Quote:
Originally Posted by combusean
The arena would be a money pit and a bad idea even if built.
I think people should really consider the ill effects of turning downtown Tucson from what sort of resembles a neighborhood into a collection of uses. Phoenix tried that for 25 years and it was an unmitigated disaster. Civic Plaza, the arena, the ballpark, and even ASU (the one thing they did which arguably worked however) was a wide, indiscriminate blade of urban renewal. Downtowns do not need that sort of thing.
Even if it did muster the finances for some sort of signature project, it still has a seemingly slow, unpredictable development process (like 8 months to approve a storage unit) and complicated zoning code. None of that small town mindset is going to go away even if they did fill some big britches and approve some sort of potential catalyst.
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I see your point...but I do think the downtown area needs something signature. Putting up another Flinn-type apartment complex on the "arena site" just seems like another total flop. We need something of interest to help Tucson stand out in my opinion. Maybe something like a modern Disney-hall type venue like they have in downtown LA. I thought that tortoise shell idea for a convention center years ago was an interesting concept for some kind of building.
I still think combining the idea of a sound stage complex to help our growing film industry...combined with an entertainment component for regular people would be great if designed properly. And it would act as overflow for TCC events and maybe Nor-Gen could put his ugly tent Gem & Mineral Show in one of the unused sound stages.
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