s.
An archaeological survey indicated about 1,100 grave sites; 990 have been identified so far. Almost 500 full human remains and 75 partial remains have been found.
Some of the graves extend under Stone Avenue, which may have to be partially closed at some point, the intergovernmental committee overseeing the courthouse project was told last week.
The excavation was expected to be finished in early November, but because many utility lines also were buried under the construction site, digging is projected to conclude in February.

andrewkfromaz

Aug 21, 2007, 2:32 AM

kaneui

Aug 24, 2007, 9:53 AM

Regents OK city-UA pact for museum, science center
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
08.24.2007

The deal between the city and the UA for a $130 million science center and state museum complex Downtown can now move forward after the Arizona Board of Regents approved the formal intergovernmental agreement Thursday. The unanimous vote follows the City Council's approval of the plan in May.

The agreement calls for a 125,000-square-foot combined science center and state museum to be built on five acres adjacent to the Rio Nuevo cultural plaza immediately west of the Santa Cruz River. The $130 million center will be funded entirely by the Rio Nuevo District Tax Increment Financing. The design phase of the project is now expected to start in September, with construction to begin next summer and a completion date set for summer of 2011.

The science center will feature a digital planetarium, an observatory, an IMAX theater, a mineral museum, a butterfly vivarium and a gallery for exhibits. The new state museum location will feature exhibits on Southwestern peoples and native art and jewelry. The complex is expected to be a cornerstone of Downtown revival efforts.

kaneui

Aug 28, 2007, 6:53 PM

Portland developer Williams & Dame has two irons in the fire in downtown Tucson: they will begin renovating the MLK apartments in September as Phase I of the Depot Plaza project, and have been selected as one of two developers to submit a RFP by November 5 for the 14.3-acre city site next to the new Mercado District:

Mid-Sept. start for MLK apts. work
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
08.28.2007

Final federal approvals for the sale of the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments, 1 N. Fifth Ave., have pushed back the start of renovation to the middle of September.

Portland, Ore., developer Williams & Dame Development Inc. had anticipated starting work on the 1970 complex in late August, but two sets of approvals were needed from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department before the apartments could be sold to Williams & Dame, said Jack Siry, deputy director of the city Community Services Department.

The $375,000 sale of the public housing buildings is expected to close in mid-September, Siry said. Matt Brown, project manager at Williams & Dame, said in an earlier interview that he wants to start work the day after the sale closes.

Williams & Dame plans to create a 96-unit market-rate rental apartment complex called One North Fifth. The city will build a neighboring 68-unit public housing tower to replace the MLK units. Those buildings, plus a third market-rate apartment structure to be built by Williams & Dame, make up what will be called Depot Plaza, along Congress Street, Fifth Avenue and Toole Avenue.

The city won HUD approval Aug. 6 to sell the complex to the Portland group, but a second approval was needed to amend the revitalization plan, Siry said. That came Thursday and set the sale process in motion.

2 asked for visions of Congress acres
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
08.28.2007

Two developers were invited Monday to prepare a formal proposal to develop the 14.3 acres of West Congress Street touted as the largest plot of undeveloped land left downtown.

Tucson-based The Gadsden Co. and Portland, Ore.-based Williams & Dame Development Inc. already have firm downtown commitments. The city placed them on the short list to proceed with the request-for-proposal process for the acreage between Congress and the Tucson Origins project, which will rebuild the Mission San Agustín and erect a number of museums including a University of Arizona Science Center.

Local builder TJ Bednar Homes was eliminated from the process, Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. "They didn't demonstrate a depth of experience commensurate with a project of the scope we envision," he said.

Williams & Dame played a major role in revitalizing a downtrodden warehouse district in Portland as the Pearl District. Its preliminary vision calls for three- to six-story buildings with ground-level retail and residential upstairs, parks and open space and a mercado. The entire project would be oriented to the streetcar line that will be built from University Medical Center and end at this site, project manager Matt Brown said. Williams & Dame already has the development agreement to build Depot Plaza at Congress and Fifth Avenue, which includes renovating the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments.

The Gadsden Co. is led by Jerry Dixon, whose son, Justin Dixon, is managing partner at Rio Development, master developer of the 99-home Mercado District of Menlo Park under construction on the neighboring property. Gadsden proposes 400 homes, with 35 percent of them priced for people earning 80 percent to 120 percent of the median wage in Tucson, which is about $30,000. Gadsden also envisions a public market, a 125-room boutique hotel and other businesses that would create 810 jobs, said Adam Weinstein, a Gadsden partner.

Deadline for the detailed proposal is Nov. 5.

aznate27

Sep 3, 2007, 5:25 PM

Hey everyone! I'm new on here, but have been following the post for nearly 2 years. This is where I come to get info on new developments in the economic engine that drives Tucson. Here's my first post!:) Looks like this one is moving forward, hope it actually makes it to construction!!:tup:

Downtown hotel, condo, pub project moves ahead
TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen

Town West Design Development plans to apply for zoning changes next week to pave the way toward building El Mirador hotel, condo and brew pub complex at the north end of downtown.

In a month to six weeks, a development agreement should be finalized between Town West and the city, which owns the land where El Mirador is proposed, Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said.
That will spell out a timeline for when preliminary drawings are due and by when construction should start and finish.

The sense is that construction would start in 18 months, Shelko said.
"The agreement is being negotiated right now and is subject to change," Shelko said.

Negotiations include figuring in the volatility of the nationwide real estate market.

Town West architect Raul Reyes two weeks ago said the project is moving forward with the expectation of market upticks before construction starts.
Town West won't own the 3.6-acre properties bounded by Franklin Street, Stone Avenue, Ninth Avenue, Sixth Street and the railroad tracks plus additional land west of Ninth until just prior to the start of construction.
But the developer can apply for a zoning change because the city is facilitating the process, Shelko said.

Reyes wants to change the industrial (I-1) zoning east of Ninth Avenue and the commercial (C-3) zoning west of Ninth Avenue to high-density mixed-use (OCR-2) zoning, except for where the pub would go. He sees industrial (I-2) for that plot.

El Mirador would have three joined towers rising seven, 11 and 15 stories between Ninth and Stone, and a separate building west of Ninth that steps up from two to three to five stories. The project proposes about 220 hotel rooms, 150 condos and a brewpub operated by Nimbus Brewing Co.
In the year that Town West and the city have been talking, the city Environmental Services Department has evaluated the site that served as the main railroad freight, forwarding and shipping terminal from 1901 to 1983.
Two soil samples using a 2-inch diameter sleeve to reach a depth of 6 inches determined the site has arsenic, lead and benzo(a)pyrene levels that require remediation because they exceed the maximum established by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

"We think this is very much superficial," said Lynne Birkinbine, environmental manager in the Environmental Services Department. "It's not a surprise. It's not a big deal. We expect to find anything like this in a railroad area."
The testing found 15 milligrams per kilogram of arsenic, which exceeds to 10 mg/kg maximum set by ADEQ; 1,000 mg/kg of lead against ADEQ's 400 mg/kg maximum; and .300 mg/kg of benzo(a)pyrene against ADEQ's .069 mg/kg maximum.

The environmental cleanup will occur at the same time as Town West begins construction

aznate27

Sep 4, 2007, 11:10 PM

Published: 09.05.2007
Tucson Citizen
Lopez looking to refurbish now-closed Santa Rita Hotel

Tucson Business Edge

Local apartment magnate Humberto S. Lopez suddenly is getting an appetite to plow millions of dollars in downtown.
Lopez is in the early stages of bringing life back to the shuttered Santa Rita Hotel, 88 E. Broadway.

He also will will be one of five teams submitting proposals Friday to build a headquarters hotel for the Tucson Convention Center. Lopez's proposal will be the only one working with an existing property, the Hotel Arizona, 181 W. Broadway.

But the Santa Rita Hotel has captured his fancy only recently.
Lopez closed the Santa Rita in August 2005 with the intention of selling the 1904 landmark at Broadway and Scott Avenue.
Developer Mike Teufel and El Charro Café CEO Ray Flores Jr. talked enthusiastically about adding a 99-unit condo tower and creating a combined boutique hotel and condominium complex.

Then the mortgage and real estate blues hit.
"We'd love to develop the property," said Teufel, president at Pathway Development. "We've elected not to because of the market."
Though Teufel still has a contract to buy the Santa Rita, he said the property most likely will be relinquished to Lopez in the coming months.

Lopez isn't waiting, however. He already has an architect and has revived his development company and in a year hopes to have all the approvals to start work inside the Santa Rita.
Lopez, who has owned the Santa Rita Hotel for 30 years, isn't letting the mortgage industry meltdown stand in his way.
"I own the property," he said. "I can't just let it sit there forever. I'm very serious. I gave up (on downtown) for a lot of years until I saw something was going to happen."

He is proposing a 167-room boutique hotel with the intention of investing $50,000 per room. Lopez figures just renovating the building will cost $10 million before the room upgrades.

For the parking garage, Lopez wants to collaborate with the city, citing Rio Nuevo dollars can be used to provide such infrastructure for private projects.
Lopez said he will keep Teufel's plans for a new condo tower, which he may build when the market improves.

kaneui

Sep 10, 2007, 11:52 PM

With four RFP's in hand, Tucson plans to select one of the development teams by late November to build the new downtown convention center hotel. (Hopefully, the final product will end up more attractive than what Phoenix is getting...) :

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ConventionHotel-Hiltonproposal.jpg
Hensel Phelps, Hotel Arizona and Hilton
• 709 rooms in two towers, a new 28-story tower and the existing Hotel Arizona
• $166 million
• On land adjacent to the Hotel Arizona

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ConventionHotel-proposedHyatt.jpg
Faulkner USA, Southwest Value Partners, General Growth with Hyatt
• 700 rooms
• $188 million
• Located next to the Leo Rich Theater on TCC grounds.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ConventionHotel-proposedMarriott.jpg
Allan Norville and Chris Ansley with Marriott
• 450 rooms, with a 300-room future phase
• $101 million for 450 rooms
• $111 million for 300 rooms
• On land owned by Norville and public land west of the TCC and Interstate 10

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/ConventionHotel-proposedSheraton.jpg
Garfield Traub with Sheraton
• 707 rooms
• $203 million
• Located on city land next to the main entrance of Tucson Convention Center on Granada Avenue

Four plans detailed for Downtown hotel
Projects include major national chains and would add as many as 700 rooms

By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
09.08.2007

Tucson received four detailed plans for a top-of-the-line convention center hotel — one short of the five expected because two developers combined their efforts into one proposal.

Southwest Value Partners, a real estate investment firm founded by Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver, and General Growth Properties Inc., which owns Park Place mall, joined Texas-based Faulkner USA in pitching a 700-room, $188 million Hyatt hotel on the Tucson Convention Center grounds. Previously, Sarver and General Growth had proposed a hotel on land owned by another submitter — Downtown landowner Allan Norville. But they had to find another location because they couldn't strike a deal with Norville for his property west of the TCC. Jaret Barr, the city's project manager for the hotel, said the city stipulated developers had to control the land they were proposing to build on, forcing Sarver and General Growth to join up with Faulkner.

City officials hope to choose one of the plans before Thanksgiving. All of the developers said they would use the city's access to low-interest, tax-exempt financing to build the hotel, meaning it would be owned by a public entity and operated by the hotel chain. City officials expect the hotel to be so profitable it will help pay off debt on the proposed new $130 million, 12,300-seat arena planned nearby, in addition to paying for itself.

Three of the four respondents proposed more than 700 rooms, which is what the city asked for. Only Norville and Chris Ansley, the developer of the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, did not propose 700 rooms. They proposed a $101 million, 450-room Marriott hotel that included a future expansion of 300 rooms for $111 million. Their proposal would develop all the publicly owned land between the Tucson Convention Center and Interstate 10, along with a portion of the land Norville owns in the same area. The plan includes offices, restaurants, parking, retail and a gem museum.

Barr said the city's request didn't specifically rule out a smaller hotel, but he was sure the first question to be asked of Norville and Ansley is why the hotel is only 450 rooms. "That's going to be a question they'll have to address," Barr said.

Barr said all developers submitted justifications for their cost estimates and their estimated revenue per room, but Barr said that is proprietary information because of the competitive process. The city is excited about the response because all but one of the proposers suggested a 700-room hotel, which some hotel experts had said was too much for the Downtown area, Barr said. In addition, Barr said, all four of the main convention center hotel operators — Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Sheraton — are part of the competition.

The other proposals include an expansion and redevelopment of the Hotel Arizona by Phelps Development LLC and Hilton Hotels. This was the same plan Hotel Arizona owner Humberto S. Lopez and developer Roger Karber presented to the City Council in April. The plans call for a new 28-story tower to expand the hotel to 709 rooms and adding a spa, retail stores, restaurants and convention/ballroom space at a total cost of $166 million.

Texas-based Garfield Traub proposed a 707-room $203 million Sheraton hotel on city land near the main TCC entrance on Granada Avenue. There would be a 14,000-square-foot ballroom to complement the TCC convention space along with a full service restaurant, bar and lounge. It would also include retail space and, potentially, condominiums.

The only developer to propose substantially changing the existing footprint of the area was Faulkner, Sarver and General Growth, who want to wedge their hotel between the Leo Rich Theater and the TCC. The group also wants to move the proposed $130 million arena from the current planned location near I-10 to what is now a parking west of the TCC.

Carl Winston, director of San Diego State University's hospitality and tourism-management program, warned that residents shouldn't decide which proposals they like based on artist renderings supplied by the developers because they are sure to change due to costs and input from city planners. The focus should be on the hotels' financing, developer experience in building convention hotels and how committed the hotel chain is to the plan, he said. "The pictures are always not true anyway," Winston said. "I wouldn't get too hung up on the pictures."

Find more recent articles about Tucson's Downtown redevelopment efforts at azstarnet.com/sn/rionuevo.

aznate27

Sep 11, 2007, 11:25 PM

Hey everyone, found the site with details on the new One North Fifth re-development of the MLK apartments. Looks pretty cool so far:cool: Here's the link if you want to check it out. http://onenorthfifth.com/

aznate27

Sep 11, 2007, 11:28 PM

Azstar

Sep 13, 2007, 10:49 AM

A writer referred to this project as "tomorrow's ghetto today". I agree. The original building was a poorly constructed, visual abomination which contributed, I believe, to the total decline of Congress Street at that end. The "new" project looks to be a reincarnation of the original with a new facade which looks remarkably like the old one.

aznate27

Sep 18, 2007, 4:51 PM

Comments sought on TMC high-rise plan

HEIDI ROWLEY
Tucson Citizen

The city of Tucson seeks public comment on Tucson Medical Center's proposed Plan Area Development for a multi-story hospital at Grant and Craycroft roads.

A public hearing is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at City Council chambers, 255 W. Alameda St.
The plan is available on TMC's Web site. It was developed following several TMC-sponsored public meetings held over the past four years addressing TMC's needs and the desires of the community.
Thursday's meeting is TMC's next step in the city's zoning process, which if approved by the council, would enable TMC to continue planning and designing the new hospital, including architectural design.

"The way they are set up now is not ideal," said Councilwoman Carol West, referring to the hospital's maze of hallways. "I'm leaving on Dec. 3 and I'm hoping (the zoning) will be established when I leave." West did not run for re-election in her Northeast Side ward.

Throughout the process, TMC has re-evaluated and changed aspects of the plan to accommodate community requests, including a decision to preserve three of seven historic buildings. It had planned to preserve only one.
"We have negotiated compromises on many issues," said TMC spokeswoman Julia Strange. "Some we can't do, or can't commit to right now."
The public also asked for landscaping and trails. TMC has planned for three miles of trails, and various types of landscaping, including "urban canyon" landscaping in and around the taller buildings.

The new hospital would be built as TMC continues to serve patients in its old buildings, Strange said. Eventually the one-story hospital would be torn down.
"We have to keep this hospital functioning while the new hospital is being built," Strange said.
The tallest building would be 150 feet, but the majority would be 40 to 60 feet high, officials have said.

Here's a link to the TMC website (https://www.tmcaz.com/?q=TMCHealthcare/Campus_Development)

ljbuild

Sep 23, 2007, 2:09 AM

Did anyone else notice that last month's Fast Company magazine named Tucson a "Fast City" for 2007, in the "Startup Hubs" category?
http://www.fastcompany.com/cities/2007/index.html
Other company in the category were: Austin, Madison, and London. Pretty impressive!

Quite interesting.

BUT, I love how the article spelled Tucson: "Tuscon" pretty funny!

However what Is not funny is the transportation systemm. I wonder what they would think of that ???????? !!!!!

Personally I think it is for sure one of the worst in the world, NO JOKE !!
Heres just one instance:
Try driving either up or down (north or south) oracle between , the town of CATALINA and downtown Tucson. It is most of the time gridlocked the whole way and add on to that , traffic signal after annoying traffic signal all the way up to saddlebrook (26 miles ) with even more coming.
It would make sense (if this was anywhere else in the US) for a freeway to parallel oracle or for oracle to be converted to a freeway.

Dont think that can be done??
Look at Las Cruces N.M (which puts Tucson to shame in terms of highways), that city of less that 200,000 conveted highway 70 which is similar to oracle road in Tucson, to what is now a freeway. GOOD JOB
LAS CRUCES. If a town of that size can do that, Tucson Has serious problems !!:sly: :koko:

soleri

Sep 23, 2007, 5:59 AM

^if you think Tucson should be Las Cruces, then you'll want to make the place as accommodating as possible to cars. You'll eventually end up with a city that rivals Mesa for suburban cachet and excitement.

BTinSF

Sep 24, 2007, 7:50 AM

^^^Right on Soleri! :yes:

But I like the idea of converting Oracle to a freeway. That way all the strip malls, big boxes and chain stores along it will die and maybe we'll get some better shopping down my way off I-19.

But seriously, real cities in America are REMOVING freeways in favor of landscaped surface roadways. How about doing a parkway project with maybe some bus rapid transit in the median on Oracle?

andrewkfromaz

Sep 24, 2007, 8:19 PM

The Hilton and Hyatt proposals are visually far more appealing than the others. I don't know how the land part will work, but architecturally I enjoy the Hilton most, closely followed by the Hyatt proposal. Of course, they will likely change, which can't be helped. I think those two are nice drawings, however.

kaneui

Sep 25, 2007, 8:03 PM

More details on the convention center hotel proposals, three of which would create a "new tallest" building for Tucson, at either 28 or 30 stories:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/CCHotelComposite.jpg
A composite of the different options (photo: Tucson Citizen)

Public can take look at 4 hotel plans
Downtown projects all have something different to offer

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
09.25.2007

Four teams want to build a 700-plus-room hotel to support the Tucson Convention Center. Each proposal stands out in its own way. The most evolved proposal, Phelps Development/Centro Nuevo Partners', has been in the works for nearly three years and includes two hotels. The most varied is Nor-Generations', which includes an arena and event center plus a grocery and possibly student housing. The strongest retail partner is Southwest Value Partners/FaulknerUSA with General Growth Properties, which owns Tucson Mall and Park Place. The most in tune with city plans for the arena and TCC is Garfield Traub Development's, with the only hotel within steps of the convention center.

The public can view all the proposals and talk with the developers from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at The Manning House, 450 W. Paseo Redondo. People can fill out comment cards that will be submitted with the city staff recommendation that will go to the City Council, which will ultimately decide which proposal to accept.

The city is offering the 40.8-acre Tucson Convention Center property, which includes the parking lots, Tucson Music Hall, Leo Rich Theatre and the strip of parking lot along the freeway frontage road between Congress and Cushing streets.

But it's not as simple as that. Two proposals fall within the city-owned land, while the other two mostly fall on private property neighboring the city land. All teams would negotiate for some, if not all, tax-exempt revenue bond financing. "Anything that gets off the ground would be beneficial," said Patrick Forsythe, owner of Grill, 100 E. Congress St. "I've seen so many wonderful projects that haven't come to fruition. It's hard for me to believe anything is going to happen, good or bad."

Phelps Development/Centro Nuevo Partners (Hilton)
Tucson-based Centro Nuevo Partners was first out of the chute nearly three years ago with an expansion plan for the Hotel Arizona, 181 W. Broadway. That has evolved to include a new, 28-story tower next to the existing 14-story Hotel Arizona tower, which would be renovated. Both structures would combine as a $165 million, 709-room Hilton that would be oriented toward the Tucson Convention Center.

Centro Nuevo is partnering with Phelps Development of Greeley, Colo., for the hotel. The team also wants to be the master developer for the Tucson Convention Center expansion and a new arena, said Roger Karber, Centro Nuevo's managing partner. "This is a complete revitalization of downtown," Karber said. "We want to be the catalyst that gets the entire entertainment district off the ground. We will also commit to redevelop the Santa Rita Hotel."

The proposal calls for redeveloping the shuttered Santa Rita Hotel at Congress Street and Sixth Avenue as a 168-room boutique hotel at a cost of $18.5 million. Apartment magnate Humberto S. Lopez owns the Santa Rita and Hotel Arizona and is a Centro Nuevo partner.

Centro Nuevo also plans to build three multi-use buildings for $118 million at Congress and Interstate 10, at Congress and Granada Avenue, and at Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Each would have at least 100,000 square feet of leasable space with at least 50,000 square feet devoted to retail, Karber said. Neither these multiuse buildings nor the Santa Rita involves the city-owned TCC land offered for proposals.

Centro Nuevo would opt for the tax-exempt bond financing for the hotel, which would put ownership of the 28-story tower in city hands.

Southwest Value Partners/FaulknerUSA (Hyatt)
Locally based Southwest Partners and FaulknerUSA of Austin, Texas, propose the most dramatic change to the Tucson Convention Center. This team plans to build its $188 million, 28-story, 700-room Hyatt hotel on the site of today's Tucson Arena. The submitted proposal features the most unorthodox architecture among the four proposals, with offset blocks inspired by the saguaro, Hohokam-Pima basket weaving and rock cairns. But other design options will be on display at the open house, said Laura Roe, Faulkner's senior vice president. "We're trying to bring Tucson a beautiful, iconic building that fits in Tucson," Roe said. "We're hoping to get people to think outside the box. We want to come up with a design that (people in) the city comes up with together with us."

Southwest/Faulkner would build a street called McCormick between its hotel (today's arena) and the convention center's exhibition halls to link Church and Granada avenues. Its TCC expansion proposal runs entirely along an east-west plane along Cushing Street with a new arena on the other side of the new McCormick Street. "What we're trying to do is bring all the components together in a nice parklike, citylike environment that also provides open space," Roe said.

Southwest/Faulkner has the strongest retail partner, General Growth Properties, which owns Tucson Mall and Park Place. But there is no timeline for when significant retail would come into play or whether General Growth is thinking mall or specialized retail, said Adam Tritt, senior director of development at General Growth. "It's so preliminary," Tritt said. "At this point, it's very, very open-ended. We want to be involved in every aspect of retail in Tucson."

Faulkner will present two funding options: the tax-exempt revenue bond and private financing.

Garfield Traub Development (Sheraton)
Garfield Traub Development of Dallas offers the only hotel nearly attached to the existing Tucson Convention Center. The $203 million, 30-story, 707-room Sheraton would flank the TCC's main western entryway. "The convention center needs to have a hotel connected or just a very short walk away," said Steve Moffett, president of the hospitality division at Garfield Traub. "The other places have to walk across the street."

Garfield Traub offers a curved, elevated walkway that meanders from the Leo Rich Theatre and ultimately crosses Granada to reach the currently proposed area for a new arena alongside the freeway frontage road. "That was a way we can tie the project from the north side of the Leo Rich Theatre and the Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House - we want to bring that into play - and bring (the walkway) around to the arena," Moffett said.

Garfield Traub was the team selected 2 1/2 years ago to build the new city arena, which is under design. The whole project sits within the TCC's western parking area, leaving limited opportunity for retail, Moffett said, adding that 40,000 square feet of retail would be included along Granada. Retail could become more prominent if Garfield Traub were to make a deal with Allan Norville, who owns the property across the street and has a rival hotel proposal, Moffett added.

Garfield Traub is focusing on making its project attractive for meeting planners. Along with the neighboring TCC, the hotel itself would have 27,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 14,000-square-foot ballroom and 4,000-square-foot junior ballroom. "When you're doing a convention center hotel, you have to have a certain amount of ballrooms," he said, adding that ballroom and meeting rooms are necessary even with a convention center next door to allow for multiple events or for when the TCC is unavailable, because preparations for big events take a couple days to set up and take down.

Garfield will present two financing options: the public tax-free revenue bond or private financing with public participation.

Nor-Generations (Marriott)
Nor-Generations President Allan Norville is testing whether the city is serious about requiring 700 hotel rooms and building a 12,500-seat arena along the freeway frontage road. Norville wants a 14,500-seat arena built on his land along Granada Avenue just across from the TCC parking lot. He plans to build a neighboring exhibition center to give a permanent home to his GJX Gem & Jewelry Show, which each year fills the largest tent in the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase.

Nor-Generations creatively interprets the city's request for a proposal for a 700-room hotel, which would be built by Chris Ainsley, who built the JW Marriott Starr Pass Tucson Resort & Spa. The proposal calls for a $76 million, first-phase, 10-story building with 300 hotel rooms and 150 condos under the Marriott flag. Another 250 hotel rooms would come in a second building at a later date if phase one works out. Hotel rooms and condos together would total 700 rooms.

Nor-Gen's is the only proposal to prominently mention a grocery store, which would be on the street level of a 148-unit, student-oriented residential housing building just west of Norville's proposed arena. He also offers other retail, entertainment and restaurants. Norville estimated a $360 million price tag for the hotel, arena, exhibit hall, parking garages and housing. Norville wants the city to buy his 7.4 acres just south of the federal courthouse.

Norville declined to be interviewed about his proposal before Thursday's open house. Norville proposes financing the project with a bridge loan from National Bank of Arizona that would be paid off with a tax-exempt bond issued by a public entity. Nor-Generations' is the only proposal paying for construction upfront and seeking reimbursement later, said Jaret Barr, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein.

aznate27

Sep 25, 2007, 10:41 PM

I really like both the Sheraton and Hilton proposals best. The Marriott proposal has absolutely no soul to it. It looks unoriginal and bland, plus it has way too much going on. The Hyatt plan, um, yeah...I hate it. I'm all for thinking outside the box, but not LITERALLY! It looks like a bunch of crate boxes stacked on top of eachother. They mentioned other designs, I'm courious to what they look like.

andrewkfromaz

Sep 26, 2007, 2:45 AM

The Sheraton rendering looks like it came straight out of a DeLorean. Or something. It screams 1975 Arizona. It just looks really dated. At least the Hilton and the Hyatt try something different...

Rive85

Sep 26, 2007, 3:14 AM

i like the hilton best. but it needs more character like the Hyatt. i just dont like where the Hyatt is located. the Hilton seems more practical.

somethingfast

Sep 26, 2007, 12:43 PM

Locofresh55

Sep 26, 2007, 2:36 PM

The Hyatt looks like a Giant Jenga puzzle. I like that it's massive and 28 stories would be a godsend in Tucson but not when it's stacked like that. The Hilton would be most likely the one that gets selected. The Sheraton would be nice and at 30 stories they could easily put this @ 350', but that pictures DOES make it look like the rest of the crumbling downtown that is tucson. Sheraton should try and get something more vibrant colorwise and I would say that would make it my number one choice.

Locofresh55

Sep 26, 2007, 2:40 PM

The Marriot hotel could work on the opposite side of I-10. Put it near the new Museums they plan on building. That way they have accomodations there and all those po'dunk hotels there can be torn down or renovated to attract more folks that don't just come here for the Gem and Mineral show.

andrewkfromaz

Sep 26, 2007, 9:13 PM

C'mon, the Hyatt looks cool! Think about it. It's called "vernacular architecture. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular_architecture)" It means architecture that belongs, that grew organically from the landscape/culture around it. I think when you think about the Hyatt proposal from that perspective, it makes sense and becomes exciting. All the other proposals belong in Vegas, which has no culture of its own. Tucson, "The Old Pueblo," has a strong culture, and therefore deserves exciting architecture that belongs nowhere else, native, unique, special.

Rive85

Sep 26, 2007, 9:25 PM

i agree with you andrew. like i stated in my previous post, the Hyatt has alot of character because its ugly...lol. people will remember it. its recongnizable. it could define tucson's skyline after all. but im going for height. if only the hilton can reconsider its boring design. it would be golden.:tup:

Locofresh55

Sep 27, 2007, 12:10 PM

OK,

Maybe that is what tucson needs is a weird looking building. Distinguish itself that way. But if they go with the Hyatt, they should make this thing taller. I still think they'll go with the Hilton proposal or the Sheraton.

Again, Put the Marriot on the other side of I-10 near 22nd street or Granada. Make it a 6-8 story hotel and not so damn boxy.

aznate27

Sep 28, 2007, 3:06 AM

What's up guys, just came back from looking at all the proposals at the Manning House downtown. As far as presentations go, hands down, Hensel Phelp's Hilton presentation was the best. You couldn't argue with that even if you didn't like what they proposed. They had more visuals of the hotel inside and out than any of the other three, in fact they had the ONLY look of what the hotel would look like from inside. They were well represented with 3 guys there to answer and sell what they had. They also had the ONLY scale model of what the finished product would look like downtown.

From what they representative told me, they are the only ones in the final design process, in other words, what you see is really what you're going to get! Hilton Hotels is, in fact, ready to take over the Hotel Arizona as soon as the city approves the concept, if and when that happens. They would have the current hotel renovated in 14 months, and the whole project would take 40 months to complete. This would include the new 28 story tower, the renovated current hotel, as well as a new tower where the parking garage is sitting at now. I don't know how tall the building would be, but from the scale model, it would be taller than the current Hotel Arizona.

They would also renovate the Santa Rita hotel site with a new upscale boutique hotel and condos, with retail and resturants at the lower level. This would include a new building. He mentioned trying to get a major entertainment chain resturant like ESPN or Hard Rock Cafe to go on the site.

I would tell you more about the other 3, but the Sheraton and the Allan Norville proposals had no one to talk to that I could see. The Hyatt does look better from what I could see of the designs, but I did not see the other designs that were mentioned in the Tucson Citizen article the other day. It still looks like 3 large shipping containers stacked on top of one another to me:shrug: After seeing the Marriott designs up close (which looked 100 times better up close!), I agree with Locofresh55 with putting that on the west side of the freeway.

Rive85

Sep 28, 2007, 6:07 AM

i wanted to go to that but i had class. well if the hilton is ready to go then be it. i would like to this to begin asap. thanks for the info...

HooverDam

Sep 28, 2007, 7:54 AM

Locofresh55

Sep 28, 2007, 12:40 PM

atbg8654

Sep 28, 2007, 6:32 PM

Here's my advice: build whatever's tallest. God knows Tucson needs some height. In fact, I would be so ballsy as to build Arizona's tallest structure for this project (screw you, Phoenix!) and stick an observation deck on top and actually get people downtown doing something. Imagine the view of the surrounding mountains from 500-600 feet! Am I the only cat with vision in that town? Well, I'm not there now but I was so it still counts, ha!

thats exactly what ive been thinking all this time...yes phoenix is a big city and tucson will never catch up to its size...but you can still compete with it. Tucson is sustainable enough to distinguish itself apart from phx. yes build the tallest building in arizona in tucson...that would be great! in addition add something like an aquarium, or some other tourist attraction and build it bigger and better! this will stimulate competition between the two cities and will only cause positive development between both them

NIXPHX77

Sep 28, 2007, 7:46 PM

i agree with Hooverdam and atbg.
also, I'm especially for the Hilton proposal if it includes
restoration and expansion of the Santa Rita Hotel.
that could be Tucson' downtown answer to Phoenix' Hotel
San Carlos (and Hotel Monroe to come) - both in historic bldgs.

kaneui

Sep 29, 2007, 5:46 PM

Downtown condo plan may be in trouble
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
09.29.2007

The downtown Presidio Terrace condo project is 30 days away from being scrapped. Rio Nuevo on Friday sent developer Peggy Noonan an official notice telling her she is in default on her development agreement with the city to build a 101-unit, seven-story, luxury condo complex on Paseo Redondo west of the Tucson Museum of Art.

The Presidio Terrace project has had a stormy history, with neighborhood complaints about height and several delays in start dates for construction. Noonan has had a development agreement since October 2005 to build on a city-owned parking lot that served the art museum.

Noonan has 30 days to remedy seven complaints Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko enumerated in his letter to her or the development agreement will be terminated.

Shelko wrote that:
• Noonan has not delivered a satisfactory bank letter of intent.
• Project equity could not be determined without a committed lender.
• A marketing program has not been implemented.
• A final agreement has not been reached with the city ParkWise division.
• An acceptable revised construction schedule has not been turned in.
• Firm design proposals have not been submitted.
• A "final count and mix" of condo units has not been supplied.

None of the complaints directly addresses that construction hasn't started even though Noonan in 2006 promised start dates in spring and then summer of 2007. In July, she pushed the start date back six months. "The actual start date is almost moot now," Shelko said in an interview. "From our perspective, I've been very patient. But I think we've extended all the courtesies. I have a responsibility to move the development site along." If Noonan does not complete the above tasks in 30 days, she will loose her option to buy the land and develop it, Shelko said.

"Most of that is done," Noonan said in an interview. "The other stuff is about done. It will all be fixed." Noonan had proposed a structure stepping back from five to six to seven stories. Units were expected to start at about $400,000. "Of course I'm going to do the project," Noonan said. "I'll talk to Shelko on Monday."

Locofresh55

Sep 30, 2007, 6:00 PM

So My wife and I drove to the Mercado District @ Menlo Park yesterday and they have a couple of their houses their complete. There was an open house and we went in and were very impressed with the loft they had on display. There were some of the units already sold and the lady @ the open house mentioned a groundbreaking for the first retail development coming up in October. It's looking pretty sweet there with the Spanish Colonial style homes and this area should look amazing within a year. I'll have to hit the Mercado District again soon and take some pics.

Rive85

Oct 1, 2007, 5:49 AM

http://www.downtowntucson.org/downtowntucsonan/current/graphics/vs_4.jpg

Williams & Dame
by Lee Allen

We’re in the business of building neighborhoods,” says Matthew E. Brown, point man for Williams & Dame Development of Portland. “We’re committed to creating urban communities for vibrant living and our focus is on downtown corridors.”

That’s a selling point outlined on the company’s web page where it’s noted: “From Portland to Los Angeles, Williams & Dame Development has been creating visionary residential and mixed-use developments for more than two decades.” They call it “a determined focus on building thoughtful places to live.” And they’d like to do more of it locally.

“Our chairman, Homer Williams, came to town two years ago to talk about Portland streetcars, how they spun off development, and what Tucson might expect when street cars were implemented here,” says Brown. “He sent me here to get the lay of the land, talk to people and try to understand where things were headed because he felt Tucson wasn’t prepared for what would happen after the streetcar arrived.”

The CEO has been right before in other mixed-use urban neighborhood development projects, success that led to one of his favorite sayings: “Give me four corners and I can start a neighborhood.” In Tucson’s case, only part of the equation was necessary. “We came back because we felt we could create some great urban neighborhoods assembling some existing properties into vibrant developments,” says Brown. At the corner of Congress and 5th, we didn’t even need to do all four corners. The Oserans had already done Hotel Congress. Doug Biggers is doing the Rialto Theatre. And now we have the other two corners where we think we can create something interesting and vital starting at that intersection with the Depot Plaza project, the Martin Luther King Building being developed into 1 North Fifth.”

Loan documents and other financing details are being completed right now and the expectation is for an early October groundbreaking. “Contractors will immediately move onto the site for set-up with hard activity starting the second week of October,” says the project manager. In addition to planned public housing, residential living renovation, a public parking garage, and about 9,000 square-feet of retail, “There’s a second building on the eastern portion of the site along Fifth Avenue as a possible future development parcel, a Phase II projected for six stories, 60-85 market rate apartments, and up to 6,000 additional square-feet of ground-floor retail.”

Williams and Dame also owns the block directly across from Depot Plaza, what they call “The 200 Block of Congress”. “We’re not working on anything else actively now, but in the future we think that’s a good site for a market rate condo project with ground floor retail,” Brown says.

What W&D, and local developer/partner Ron Schwabe of Peach Properties, are specifically eying at the moment is submission details as one of two finalists to develop 14 acres along the Santa Cruz River, on the west side of the freeway. “There are very few opportunities that come along in a city’s history to assemble a parcel of that size where you can actually create critical mass in and of itself and Tucson will get only one chance to do so. We’d like that chance.”

With just a bit over a month to go before the due date for plan submittal, Brown says: “We don’t want to drop in a development from another part of the country with the thought that if it worked there, it would work here. We’re trying to develop something unique to Tucson and its urban development needs. We don’t need to go out and create something from whole cloth, but we need to be smart on that acreage so we add value to it. That type of work is our company strength. We know how to do that and bring the market along with our vision.”

Saying that specific details were both premature and confidential, Brown added: “Responding to the uniqueness of a community is a subjective thing. It ranges from building materials and the style you use to the type of retail you invite in to things like a housing mix that reflects economic and cultural diversity.”

Brown anticipates his company bid will provide “a creative application to something Tucson is accustomed to” and cites project materials and design as examples. “When you look at higher density type development, the adobe hut does not translate to multi-story, so clearly, our plan won’t be an historic recreation of a six-story adobe structure. There will be a contemporary feel to it utilizing the type of brick, masonry, wood, and steel materials you commonly see here. We’ll look at a variety of materials traditionally used and then figure out how to use them in a new way. This proposal is a starting point of conversation, not the end in itself. Ideas only get better over time.”

Emphasizing that his firm is not a “one-and-done” company that takes its football and leaves town when it doesn’t win, he’s well aware of the importance of a successful bid on the West Congress development opportunity. “Our model is not based on single project development, but on creating neighborhoods. That said, it’s hard to look around and figure out where other opportunities of this magnitude might be in Tucson to create similar critical mass.”

Rive85

Oct 1, 2007, 6:01 AM

http://www.downtowntucson.org/downtowntucsonan/current/graphics/vs_2.jpg

The Gadsden Company
by Lee Allen

Ask partner members of The Gadsden Company if they think in terms of local development projects that bridge the old with the new and three heads will nod in the affirmative and in unison.

“We think in a common vernacular,” says Adam Weinstein in discussing the company philosophy of urbanism. “Our thoughts include elements of Tucson’s charm, the artistic, the historical, and the modern. Our planning strategy follows all the most contemporary best practices. It just happens to be grounded in tradition and we all respect that.”

Much of that thought will get public exposure, first on October 19th when designs are unveiled and ground is broken for a downtown Mercado --- then by submission on November 5th of a final proposal to develop 14 acres between the Santa Cruz River and Avenida del Convento, the Mercado District --- followed by a summer 2008 construction start date of residential condominiums and retail space at Monier Brickyard nearby.

All of this excitement takes place even as the company’s Hoff House headquarters, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, undergoes its own refurbishing at 127 W. Franklin St. “Fixing up our own house is another example of a quality project that fits into our ethics of how we do things,” says patriarch/partner Jerry Dixon, a registered engineer involved in local and regional construction for over 30 years.

The trio of decision-makers concur that it is the right time for a western extension of downtown to become a reality. “We happen to think Avenida del Convento, from Congress to Cushing Streets, is going to be downtown’s most significant street,” says Dixon. “When people get off the freeway at Congress, there will be numerous incentives to come west before looping back to new hotels and a convention center. East and west will both benefit from the connectivity to the 14 acres here. Underpasses at Cushing and Congress are 275 feet wide, allowing a visual connection to the other side of the freeway. I-10 will no longer be a barrier, simply a bridge between the two sides of an expanding city center.”

“We’re a unique, big, little city, and we don’t want to be a copycat of Portland, Austin, Santa Fe or Albuquerque,” says Dixon. “Cities should do their own thing in a unique and indigenous way and we’ve always tried to understand our city, our demographics, and be respectful of where and who we are. We understand there is an incredible opportunity downtown to do the right thing for our future.”

First up is Mercado San Agustin, 855 W. Congress St., an open-air public market to be built next to Mercado District housing. Dixon-Weinstein will shepherd the $2 million 14,000 square-foot marketplace that will also house a café, a taqueria, a flower vendor, and other small businesses. “We created Mercado San Agustin to be the first incarnation of a public market in Tucson, sort of a small business incubator with about two dozen vendor stalls,” she says.

Come next summer, Adam Weinstein hopes to be guiding construction of the Monier Brickyard Building south of the Mercado, a Mission Revival-style red brick structure on the original brickyard site. “These demonstration projects are designed as connections to the Origins heritage complex, a gateway into sort of a new Tucson, if you will, all the history with contemporary amenities.”

Jerry Dixon keeps watch on the company’s bid to design and develop the 14 acres west of the freeway. He’s on top of that and wants everybody else there too. “The city is in a position to get behind the private development community and assist in a partnership to make these things happen. This is a 30-month window of opportunity with downtown as a construction zone. If the city sets the table correctly, wonderful things will happen. If, in less than three years when I-10 is done, the streetcar is delivered, and the Origins Phase I complex is finished --- if these improvements aren’t complete in a comprehensible manner, we haven’t succeeded. It’s time to move, and move aggressively, in a positive direction.”

Upward

Oct 1, 2007, 6:43 AM

The Sheraton (the tower portion of it, at least) certainly is nicer than the one under construction in Phoenix.

kaneui

Oct 7, 2007, 2:35 AM

The construction of the Ritz-Carlton Resort at Dove Mountain in Marana should get underway this month, with an anticipated opening in fall, 2009:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/Ritz-CarltonDoveMtn.jpg
Artist's rendering of the proposed 250 room Ritz-Carlton Resort at Dove Mountain.
The design leaves room for expansion of the resort after completion. (Courtesy T.L. Roof & Associates)

Official ... sort of Marana is puttin' on the Ritz
By Joe Pangburn
Inside Tucson Business
October 5, 2007

The cat is out of the bag officially – sort of – on the poorly kept secret that Ritz Carlton is planning to build a resort at Dove Mountain.

T.L. Roof & Associates announced it signed a contract Oct. 1 to be the general contractor for the Ritz-Carlton Resort at Dove Mountain. "It’s a project that’s been in the development stages for several years," said John Hobbs, president of T.L. Roof & Associates. "We have a notice to proceed to start Oct 8."

Site preparation work, including the pad has already been done by the property owner so beginning today (Oct. 8), T.L. Roof says it will start the layout for the foundations and the excavation for the footings of the 300,000 square-foot resort.

Still, though, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company isn’t saying much. When asked to comment about the plans for a resort in Marana, a Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman didn’t know where Marana was. But when asked about Dove Mountain, she said "Oh Dove Mountain, we haven’t released anything about that project yet."

On Aug. 20, the Town of Marana issued a building permit naming Ritz-Carlton. Also, on its website – www.heritagehighlands.com – the retirement community of Heritage Highlands notes the area includes a Ritz-Carlton and a Jack Nicklaus Signature Series golf course. Also, earlier this year, Tucson Water approved a water main extension, a nearly 300,000 gallon reservoir and booster station for the resort.

T.L. Roff’s Hobbs said he knows Ritz-Carlton is involved but, did not know why there has been no official announcement. He just knows he is excited to get going. "It’s going to be a fantastic resort," Hobbs said. "One thing that has been important to Ritz-Carlton recently is building resorts that are unique to their environments."

Due to that, there will be adobe and stone used on the exterior. It will be a low profile structure that blends into the Tortolita Mountains. The main structure will have roughly 225 guest rooms spread over four stepped levels. There will also be a spa attached to the main building. Detached from the structure in the side canyon will be 10 casita buildings containing 26 casitas. "They will have a really nice view looking south down the canyon," Hobbs said.

T.L. Roof & Associates is a subsidiary company of O’Neil Industries, a national construction company based out of Phoenix. O’Neil has done several large resorts, but this is the first for T.L. Roof & Associates. "We’re very excited," Hobbs said. "We’ve been working hard on it for three months now. It is a big project and it has taken a lot of effort from our people."

Ritz-Carlton has only one other property in Arizona, a hotel in Phoenix. "This project is a step above that one," Hobbs said. The construction contract is for two years and Hobbs said he believes the goal is to open the resort in the fall of 2009.

ljbuild

Oct 21, 2007, 10:53 PM

kaneui

Oct 22, 2007, 10:45 AM

Open house will show off revised Tucson Origins
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
10.22.2007

The public can get the latest look at what's planned for Tucson Origins during an Oct. 24 open house at the Tucson Convention Center. Attendees will see new ideas for the Mission San Agustín site, now incorporating a native village with the cooperation of the Tohono O'odham Nation, said Bill O'Malley, Rio Nuevo's construction manager. Designers and Rio Nuevo planners spent the summer coming up with significant revisions to plans to re-create the mission on the West Side, south of Congress Street.

The open house from 5 to 7 p.m. in TCC's Graham and Greenlee rooms will give the public its first peek at a redesigned mission chapel and a native village that was added to the project this summer. "We've had several meetings with the tribe in the last two months," O'Malley said.

The village, called S-cuk son, from which Tucson is derived, will be built just outside the mission's western wall, where archaeologists this spring found native artifacts dating from the mission period as well as from 2,500 years ago. The design team and the Tohono O'odham decided to build pit houses and adobe structures representing several periods of development at the site. Some archaeological finds that were covered up after the spring dig will now be exposed for public view, design team leader David Wald-Hopkins said.

The design team also has changed direction with the convent design, which originally was based on designs of chapels still standing in Sonora that date from the 18th century. Archaeological work during the summer on the mission site determined that Mission San Agustín's chapel had no sacristy, where sacred vestments and vessels are kept, and was smaller than earlier believed. "The facade of the building has been greatly simplified," O'Malley said.

Wald-Hopkins said discussions with historians, architects and construction people reached the conclusion that the same Spanish architects who designed Mission San Xavier could have also designed Mission San Agustín. "The architecture will be more reminiscent of San Xavier now," Wald-Hopkins said. This fourth open house for Tucson Origins will be the first to occur while construction is under way at the site.

Since June, crews have dug two massive holes to remove a landfill from the locations where the mission, visitor center and parking garage will be built. Foundation work for the mission is expected to start in December.

soleri

Oct 22, 2007, 1:08 PM

Tucson has too many conservatives to allow for a "tallest".

They care more about an ENDANGERD LIZARD than an endangered dtwn.
Thats ONE of the reasons why dtwn. Tucson sucks!!

That's nonsense. Downtown Tucson sucks because it was abandoned by business and shoppers. 35 years ago, there were department stores, boutiques, and all manner of real-world retail there. But the American Dream - one person, one car, one house - eventually killed it. It's very difficult to reconcile this suburban paradigm with any kind of urban energy. You could almost say it's impossible.

Building freeways won't cure this problem, it will make it worse. Hating environmentalists is a diversion used by the right to disguise the real problem. You've got to keep your eye on the ball here. If you want tall buildings, stop pretending you can simply grow horizontally forever. That's what is killing Tucson.

somethingfast

Oct 22, 2007, 1:30 PM

Soleri, I'm inclined to agree with your assessment. 10 years ago I would've called you a whack job liberal. But I'm coming full circle. While I won't go so far as to say freeways are a bad idea -- we need to deal with current problems with curren solutions as well as future solutions -- I do believe we need to find a way to "collapse" cities back toward the core and go vertical and green rather than horizontal and brown. There are MANY reasons why DT Tucson is suffering, not the least of which is Tucson's general lethargic, services-based economony that simply doesn't need corporate office space. I've always felt that Tucson is an economy where everybody is chasing the same dollar. I feel for Tucson but it makes a lot of very un-wise decisions about priorities.

jvbahn

Oct 22, 2007, 2:34 PM

I would say that the coming oil crisis referred to in the news as "peak oil;" basically, the idea that we've passed the maximum production level worldwide of oil, and that it's gonna just get more and more expensive, will "collapse" the cities back to the core. With the prices headed higher and higher because of lack of supply, the auto-based suburban city is coming to a screeching halt, if not running right off the cliff. I think cities like Phoenix and Tucson better start building up and mass-transit-based fast, or risk becoming economic dead zones because people are burning their disposable income in their gas tanks.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about...:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,2196435,00.html

somethingfast

Oct 22, 2007, 2:59 PM

Agree 100%. I do believe alternative energy sources will prevent a total collapse of the sprawl model but the alternatives will be costly and oil isn't going anywhere as our primary source. Vertical "green" buildings are the wave of the future, no doubt about it. Windows made of solar cells, water rentention, water-less urinals, these are all things that can be done when density is great enough. It's actually an exciting time because the old paradigm is about to the way of the dino.

kaneui

Oct 24, 2007, 10:17 AM

Ex-King building becoming midrise apartment complex
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
10.24.2007

Selective demolition work started Tuesday inside the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments, the first downtown midrise housing project to get started. By July, the six-story 1970 apartment structure at Congress Street and Fifth Avenue will have been transformed into One North Fifth, a 96-unit market-rate complex with monthly rents mostly ranging from $400 to $700. Pre-leasing starts Nov. 1 by calling 791-2008. All units are one-bedroom apartments or studios.

Demolition work will become most noticeable to passers-by on Oct. 29 as Concord General Contracting devotes half of November to removing the concrete balcony face panels, superintendent Jeff Brewer said. One panel will be removed with panache during ground denting festivities that will include food, music and speeches from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Nov. 1, said Ron Schwabe, owner of Peach Properties, a Tucson property management and development company.

The next 60 to 90 days will focus on selective demolition: tearing out drop ceilings, old cabinets, linoleum floors, air conditioning systems and electrical systems. The apartment walls will remain, Brewer said. The original concrete floors and ceiling will remain bare, a concept that's become popular in modern architecture. The quality of the building, made with concrete blocks, is astounding, Schwabe said. "They don't pour concrete like that any more," Schwabe said. The 6- by 6-foot standard glass doors to the balconies will be widened to about 10 feet and expanded to the ceiling, he said.

The $8 million One North Fifth renovation will be one of three towers that make up Depot Plaza, where there will be a mix of market-rate, affordable and senior housing. Peach Properties and Williams & Dame Development of Portland, Ore., are partnering on One North Fifth and a second tower. The city Community Services Department will build the third tower that will be devoted to senior housing. "Downtown needs to have all varieties of housing: condos, apartments, options for seniors and young people," said Emily Nottingham, director of the Community Services Department. "(Depot Plaza) really is a good example of public-private partnership.

One North Fifth beat two other high-profile midrise projects to the hammer. The Presidio Terrace team meets Thursday with Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko to stave off potentially losing its development agreement Oct. 28. And The Post lofts hope to start construction in a month or two. "I think it is terrific," Shelko said. "If we can get Post in ground, that's very significant."

One North Fifth will include 9,000 square feet of retail space that will be added to the street level and reach the sidewalk. Construction on that is expected to start by Dec. 19 and be ready for shoppers in August or September, Schwabe said. Peach Properties teamed up with Williams & Dame, which saw downtown potential and wanted to partner with a Tucson developer. Peach won the partnership. "There's nobody locally that's done anything urban and vertical," Schwabe said of his interest in getting involved. "(Williams & Dame) have done a lot of it. It's going to be rentals that really start downtown. Condos: That bloom is off."

kaneui

Oct 25, 2007, 6:36 PM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/OriginsChapel.jpg

Mission project attracts praise
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
10.25.2007

It was show-and-tell night for Rio Nuevo and its flagship project: Tucson Origins. More than 100 people packed two meeting rooms Wednesday evening at the Tucson Convention Center for the fourth open house for Tucson Origins, where construction on a replica Mission San Agustín is set to start in January. "It's not just a master plan," Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. "This is the pieces of the puzzle really coming together."

The people at the open house agreed. "We've been waiting to see this since 1967 when we first arrived in Tucson," resident Charlie Niblett said. "We recognize the tourist attraction all this can be. You get a sense that there's really something happening. We're tickled to death to see it."

The city's portion of Tucson Origins includes the mission, the mission gardens, a parking garage, a plaza, a visitor center and a new bridge across the Santa Cruz River. The Arizona State Museum, the University of Arizona and the Tucson Children's Museum plan to build at the north end of the project. The project is bordered by Cushing Street on the north, Mission Road to the west and Mission Gardens to the south. It is the original location of the Mission San Agustín. According to the Tucson Origins Web site, the reconstructed mission "will feature reconstructed buildings, including the convento and chapel, to demonstrate how people lived in Tucson in the early 1800s."

Rita Daniels moved to Tucson from California three years ago and has had her fill of missions. She was more intrigued by the Indian village next to the mission that was just added to the plan this summer. "I love that," she said. "It shows how they used the land and lived with the land."

Daniels liked the one proposed design element where there would be lights in the ground to represent archaeological features buried directly underneath. The Tohono O'odham Nation contributed $65,000 in casino revenue sharing funds for American Indian consultation and an internship to help design the native village. So far, this includes four elements: storytelling, both live and recorded; dwellings representing the five eras of civilization that occupied the site over 4,000 years; a ground map describing the archaeology below; and a shelter over an exposed section of archaeology, said Bill O'Malley, Rio Nuevo's construction manager. "I love the way the Cushing Street bridge will span the river," said Christina Moodie, a retired Sun Tran driver. "I'm pleased to see they are doing sustainable water management."

Mary Ellen Wooten, whose interest in downtown stems from her long involvement in the arts district, recognized the variety of cultural elements in play. "I think the consulting team has done a really good job of tapping into some of the core essences of Tucson," Wooten said. "I like the fact there are different ambiences and qualities at the north end of the complex (a plaza with various museums) and the south end (the mission)."

Rive85

Oct 26, 2007, 7:49 AM

Finally Finally Fianlly someone has stepped up to the plate with downtown construction. im tired of hearing enthusiastic promises with no deleverance.. One north fifth i hope will open the flood gates for all the other projects to line up...then the post and then presidio terrace and then el mirador..hopefully

ljbuild

Nov 4, 2007, 10:07 PM

In the sunday nov 4 edition of the Arizona Daily star paper ( Tucson),
it has on the front page " WHY NOT IN TUCSON"

This is in reference to its comparison with Alburquerque's new aquarium, new movie theater, light rail and new hotel. In which Tucson has none of the above.

WELL DUHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!

When you consistently oppose every progressive project that comes along,
thats what you get.!!

Tucson has even consistently opposed building new freeways.
even thier so called new RTA plan for the NEXT TWENTY YEARS,

DOES NOT include any freeway.
Getting back to Dtwn:
There was once an aquarium that was proposed in Dtwn Tucson, political pressure killed that off.

Light rail is still a Debate Instead of a REALITY. !

The baseball field over on Ajo way which is on the south side of tucson was supposed to be LOCATED IN DTWN TUCSON.

Neighbors and yes political pressure sent that out of Dtwn Tucson.
So now as Tucson gets bigger anyway, it is starting to REAP WHAT IT HAS SOWN.!!!!

And lets just see what happens with this new hotel proposal. :koko:

But anyway,

Tucson is filled with conservative potbelly recluses who dont want Tucson to grow and to have either one or no freeways.

So with that said, it doesnt surprise me If anything doesnt progess there.:shrug:

BTinSF

Nov 4, 2007, 10:19 PM

^^^I can't say I'm sorry to see the aquarium idea go out the window. Nobody comes to the desert to see fish--and in cities that have aquariums (mostly coastal cities such as San Francisco, the one with which I'm most familiar), most of the people who go are tourists and school kids on field trips. But your more general point is, of course, correct. I recently encountered one of the local NIMBY's whining about how downtown Tucson needs "more than just $400,000 condos" and I immediately thought "a bunch of $400,000 condos, if they could be sold, is precisely what downtown Tucson needs". Downtown Tucson is dead because nobody lives there and until somebody does, preferably people with money to spend, businesses won't locate there and other people won't want to live there.

It would also help if there were some form of transportation from the burbs to downtown. My place (I'm a "snowbird") is in Green Valley and I recall a proposal to run rail service from Nogales to Phoenix via Tucson (the tracks already are there). I'd sure go downtown more often if I could hop a commuter train to get there--and if I had decent bus service to get me from the train station to the malls and other shopping venues once I'm in town.

Azstar

Nov 4, 2007, 11:27 PM

I agree completely with BTinSF about downtown housing. I own an historic home in the Barrio Viejo, and I've always said that Tucson needs residents who can afford to spend some money and support the businesses who operate there. Tucson does NOT need more "social services" and "affordable" (read subsidized) housing downtown, which is precisely what the suburbanites want so that those entities are not located in their neighborhoods.

Phxbyrd211

Nov 6, 2007, 8:00 PM

The nations largest aquarium was just built in Atlanta which is not on the coast so why not one in Phoenix or Tucson. I'm certainly all in favor of the rail service. Is the reason the Sidewinders are leaving Tucson because the stadium is not downtown?

aznate27

Nov 7, 2007, 4:52 PM

Hey guys....I find this article incouraging! This is the plan I'd like see happen for a hotel downtown, and most people living and working there seem to agree. :tup:

Merchants, neighbors favor downtown Hilton hotel plan

TEYA VITU
Tucson Business Edge

If downtown merchants and neighborhoods have their way, the City Council will pick the Hilton proposal to build upon the existing Hotel Arizona as the 709-room hotel to support the Tucson Convention Center.

Merchants and neighborhood councils within the Tucson Downtown Partnership in recent days independently gave unanimous support to the Phelps Development-Centro Nuevo Partners proposal to renovate the existing Hotel Arizona tower as a Hilton and add a 28-story tower just off Congress Street.

Both groups strongly latched onto that proposal's location on Congress, rather than the other three proposals that are based far enough south of Congress to seem distant to merchants.

"I think the most important issue is that we build on what we're trying to accomplish on Congress rather than start a whole new district that abandons the efforts we're trying to do downtown," said Bob Wadlow, who chairs the merchants council and owns the Subway shop at 29 W. Congress St.

The city's official selection committee, composed of mostly private-sector players, may come out with its formal recommendation Wednesday. The recommendation is expected to go to the City Council on Nov. 20, said Jaret Barr, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein.

Barr said the recommendation may be a mix of proposals.
"It is not 'This is the proposal, go with it,' " Barr said. "I think the merchants and neighbors will be happy."

The neighborhood council liked the Hilton's Congress Street location for the relationship to Congress and its relative remoteness from neighborhoods.

"It offered the least impact on the neighborhoods and it's equally distant from all neighborhoods," said Jeff DiGregorio, who chairs the neighborhoods council and owns the Royal Elizabeth Bed & Breakfast Inn, 204 S. Scott Ave.

The neighborhood council also latched onto a Phelps-Centro offer to give $150,000 to the Barrio Viejo neighborhood south of TCC "to use as they see fit . . . to mitigate any harm" caused by the Hilton.

The merchants council appreciated Phelps-Centro's pledge to add the Santa Rita Hotel into its proposal - even though Barr said a formal development agreement with the city cannot include the shuttered Santa Rita at Congress and Sixth Avenue because the request for proposal only deals with the TCC area.

The neighborhood council decision involved representatives from the Armory Park, Iron Horse, El Presidio, Dunbar/Spring, Menlo Park and West University neighborhoods. The merchants council has a core group of 15 to 20 merchants with a total of some 170 merchants in the network.
Comments on this Story Write a letter to the Editor

kaneui

Nov 8, 2007, 4:04 AM

Apparently without any financing, the proposed 101-unit Presidio Terrace luxury condo project bites the dust:

City kills deal for condos downtown
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
11.08.2007

The rocky road for the downtown Presidio Terrace luxury condominium development hit a dead end Wednesday when the city terminated its development agreement with builder Peggy Noonan. That means no 101-unit, seven-story luxury condo complex on Paseo Redondo west of the Tucson Museum of Art. It's the first high-profile Rio Nuevo project to crash and burn.

Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko on Sept. 28 gave Noonan 30 days' notice that the agreement would be canceled if she did not adequately address financing, marketing and design issues. Noonan submitted a response Oct. 26. "When you cut right through it, it's a package of information of somebody still looking for partners, still looking for financing," Shelko said. "Marketing doesn't start for another year. So we're nowhere closer than we were a year ago."

The agreement gave Noonan the exclusive right to purchase former art museum parking lot land directly behind the Tucson Water building. The property is open again for new proposals, though Rio Nuevo staff is occupied with downtown hotel proposals, proposals for the 14.3 acres on West Congress Street, and the streetcar plan. "We're terminating the agreement," Shelko said. "The door is closed."

Shelko sent the termination notice Wednesday afternoon to Noonan and the City Council. Presidio Terrace has had a stormy history, with neighborhood complaints about building height and several delays in start dates for construction. Noonan has had a development agreement since October 2005 to build on the city-owned parking lot. "At this point what I have to say is, I turned it over to my counsel," Noonan said. "As soon I get through reviewing it with counsel, I'll make a statement."

kaneui

Nov 8, 2007, 4:25 AM

In an interesting move, a city selection committee has taken pieces from three of the four convention center hotel proposals to form its own $267M plan, due for City Council review on Nov. 20:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/TCCSheratonrender.jpg
A Sheraton tower next to the TCC would be a second-phase project
(rendering: Garfield Traub Development)

Plan to create 700 hotel rooms downtown draws from 3 proposals
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
11.08.2007

The selection committee for a new 700-room downtown hotel patched together pieces from three developer proposals to create a multiphase, $267 million project to support the Tucson Convention Center.

The first step would be renovating the existing 309-room Hotel Arizona as a Hilton, which was part of the proposal by Tucson-based Centro Nuevo Partners and Phelps Development of Greeley, Colo.. The city would use $70 million in hotel revenue bonds to buy the hotel from Humberto S. Lopez for $28 million and spend $42 million to renovate it. That partially meets the desire of downtown merchant and neighborhood groups, which heartily endorsed the Hilton proposal.

The committee, however, favored a second step in a 707-room Sheraton nearly attached to TCC, as proposed by Garfield Traub Development of Dallas. That $180 million project would be built after the Hotel Arizona renovation, said Jaret Barr, assistant to the city manager.

The third phase, if conditions warrant it, would be the 28-story Hilton tower adjacent to Hotel Arizona. That is not included in the $267 million price tag. The City Council, which will consider the proposals Nov. 20, can choose whichever proposal it wants.

The selection committee included Kendall Bert of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Jonathan Walker of the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau, Chris Sheafe of the Rio Nuevo Citizens Advisory Committee, Karen Valdez of the Business Development Finance Corp. and downtown developer Randi Dorman.

The committee rejected the 10-story Marriott proposal with only 300 hotel rooms by Allan Norville's Nor-Generations. But the panel recommends buying Norville's 7 acres behind the federal courthouse for $17 million. Norville partner Devcon International would be the master developer of all these projects, Barr said.

The only proposal to strike out entirely was FaulknerUSA/Southwest Value Partners' plan to build a Hyatt on the site of the Tucson Arena. "What we were able to accomplish was to get the right people to fully develop the site as needed," Barr said.

Locofresh55

Nov 8, 2007, 12:32 PM

I would like for them to come up with a new color scheme for the Sheraton (if it indeed gets built). That rendering still looks like a 1970's rendering. But I'm happy that they kinda made a decision.....I won't believe until I see it.

Rive85

Nov 8, 2007, 6:36 PM

http://www.azstarnet.com/ss/2007/11/08/l210618-2.jpg

By Rob O'Dell
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.08.2007

advertisementTexas-based developer Garfield Traub was the big winner recommended by a city selection committee Wednesday to build a $203 million, 707-room Sheraton hotel to pair with a remodeled Tucson Convention Center. But the selection committee also threw $45 million in consolation prizes to the second- and third-place finishers in the competition for the hotel project. Panelists recommended spending $28 million to buy the Hotel Arizona and $17 million to buy 7 acres of prime real estate Downtown from Allan Norville. The $45 million will come from revenue bonds issued to build the 700-room hotel. Some of the bond money will also be used to refurbish the Hotel Arizona, said Jaret Barr, the city's project manager.
Those two parcels will be part of a 58-acre master plan for a new arena, the two convention hotels, retail and condominiums. Barr said once the city acquires both Norville's land and Humberto S. Lopez's Hotel Arizona, neither will be part of the hotel-arena projects going forward.
The only one of the four finalists left out of the selections was headed by Texas-based Faulkner USA, Southwest Value Partners and General Growth Properties Inc., which had planned to build a Hyatt hotel.
The five-member hotel committee recommendation now goes to the City Council, which is expected to give final approval before Thanksgiving. If the initial reaction of council members is any indication, they seem extremely happy with the plan. "It's stunning to say the least," Councilman Steve Leal said. "Just getting a 700-room hotel was going to be a happy event itself. But to end up with more is magic."

Texas-based Garfield Traub was selected to build a 707-room, $203 million Sheraton hotel on city land. It would house a 14,000-square-foot ballroom and a full-service restaurant, bar and lounge. It would also include retail space and, potentially, condominiums and would be constructed as soon as possible. Garfield Traub was the only developer whose plans were selected in their entirety. Greg Garfield, a part-owner of the company, said the city's plans to bring in all three of the properties was "really visionary." He said he doesn't have all the specifics of what the city plans entail but said he was looking forward to sitting down with the city and figuring it out.
"The new hotel Sheraton is the anchor, but the other proposals are vital as well," Garfield said. Tucson's Hotel Arizona owner Lopez and his partner Roger Karber will get about $28 million for their 3.3 acres, which includes the Hotel Arizona structure. The 250-room Hotel Arizona is slated to be redeveloped into a Hilton at this time, Barr said. Initially, only the renovation of the 250-room Hotel Arizona would occur. The recommendation keeps the door open for another 28-story, 450-room expansion to the Hotel Arizona if future market conditions allow. The plan calls for both hotels to be paid for with low-interest financing available only through the city, Barr said, although plans could change. Karber said the committee's recommendation "sounds like a sensible solution." He said he believed Downtown will eventually need more than the 950 hotel rooms that would be built in the Sheraton and the refurbished Hotel Arizona. "Maybe the tower gets built down the road," Karber said of the 28-story second phase. Karber said he still has plans to build a mixed-use eight- to 12-story office and commercial building on the corner of Granada Avenue and Broadway, where the hotel garage is now located. But Barr said that would be possible only if Karber's plans fit into the overall master plan of the site. The other proposal that was partially selected was that of Downtown landowner Norville and developer Chris Ansley, who built the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa. Barr said the committee did not select Norville's hotel proposal but instead will buy his 7-acre property at Granada Avenue and Cushing Street for $17 million. City officials have been trying to get Norville to sell his land for years, but he has rebuffed them, creating animosity between him and City Hall. "It was an opportunity that presented itself" to secure a parcel the city had for years tried to buy, Barr said. Although Norville will be out after he sells the property, Ansley will become part of the plan, as he was selected as the person who will master-plan the entire property to look out for the city's interest, Barr said.
He won't be the master developer who constructs the retail and condominiums but instead will help to plan the 58 acres, which is likely to also include La Placita down the road, Barr said. Because the entire area still must be master-planned, the exact location of the hotel is unknown, Barr said, adding the location of the city's new 12,300-seat, $130 million arena could change from its planned location along the Interstate 10 frontage roads. Garfield Traub is also part of the arena construction team.
Committee members said selecting the three proposals was the right thing to do. "We fully expect that this multiuse development will be the watershed event that stimulates significant private-sector investment in Downtown," said Kendall Bert, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc. Randy Dorman, an infill developer, agreed. "All four of the proposals were good but none were a total home run," Dorman said. "By taking the best elements from these three proposals, we are able to provide the community with a grand slam."

NIXPHX77

Nov 8, 2007, 8:09 PM

just curious -
where does the Santa Rita Hotel refurbishment/renovation and
reopening as a hotel fit into this?
i hope that happens, too.

kaneui

Nov 9, 2007, 10:05 AM

^As part of his original proposal, Humberto Lopez said the Santa Rita would get refurbished. Now? Well, if he takes the $28M offer from the city for Hotel Arizona (assuming the Council approves it), he'll certainly have the cash to do just that.

Interestingly, if the selection committee's plan is approved, Tucson will have a Sheraton convention center hotel like Phoenix--at 30 stories, it would be nearly the same height, but only 707 rooms vs. 1,000 (let's hope the architecture is a notch up from the Phx model....).

kaneui

Nov 23, 2007, 4:13 AM

City OKs talks on new hotel near TCC
3 developers to be approached about $457M project

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
11.21.2007

The City Council gave a $457 million nod Monday to negotiations for a downtown hotel to support the Tucson Convention Center. No financial commitments were made in Monday's study session. But the council did unanimously ask city staff to negotiate memos of understanding and development agreements with three developers to sell and renovate the Hotel Arizona for $70 million, build a new, 30-story Sheraton tower for $180 million and sell the seven acres best known as the site of Tucson's largest gem show tent for $17 million.

The hotel project is directly tied to building a new, $130 million, 12,500-seat Tucson Arena and expanding the Tucson Convention Center for $60 million. TCC director Rich Singer said construction on the arena, convention center and hotel could all start in about February 2009 and be finished in 2011.

The TCC and arena were in limbo for a couple years until a hotel plan was in place to add 700 nearby rooms for conventioneers. Singer said a new hotel is necessary for a new arena and TCC expansion to make sense. "Today was incredibly important," Singer said. "The selection committee put together a very sophisticated plan. Today the council said move forward. All of this makes possible the arena, which speaks to our local community."

Analyzing all the financial angles and nailing down agreements with Phelps Development/Centro Nuevo Partners, Southwest Value Partners/FaulknerUSA and Nor-Generations/Dev-Con should be completed by February, said Jaret Barr, assistant to the city manager. Council member Carol West, stepping down in two weeks, cried as she gave support to the hotel recommendation. "I just decided I'm not retiring," West jested. "I'm staying. I've been waiting for this since 1999. This is a dream come true."

Mayor Bob Walkup said, "(The committee) came up with the best combination of things that make the greatest sense for the city of Tucson." One hotelier questioned the city's purchase of the Hotel Arizona without asking whether any other downtown hotels were for sale. InnSuites Tucson City Center, 475 N. Granada Ave., is available for $12.5 million, said James Wirth, president of InnSuites Hospitality Trust, the Phoenix-based owner of 11 InnSuites hotels in Arizona, New Mexico and California. He said InnSuites, a half mile from TCC, is within walking distance and often has overflow guests from the convention center. "Two blocks or a half block, maybe ($28 million for the Hotel Arizona) is not worth the difference," Wirth said in a phone interview from Phoenix.

Council member Steve Leal defended buying the Hotel Arizona because that aged building would be the first thing people see on Congress on the way to the future Sheraton and TCC.

aznate27

Nov 28, 2007, 4:57 PM

Hey guys, this one is moving forward, all be it slowly! At least it's not dead in the water.:)

Zoning OK'd for downtown condo, hotel towers

Nimbus brewpub part of proposed project known as El Mirador

TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen

The El Mirador condo-hotel-brewpub project for the north edge of downtown cleared the zoning hurdle Tuesday, a major step to construction possibly starting within two years.

The Tucson City Council unanimously approved rezoning the land bounded by Franklin Street, Church Avenue, Sixth Street and Stone Avenue from commercial and industrial to high-density mixed-use plus a small patch of industrial zoning specifically for the brewpub property.

This will allow Town West Design Development to build three joined towers rising seven, 11 and 15 stories between Ninth Avenue and Stone, and a separate building west of Ninth that steps up from two to three to five stories. The project proposes about 220 hotel rooms, 150 condos and a brewpub operated by Nimbus Brewing Co.

"It's a major step," said Raul Reyes, Town West's project architect. "We've been working for the last year and a half to get ready for rezoning."

Reyes said groundbreaking should follow "in no more than 21 months" with construction potentially done about two years after that. Reyes said financing for the estimated $100 million project is still in the works.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff pressed Town West to increase its contribution to the city's affordable housing trust fund from $2,000 to $3,000 per condo unit, a total of $450,000. Town West agreed to do so, making up for El Mirador offering no affordable housing units.

El Mirador would be built on what was the site of Tucson's main railroad freight and shipping terminal from 1901 to 1983. Since then, no development interest was shown for the property until Nimbus Brewery managing director Jim Counts proposed moving Nimbus to that site.

Counts ran afoul of the council by not securing financing in time. He brought in Town West, which transformed a microbrewery into a towering condo-office-brewpub project. El Mirador has taken on several guises in the two years that it has passed through city and neighborhood scrutiny.

The plan calls for turning Ninth Avenue through the project into a pedestrian and bicycle path linking the Dunbar/Spring and El Presidio neighborhoods.

The smaller, fourth building across Ninth Street may be designated for artists to appease the Warehouse Arts Management Organization, which considers that land the heart of the Warehouse District.

At a zoning hearing in October, there were eight protests, six from property owners within 150 feet of the site, citing traffic, noise and building heights.

kaneui

Dec 3, 2007, 3:24 AM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/GadsdenMercadorendering.jpg
A look at some of the market-rate and work force housing, office and retail proposed
by Gadsden Co. for the 14 acres off West Congress Street. (photo: the Gadsden Co.)

2 developers to show ideas for downtown area
Tucson, Oregon firms propose retail, housing

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
12.01.2007

The two teams vying to develop 14.3 acres on West Congress Street will give the public its first look Thursday at preliminary drawings of what they have in mind for the largest remaining chunk of downtown real estate. Tucson-based The Gadsden Co. and Portland, Ore.-based Williams & Dame Development will show up with drawings and answer questions at an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Sentinel Building at the city Community Resource Campus, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop.

Both teams are proposing mixed-use structures built around plaza settings on the land south of Congress Street and west of Interstate 10. The residential-retail-office-entertainment complex would be north of the proposed Tucson Origins museum complex and east of the Mercado District of Menlo Park housing project under construction.

Gadsden and Williams & Dame are the two finalists hoping to buy and develop the city-owned land. A seven-member review committee composed of three Menlo Park neighborhood residents and four city employees in building-related trades will have a recommendation ready for the City Council in early January, said Ann Vargas, the city's downtown housing planner. "Both teams are eager to get started," Vargas said. "The public may come up with issues that may need to be considered. They are feeding the process."

Gadsden will have large presentation boards with drawings of what the proposed public market, boutique hotel, and 400 homes composed of work-force housing and market-rate housing will look like. "No one knows that site better than us," said Adam Weinstein, a Gadsden partner. "We've been working there for five years." The same family, headed by Jerry Dixon, is developing the Mercado District of Menlo Park housing project across Avenida del Convento from the 14.3 acres under consideration.

If Gadsden is awarded the project, Weinstein believes the company will have a development agreement signed two months later and have a planned area of development ready for City Council approval two months after that - or by about May. Construction could start in the following 18 months - or toward the end of 2009. Weinstein said the first phase of construction along Avenida del Convento could bring a public market and some housing in 12 to 16 months - or sometime in 2011.

At the open house, Williams & Dame will illustrate how it proposes to rehabilitate the Santa Cruz riverfront. They will show how retail and restaurants and the mix of 700 to 900 lofts, townhomes, apartments and affordable units connect with the proposed streetcar that will run to the University of Arizona, project manager Matt Brown said. "To us it's about the quality of the public environment," Brown said.

Brown acknowledges the goal to start construction in about 18 months is at the mercy of the national real estate picture. "Look around the market," he said. "Anybody's guess is as good as ours." Williams & Dame seems to be leaning toward the national shift away from condos and toward more affordable housing. "What we're really interested in doing is there's a possibility that we can get the work force housing project off the ground first," Brown said. "A lot of time this kind of thing lags behind."

kaneui

Dec 8, 2007, 3:01 AM

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/kaneui/QuintaRealHotelrender.jpg
The Gadsden Co. is proposing a 120-room Quinta Real boutique hotel as part of a
development for 14.3 acres on West Congress Street, west of Interstate 10.
(photo: The Gadsden Co.)

Two developments vie for West Congress Street spot
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
12.07.2007

The public got its first look Thursday at two proposals that take different approaches to the 14.3 undeveloped acres on West Congress Street, west of Interstate 10. Williams & Dame Development of Portland, Ore., proposes a self-contained neighborhood around a central plaza with small businesses oriented toward the residents. The Gadsden Co. of Tucson proposes a nine-square-block grid with housing, a boutique hotel, a public market and grocery store, and an automated parking garage in the center square.
Several dozen people attended the open house at the city's Community Resource Campus, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop.

Gadsden and Williams & Dame are the two finalists vying for a development agreement for the city-owned land south of West Congress, north of the proposed Tucson Origins museum complex and east of the Mercado District of Menlo Park, which is being built by the same family behind Gadsden. A recommended project is expected to go to the City Council in early January, Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said.

Robin Laidlaw, 70, liked both proposals, especially the idea of street-level businesses with apartments above, but she's wary that any of it will be built. "If any of this every happens, it would be a miracle," she said. Her husband, Donald, 71, is more confident that this project is viable. He was city planning director in the 1960s and is intrigued by the Quinta Real hotel proposal by Gadsden. "I think a hotel is very important, simply because it is a visitor destination," he said. "Somebody can drive off the freeway and spend three days right here." Quinta Real is a Mexican luxury boutique hotel chain with nine hotels in cities such as Guadalajara, Acapulco and Monterrey. A 120-room Tucson hotel would be its first in the U.S., said Tom Tracy, a consultant for Gadsden and Quinta Real.

Rudy and Lilia Beck favor the Williams & Dame proposal. Rudy has owned Beck's Auto Center, directly across from the 14.3 acres, for 37 years. "She likes this one (Williams & Dame) because it's more rustic," Rudy Beck, 70, said. "I think it's more (like) us down there. (Gadsden) is a bit more modern." Williams & Dame proposes six blocks with 700 to 900 homes in two- to seven-story structures built around a central plaza. Businesses for the neighborhood such as dry cleaners and clothing shops would be at street level, project manager Matt Brown said. "It's little things that aren't glamorous but make a neighborhood work," Brown said. "It's going to be the newest urban neighborhood in Tucson."

Both proposals offer a mix of market-rate and affordable housing. Both teams say affordable housing would be built first. Along with 400 homes, Gadsden adds destination features such as the hotel and a public market, which Gadsden partner Adam Weinstein describes as a "covered street," as well as a six-screen theater. Gadsden has no central plaza but each residential block would have outdoor courtyards. "There is a true balance between density and open space," Weinstein said.

Karen Starkey is a lifelong Tucson resident who owns two homes in the neighboring Menlo Park neighborhood. She likes the 19th-century feel of the Mercado District of Menlo Park under construction just to the east. "I would like to have the continuation of the same feel," said Starkey, describing the Gadsden proposal. "I like the brick building and the hotel building. I don't like the modern building. We need something to invite the community."

Gadsden and Williams & Dame both have projects under way downtown. Williams & Dame is in the middle of interior demolition at the former Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments and the Dixon family behind Gadsden is master developer of the 99-home Mercado District of Menlo Park, across Avenida del Convento from the 14.3 acres.