Two new upscale clubs and a restaurant will add more energy to the downtown nightlife scene along Congress St.:
Swank bars, world cuisine latest additions to Congress
by B. Poole
July 15, 2009
http://www.downtowntucson.org/
A Scottsdale native is about to bring Downtown Tucson an injection of Las Vegas energy. Longtime local businessman Luke Cusack and a handful of property owners have teamed up to launch two upscale clubs and an eatery along the north side of East Congress Street.
Zen Rock, Sapphire lounge and A Steak in the Neighborhood will all be open by the end of July, if plans proceed as scheduled. A sports bar and grill is planned for the south side of the street next year.
The businesses will add energy to a growing entertainment district along Congress. The investment in the city’s heart is long overdue, said Cusack, who is spending about $1.6 million to open the nightspots. “This is what should have happened Downtown 15 years ago,” said the former University of Arizona physics major who left college for restaurant and bar design two decades ago. Cusack is diving headlong into the city center at an economic time when some fear potentially shallow waters. He is not afraid. “It’s like (Wall Street guru) Warren Buffett says, when everybody is being aggressive, be conservative. When everybody is being conservative, be aggressive,” he said.
Cusack’s commitment is evidence that new, private investors are willing to tap the Downtown market, said Scott Stiteler, a principal in the Downtown Tucson Development Corporation and owner of the newly renovated One North Fifth apartment building. Stiteler, whose development company owns the south side of the 200 block of Congress, has been working to develop the heart of the Downtown entertainment district for three years. There is a growing positive vibe among Downtown residents and entertainment seekers, Stiteler said. “If you go down there you can see it, you can feel it,” said Stiteler, who has an apartment at the North One Fifth complex.
Fernanda Echávarri, a 23-year-old resident at One North Fifth, agrees the scene is growing. Downtown crowds have steadily increased in the three years she has lived in the area. University of Arizona students who would normally go to Fourth Avenue are coming Downtown in increasing numbers, she said, suggesting there are few offerings for upscale patrons. “That crowd isn’t coming Downtown right now,” Echávarri said, noting that she’s excited to have a couple upscale nightspots in the neighborhood. City Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, whose Ward 6 includes the businesses, is glad to see the investment. “It’s an amazing infusion from one person,” she said.
Cusack is convinced his upscale venues and stepped up service at reasonable prices – drinks will start in the $3.75-$4.25 range and steak entrees start at $6.95 – will bring crowds. Zen Rock, at 111-121 E. Congress, is a tech-heavy upscale club with a jazz room in the basement that features numerous leather couches and conversation nooks. Cusack said he had expected Zen Rock to be open by the end of June or beginning of July, Cusack said. Sapphire, a lounge at 61 E. Congress that will feature a rooftop, couch-scattered “sky deck” with a glass wall overlooking Stone Avenue, should be open by the end of July. A Steak in the Neighborhood, 135 E. Congress, will serve quick, quality filet mignon and chicken dishes. Meals from the restaurant will be available at Sapphire and Zen Rock, Cusack said. Zen Rock and A Steak in the Neighborhood are owned by Cusack, though he is leasing the properties. He is managing Sapphire for property/business owners Tony and Magdalena Kenon. The steak restaurant will open first and will follow the example of a similar restaurant Cusack designed for Boston’s Downtown Sheraton.
Negotiations are underway for a 20,000-square-foot sports bar in the Valley Bank building at 20 E. Congress - the similarly upscale bar and grill would have space for business meetings.
With A Steak in the Neighborhood, Cusack hopes to tap a relatively untapped market. “We’ve got restaurants, but a lot of the restaurants down here are lunch places,” he said. Entrees, which Cusack called “world cusine,” will include filet mignon stroganoff, Thai spicy filet salad and chipotle chicken Alfredo; prices start at about $7 and range up to $13. The Downtown bars will be slightly downscaled versions of Cusack’s Pearl nightclub on Wetmore Road, where he said customers are being turned away by the hundreds on weekends. The Downtown spots will offer service and surroundings a bit less pricy and extravagant. “We’re not going to take it too upscale,” Cusack said. “This is more about bringing people Downtown.”
The former bar and restaurant designer for Sheraton Hotels and Holiday Inn has ample experience. His Tucson-based consulting firm, Monte Carlo Companies, has launched more than 200 establishments across the nation. “We stopped counting at 150,” he said. Cusack has watched as Downtown deals failed one after another in recent years. He blames the faltering economy, not the City Council. “They aren’t the bank,” he said. With plans inching along for a streetcar running from Congress to UA and real estate prices low, Cusack saw an opportunity he couldn’t resist. “It’s no stroke of genius. It’s the time to do it. The economy is down,” he said. The businesses are not a short-term investment for Cusack, who joins a raft of investors who are sinking energy and cash into the city’s center. “Many of these deals we have are 20 year leases,” he said.
Stiteler considers the businesses a move toward an entertainment/residential critical mass that could be self-sustaining. “We’re nearing that point where things are beginning to crystallize,” he said. Zen Rock, Sapphire and A Steak in the Neighborhood will employ a combined 85 people, about a third of them full time. The bars will be open Thursday-Sunday evenings. A Steak in the Neighborhood will open earlier in the day – likely from 11 a.m. – to capture the lunch crowd.
Threaded Mode