Two apartment buildings, five and six stories, will be built above the Depot Plaza garage once it is finished in June:
This huge hole near the Ronstadt Transit Center will become the Depot Plaza underground
parking garage when construction is completed, which is expected to be in June.
(photo: Xavier Gallegos)
Big hole east of Ronstadt Transit Center starting to take shape
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.12.2009
The 30-foot-deep hole east of the Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E. Congress St., is starting to take shape as the Depot Plaza garage, especially since a 180-foot crane appeared on site Dec. 29. The crane is delivering concrete for the garage foundation work at and will stay in place as construction starts in June on the new Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments, said Fran LaSala, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein.
Ground was broken at the end of June for the 281-space, two-level garage. Work so far has entailed digging the 242-by-246-foot hole and drilling nearly 100 concrete pylons 70 feet into the ground to provide the foundation for the garage and two high-rises that will be built atop the garage, LaSala said. In about two weeks, concrete sprayed with pressurized hoses - a process called shotcrete - will be applied to the outer walls, he said.
As soon as the garage is finished, the city Community Services Department plans to start building the new MLK Apartments on top of the west end of the garage. The six-story 68-unit public housing tower will be for low-income elderly and the disabled. "We go vertical right away on the new MLK. We need to be done by September 2010," said Ann Vargas, the department's project supervisor.
Also, Williams & Dame Development/Peach Properties intends to build a five-story, 60- to 80-unit apartment structure atop the east end of the garage as soon as the parking structure is done. But that start date potentially could change, said Ron Schwabe, owner of Peach Properties. Williams & Dame/Peach is part of the new Downtown Tucson Development Co., which also includes financier Scott Stiteler, a co-owner with Don Martin of the Rialto Block, and developer Jim Campbell, who wants to develop a Plaza Centro retail-dining complex just east of the Rialto Theatre. This group is negotiating a development agreement with the city to develop 75 downtown acres, which could change plans for Depot Plaza, Schwabe said.