Tucson Development Thread

[kaneui]

Not much new revealed for the proposed UA Science Center/Arizona State Museum, other than a colorized version of a previous render and a few interior perspectives. And that 40-foot wall around the perimeter? Can't say this complex will relate to the street or anything beyond...rather disappointing, Mr. Viñoly.






(renders: Rafael Viñoly Architects, Ralph Applebaum Associates)



Plans for downtown museums unveiled
Planners hope courtyard will become gathering place for community

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.15.2009

The public got its first look Wednesday evening at initial designs for the combined University of Arizona Science Center/Arizona State Museum. It saw a modern take on traditional Southwest architecture. A 40-foot-high wall evoking the adobe walls of prior centuries encloses the buildings and the 300-foot-wide courtyard between the science center and museum. An 80-foot-wide gap in the wall would serve as the entry to the courtyard, the science center and museum, and the planetarium and giant-screen theater that would sit in the courtyard, said Rafael Viñoly-Menendez, project director for Rafael Viñoly Architects.

The wall would be built of irregular shaped panels, reminiscent of rock formations, that would have gaps to look through and, at night, allow light to shine through. "I like it," said Rudy Beck, who has owned Rudy's Auto Center, 701 W. Congress St., across the street from the project site, for 42 years. "It looks comfortable. It looks homey. I think it will be very successful for people to meet there." That's exactly what Viñoly-Menendez was trying to achieve with a courtyard that is nearly as large as the science center and state museum. "We wanted to create a community space," Viñoly-Menendez said. "If you don't have that, it would be only for tourists. Each of the museums is sacrificing some of its real estate."

The Arizona State Museum is the keeper of 13,000 years of regional history, including the largest collection of Southwest pottery and one of the largest collections of Mexican masks. The state museum will have three primary exhibition areas. "Journeys of Our Ancestors" will be an archaeological exhibit built into a 5-foot-deep trench in the museum floor, said Rick Sobel, project director for Ralph Appelbaum Associates, which is designing the state museum interiors. "Our Lands, Our Lives" will have four rooms telling the Native American stories of tribes in the plateau, desert, mountain and Colorado River quadrants of the state. The state museum also will have a gallery for changing exhibits and a theater. "We're focusing on people, objects and their stories," Sobel said. The science center will use new technology for its interactive exhibits, director Alexis Faust said.

Construction of the $130 million facility is expected to start in the summer with an opening in 2012, said Robert R. Smith, UA's vice president of facilities design. "I'm very anxious to see them get going on it," auto shop owner Beck said.

[NIXPHX77]

thanks for all the informative posts, esp. the project overview listing.

[kaneui]

^Glad you enjoy them. As elsewhere, any major new development has evaporated, and if the legislature pulls Rio Nuevo's TIF monies, there really won't be much to talk about for Tucson.

[kaneui]

The Tucson Citizen--Arizona's oldest continually published newspaper and my most frequent source of development news--may be history by the end of March:


Tucson Citizen to cease publication March 21 if no buyer found
Staff and Wire Report
Tucson Citizen
01.17.2009

Gannett Co. Inc. will close the Tucson Citizen on March 21 if it does not find a buyer for the newspaper. Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, made the announcement in a brief meeting with employees Friday. "The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976, and we deeply regret having to take this step," Dickey said. "But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy - particularly in this region - mean it is no longer viable for our partnership with Lee Enterprises Incorporated to produce two daily newspapers in Tucson."

The Citizen's average daily circulation has been eroding for more than a decade and now stands at about 17,000 newspapers, compared to the Arizona Daily Star's 117,000. The Citizen, an afternoon newspaper that started publication in 1870, operates under a joint operating agreement with the Star, a morning paper owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises Inc. Print production, distribution, sales and other noneditorial functions for both the Citizen and the Star operate under the name Tucson Newspapers Inc. Gannett and Lee Enterprises split any profits from TNI equally. Dickey told Citizen employees the paper as its own entity is losing money and the newspaper had become an increasing drain on Gannett operations over the last eight months. However, through the JOA, Gannett received about $13 million in 2007, TNI President Mike Jameson said. He added that the profit split will be much less in 2009. He did not specify the amount.

Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said the company was selling "the softer assets" of the Citizen, "the name, the Web site, the url, the contact list, advertising list, contracting list, subscriber list." Asked whether Gannett would sell or retain its interest in the JOA, she said "there are discussions going on, but right now, let's get it sold, and then we can talk about what happens next." Dickey declined to announce an asking price or the estimated value of the newspaper. The Citizen and the Star maintain separate newsrooms and the editorial operations are independent. The Citizen, which publishes Monday through Saturday, is Arizona's oldest continually published newspaper. It has 65 full-time and three part-time employees. Employees who stay with the paper through March 21 if it isn't sold will receive severance pay of one week for every year of employment, to a maximum of 26 weeks.

Tucson becomes the latest city on the verge of losing its second daily newspaper as the industry suffers from the poor economy, falling retail advertising and circulation declines. Denver's Rocky Mountain News, owned by E.W. Scripps Co., was recently put up for sale and could close if a buyer isn't found soon. Hearst Corp. put Seattle's oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, up for sale last week and said it would likely close or exist only online if a buyer wasn't found by March. Gannett, based in McLean, Va., publishes 85 daily newspapers in the United States, including The Arizona Republic and USA Today, and operates 23 television stations.

[kaneui]

There won't be much new office space--or even big shopping centers--built in Tucson any time soon, with 2008 year-end commercial and retail vacancies at 15% and 9%, respectively, and projected to climb another 2-5% by the end of 2009:


Figures paint gloomy picture for commercial development
By Josh Brodesky
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
01.16.2009

The deepening recession was reflected in year-end numbers released Thursday for Tucson's retail, office and industrial markets as vacancies rose in all three sectors while lease rates softened. While the rising vacancy rates are hardly surprising, the year-end reports from CB Richard Ellis paint a bleak picture for the coming year, particularly in the development of new space. Citing new construction completed in 2008 coupled with the plunging economy, the reports essentially say there will be almost no new commercial developments in the coming year. But for prospective and current tenants, the dismal numbers are an opportunity to negotiate more favorable terms for leases.

"Tucson currently has 9 million square feet of new shopping centers in the planning state" for completion by 2011, the retail report says. "However, with increasing unemployment and retail sales plunging to new lows, the horizon for these new projects seems out of sight." Retail vacancies jumped from 7.4 percent to 9.1 percent year over year, and the report says such an increase warrants landlords making changes to hold on to tenants. "If holiday sales are weak, rental rates may drop significantly in 2009 as landlords shelter their proformas in competition for users," the report says.
Nancy McClure, a CB Richard Ellis first vice president who specializes in retail properties, said she expects the retail vacancy rate to tick up another 2 percent to 4 percent in 2009.

With a vacancy rate of 14.9 percent, Tucson's market for office space was particularly weak. Buzz Isaacson, first vice president for CBRE, said a healthy vacancy number for Tucson's office market is about 10 percent. While 14.9 percent is a high number, Isaacson said he expects it to get worse as job losses mount and businesses contract. But he said Tucson's office market should fare better than other cities — particularly Phoenix — because there is not an abundance of space. "I think it's going to approach 20 percent," Isaacson said of the vacancy rate. "But it's offset again by the fact that in a small market like this, it doesn't take a ton of activity to turn it around."

And even the good news wasn't so good. While Tucson's industrial market appeared to stay relatively steady with vacancies rising only slightly to 6.7 percent, much of that had to do with development of the 975,000-square-foot Target Corp. distribution center on the city's Southeast Side near Rita Road and Interstate 10. Without that project, the city's industrial numbers would be much weaker, the report says. For example, the industrial market absorbed 824,656 square feet during the year.

Fourth-quarter reports issued Thursday by Picor Commercial Real Estate Services showed similar pessimism. Vacancies in the office sector climbed to 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with 8.7 percent in the third quarter, Picor reported. The report says vacancies are expected to continue to climb while sales of properties will slow. Landlords are expected to modify leases to keep tenants. Vacancies for the industrial market hit 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 7.7 percent in the first half of the year but up from 5.1 percent in 2007, Picor said.

[BrandonJXN]

Is there any news on the streetcar?

Btw..did any of you get your picture taken that'll line the 4th Ave underpass? I know I did. I don't know why because I hate having my picture taken but my ugly mug will gaze at the people. Forever. AND EVER!

[kaneui]

Originally Posted by kaneui

The $4.1 million streetscape work, funded by Rio Nuevo tax increment financing, should be finished by May 1. Archer Western will then move to Congress and Broadway to rip up those streets to move and replace utilities lines and install streetcar tracks from Fifth Avenue to Interstate 10. "We should get steel in the ground by midsummer," said Doug Post, Archer Western's senior project manager.

^This is the latest news on the streetcar from an earlier post re: Scott Avenue. For summaries of most of the major Tucson projects, check back to the list in post #788, which I update regularly.

[kaneui]

The latest TCC Sheraton render seems fairly "standard issue" for a convention center hotel, albeit with a few twists:



The proposed downtown hotel design combines glass, metal and masonry.
(render: DLR Group)


TCC hotel design has twin appeal
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.24.2009

The look of the new hotel for the Tucson Convention Center will have a twin personality. Brown masonry and stone will dominate the south-facing wall to ward off the harsh sun and heat. Glass and metal will make up the north-facing wall to "offer different reflective qualities during the course of the day," Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. The public is invited to view and comment on the designs from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at the second public design forum for the roughly 25-story, 525 to 550-room Sheraton hotel that will be built alongside the TCC, 260 S. Church Ave. The forum will take place in the TCC Grand Lobby on the center's Granada Avenue side. "We want to get some feedback for the design direction we're taking," Shelko said. "We want to make the public feel like they are part of the process."

At a design forum in December, the public pushed the design team to be bold, creative and make sure the feel of Tucson is incorporated in the design. The forum is hosted by Garfield Traub Development, the developer of the hotel; Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which owns the Sheraton brand; Turner Construction; Sundt Construction; and the DLR Group, the architecture firm designing the hotel. A third design forum will come in March and Shelko wants to get City Council approval for the designs in April. Schematic design, construction design and financing work for the estimated $150 million hotel will fill the rest of the year, with the intention to start construction in spring 2010, Shelko said.

additional information
IF YOU GO
What: Public forum on design of downtown hotel
When: 5-7 p.m. Monday
Where: Grand Lobby of the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave.

[kaneui]

SunTran's red and yellow bus fleet will be rebranded and replaced with blue and silver models throughout the metro area:



The new Sun Tran buses ditch the familiar
yellow and red scheme for blue and silver.
(photo: Nicholas Smith)



$8.2M transit plan aims to attract riders with new colors
By Nicholas Smith
Inside Tucson Business
January 23, 2009

In less than a month, anyone walking or driving anywhere in the Tucson region will be able to see local leaders’ multimillion dollar effort to reshape the public transit. On Feb. 16, new blue-and-silver painted Sun Tran buses and vans will begin to appear. It starts with 47 new models, priced at $391,000 each, will hit the streets, That day Sun Tran will retire 28 older vehicles so the net gain will be 19 for a fleet of 219. Some of the current buses in the fleet have been running since the late 1980s.

The upgrades to the regional transit system will cost $8.2 million and will show up in services stretching from Marana to Green Valley and westward to Ajo. “All modes are interconnected for seamless travel throughout the region,” said Oro Valley Mayor Paul Loomis, who also chairs the county’s Regional Transportation Authority. “We are all connecting all the dots.” In 2006, voters approved a 20-year, $2.1 billion plan from the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), which, which among other things, will raise money from a half-cent per dollar sales tax to revamp the mass transit system.

The most noticeable change will be the new color scheme and logo. Gone will be the red and yellow Sun Tran “sun logo,” replaced with a yellow sun silhouette that will be co-branded for the different modes of transportation. The Sun Tran rebranding will include new signs and bus stops, at a cost of $2.9 million. While some may criticize that price Gary Hayes, executive director of the RTA, says it’s justified to provide a cheaper means of travel in this down economic time.

Beyond the rebranding, the intent is to develop a region-wide seamless transit system. Sun Tran will continue to operate its busses but will be joined by new services, including:

• Sun Express — Larger buses that be used on longer commute routes to outlying areas.

• Sun Van — The new name for what is current Van Tran, providing services for disabled people who need to travel beyond the fixed bus routes.

• Sun Connect — This will be a van service operating on rural routes.

• Sun RideShare — Renamed version of the existing carpool program already being used by local employers.

• Sun(?) — A trolley service operating from downtown Tucson to the University of Arizona. (The real name will be determined by a community contest.)

Tying these together will be a single “smart card” fare payment system set to debut in 2010. “The real concept isn’t Sun Tran and Van Tran, it’s connecting the outlying areas,” said Hayes. When the plan is complete, it be possible for someone to travel seamlessly to any of 12 communities and municipalities within the region. The real test for the new plan will come if riders trade in their cars for the new system. For the coming fiscal year, transportation officials expect a ridership of 25 million along 28,000 route miles traveled each day. “Ridership of Sun Tran went up when gas prices went up,” Hayes said, adding that as prices went back down, the ridership seemed to maintain its levels. He hopes to gain the discretionary riders who own cars, but chose the new system to save time and money.

[oliveurban]

^ I like the new livery. Sun Tran has been needing something fresh for a long time now.

[kaneui]

At the beginning of this economically precarious new year, Tucson is plowing ahead with a multitude of Rio Nuevo projects, most of which are wholly dependent on the successful sale of additional bonds and the legislature's continued support of its TIF status. If the largest of these proposals move forward as planned, the changes to the downtown landscape by the end of 2012 will be enormous: an expanded convention center, a new convention center hotel, arena, and streetcar line; various housing projects, as well as numerous new cultural amenities.

But is most of it really doable or even feasible? Given Rio Nuevo's history, the naysayers are already declaring it dead in the water. In any case, events over the next several months will undoubtedly determine downtown's redevelopment momentum for years to come.





Large-scale Rio Nuevo work under way
Several big projects finally getting under way

by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.26.2009

A 180-foot-tall crane rose out of the downtown Depot Plaza garage hole Dec. 29 serving as a beacon for the expected start this year of several large-scale Rio Nuevo and private sector construction projects. The crane came a bit late for City Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, but its appearance is symbolic beyond the garage work it's supporting. "It took a year longer than I hoped," Trasoff said. "The crane represents such major progress (downtown). It represents that it is happening."

"Our ability to do anything is driven by everybody's ability to get money," Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. Rio Nuevo ended last year with an $80 million infusion of revenue bond funding that will be used for several of the above projects. The city will shop for possibly $370 million more in bond funds through 2014 to largely fund Rio Nuevo projects at Tucson Origins and around the Tucson Convention Center, but Shelko said it is unknown how easy it will be to get future bonds or generate enough sales tax revenue to repay them. "We're still in the midst of economic crisis," he said.

Construction is set to start on the following projects in the coming months:
(See above map for corresponding number.)

1. Streetcar tracks should get installed in midsummer on Congress Street and Broadway from Fifth Avenue west to Granada Avenue, south on Granada and west on Cushing Street to the Interstate 10 construction site. This is a $139 million project to run a streetcar from University Medical Center to Congress Street west of Interstate 10. The streetcar work will be part of the $37 million infrastructure work set to start in May on Congress Street and Broadway to update utility lines under the street and move them out of the way of streetcar tracks.

2. Adobe bricks should start going up in May or June for Mission San Agustín at Tucson Origins, south of Congress Street on the West Side. The mission is the heart of Tucson Origins and also the primary attraction presented to voters in the 1999 election to create the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District.

3. Construction should also start at the same time on the Tucson Origins garage for 300 vehicles just north of the mission. The hole for the garage was dug nearly two years ago to clear away a landfill.

4. Facade work should begin in a couple months on the four downtown buildings chosen to get city facade improvement matching funds to restore the historic look of pre-1948 buildings. The structures include the Rialto Block, 300-320 E. Congress St.; the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St.; the building at Broadway and Scott Avenue; and Wig-O-Rama, 98-110 E. Congress St.

5. A new Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments for senior citizens and the disabled will be built directly behind the original MLK apartments, which is now called One North Fifth Apartments. Construction on the six-story, 68-unit MLK tower is set to start in June, as soon as the Depot Plaza underground garage is finished.

6. A new main entrance to the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., will be built on the east side of the structure in the fall to allow demolition of the covered entry to the grand lobby on TCC's west side. The TCC hotel will be built at the entry way on the west side.

7. The Gadsden Co. intends to start land development this year on the 14 acres between I-10 and the Mercado District with the first office building expected to go up in 2010.

8. Construction is set to start in the summer on the Cushing Street bridge across the Santa Cruz River. It will link the TCC area to Tucson Origins, and it will bring the streetcar to its western terminus.

"We think after a number of years getting things ready to go, we are ready to go," Mayor Bob Walkup said. "Between now and the (state) centennial (in 2012) we can get things done, or at least under way." Walkup joined a Jan. 8 tour of Rio Nuevo sites that city officials gave to the Tucson Citizen Editorial Board. The tour included the TCC, the Mercado District, the Scott Avenue streetscape work and the Historic Depot.

Work is under way on the following projects:

9. The Depot Plaza garage so far is a 30-foot deep hole between Toole Avenue and the Ronstadt Transit Center, but the 281-space garage should be finished in June.

10. Wall foundations are in the works for the Mission Gardens at Tucson Origins, and adobe walls should start going up this week near the Mission San Agustín site.

11. Scott Avenue is being torn up south of Congress Street to create a new streetscape that's more pedestrian friendly with better sidewalks, trees, benches and improved lighting. The new streetscape should be in place May 1.

12. The Fourth Avenue underpass should be finished in summer to once again provide a direct link between downtown and the Fourth Avenue shopping district.

13. A commercial street front was added to the One North Fifth Apartments late last year, and the coming months should see tenants named for the street frontage along Congress.

14. Mercado San Agustín is opening in the summer with a dozen local merchants at Congress Street and Avenida del Convento.

15. The Mercado District of Menlo Park has 26 luxury homes in place on a 100-lot tract south of Congress Street and west of I-10. The city's Community Service Department is in the process of building four affordable housing homes at Mercado District's north edge along Congress Street.

16. 2009 will be filled with design work for a new Tucson Arena, a TCC hotel and TCC expansion. Construction on the $300 million collection is slated to start in 2010.

[aznate27]

I agree the new hotel is standard issue, but I like it 10 times better than the original design. I did noticed it went from 30 stories to 25, which is disapointing, but I'll be happy if it just gets built!

[kaneui]

Now pegged at 23 stories, here's another render of the TCC Sheraton looking southeast, showing the drive-through entrance under the structure:



(render: DLR Group)


Downtown hotel design gets lukewarm reaction; size scaled back
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
01.27.2009

The public in December applauded a suggestion for a bold design for the Sheraton hotel planned for the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave. They got two adjoining cigarette pack towers, one facing south in different shades of burnt ochre evocative of the desert, and the other glass-and-metal panels in pewter and silvery gray facing north with the intention of reflecting the changing daylight throughout.

The towers evoked little in the way of boldness, and the roughly 100 people attending the second design forum Monday for the TCC hotel had little reaction either way in the community feedback portion of the event. "It doesn't break the bounds," said Sam Swegle, a project coordinator at a Tucson architecture firm, in an interview. "That's not necessary. Tucson is not good at that."

The hotel dimensions announced Monday were 525 rooms and 23 stories, down from the originally projected 707 rooms and 30 stories. Market research and economics have brought the structure down in size, and the hotel could get smaller yet if cost overruns come into play, Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. "The first thing to go will be room count," Shelko said. "With all the real estate around the convention center, we have the option for a second hotel." Shelko intends to finance the estimated $150 million cost with revenue bonds to be paid off with hotel revenue.

Jonas Hunter, special events coordinator at the Greater Oro Valley Arts Council, was glad the architects held back on boldness. "I think it's as bold as the community is going to get or should get," Hunter said in an interview. "It should not say, wow, it's Tucson! All it is is a hotel." Jeff Sales, an industrial designer, found the design by DLR Group bold enough. "If they get too bold, they put a date stamp on 2010," he told a reporter.

Fred and Pat Highton, both in the electronics industry and living in the Tucson Mountains, wanted a bit more boldness. "I personally would have liked to see something done with the shading on the (north facing) glass side that would (evoke) the hillsides or saguaros," Pat Highton said. Fred Highton said, "I would suggest the top 25 percent be made into individual towers that represent saguaro." Gary Worthy, the DLR design leader, said he was not interested in being bold with the basic shape of the hotel. "We have chosen to be bold in a subtle manner," Worthy said. "It's in the elegant detail that there is variety of boldness."

A third design forum will reveal architectural renderings March 9, and Shelko expects to ask for City Council approval of the design in April. The intention is to start construction in 2010 and for the hotel to open in 2012.

[oliveurban]

I'm a little confused.

Will the new Sheraton replace the old, existing Hotel Arizona (formerly the Radisson, etc.)? Or, is it to be constructed directly behind it?

[kaneui]

Originally Posted by oliveurban

I'm a little confused.

Will the new Sheraton replace the old, existing Hotel Arizona (formerly the Radisson, etc.)? Or, is it to be constructed directly behind it?

The Sheraton will be built just south of the Music Hall and east of Granada Ave., at the northwest corner of the convention center and directly attached to it (see the green dot on the map above), and that's why they're relocating the main TCC entrance to the east side of the building later this year.

One of the main problems with Hotel Arizona as a convention center facility is that it only has 300 rooms, and its entrance on Congress is nearly 1/4 mi. walk from the TCC. Hotel Arizona says it can successfully undercut the new Sheraton's prices, but the property will need some serious upgrading to be competitive. Plus, meeting planners and convention-goers almost always prefer the hotels that are the closest and most convenient to their event.

Bert Lopez has said that if his convention center hotel proposal wasn't accepted (which it wasn't), he might build a new residential tower next to Hotel Arizona as condos or apartments. Since his Diamond Rock Plaza proposal is history, that might make sense, but getting financing in this recession would be difficult.

[kaneui]

Once considered as a possible high-rise site a few years ago, city officials are again revisiting plans to make downtown's Jacome Plaza a more welcoming and useful place for outdoor gatherings:





Friendlier downtown plaza proposed
by TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
02.02.2009

Downtown forces are brainstorming to turn the Jácome Plaza into a place where people want to eat lunch and stage events without the added expense of building a temporary stage and hauling in generators for power. Initial ideas range from bringing a permanent stage and vendor booths onto the forlorn plaza to creating attractive lunch spots and an outdoor reading area for library patrons.

Library administrators, the city Parks & Recreation Department and the Downtown Tucson Partnership are bouncing around ideas on how to redesign the plaza that wraps around three sides of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library. Glenn Lyons, chief executive of the downtown partnership, has had Jácome Plaza on his radar since his first day on the job last February. "I walked through the plaza and said, 'This doesn't make any sense,'" Lyons said. Library staff fully concur. "I want to give this space a sense of purpose," said librarian Coni Weatherford, who coordinated the Get Fit Festival on the plaza in September. "There does not seem to be a concept to the design," she said. "There's not a sense of 'That's where I go to eat lunch. That's where to go for a presentation, that's where to go to buy food.' " Lyons describes the plaza as the "forest" section in the northwest quadrant and the "prairie" along the southern half, with its sloped grass edged with red gravel.

Library and partnership participants in a Friday workshop especially railed against the red, bird-like sculpture called "Sonora" that sits just outside the library entrance - but not as art critics. "You don't want to walk under it," said Karyn Prechtel, the main library's manager. "(The artist) had no idea all it would do was attract pigeons," Weatherford said. Lyons last summer had a preliminary chat with Mayor Bob Walkup, who told Lyons up to $70,000 in city Back to Basics funds may be available for initial improvements. Walkup chief of staff Andrew Greenhill confirmed those funds are available for Jácome Plaza and that he and the mayor will meet soon with Lyons.

Lyons has two first-stage improvements in mind:
• Create a contained outdoor reading area under the library overhang, which Pima County Public Library services manager Karen Thayer believes could be ready in late spring or summer if money is available.
• Flatten the first 15 feet of the sloped lawn nearest the Pennington Street sidewalk and provide an electrical conduit to create a dedicated space for sidewalk activities like the farmer's market.

"We care an awful lot about what goes on out there," said Karen Thayer, the library system's No. 3 administrator. "If you could do this, it's fabulous. We wanted to do this for 20 years (since the main library and plaza were built in 1990)." Norris Design principal Stacey Weaks met with Lyons last summer to discuss his vision for downtown and latched onto the Jácome Plaza idea. The planning and landscape architecture firm has volunteered assistance since then and now has a $4,000 contract to put on last week's workshop and use the input from it, parks officials and other city officials to draw up a conceptual plan by April. Lyons wants to include a Jácome Plaza concept in his downtown revitalization plan that he wants in place by mid-April. Lyons and Prechtel are inspired by the 1990s revitalization of Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library, described at www.bryantpark.org/history/bryant-park-today.php.

[Azstar]

Here's a suggestion. How 'bout the City making an effort to keep the Plaza free of the homeless encampments that populate the area seven days a week. On Sundays, there are only vagrants and derelicts hanging around. There has to be a reason to hang out there and being surrounded by garbage and bums is not a reason.

[somethingfast]

I love how the Sheraton lost 3 stories in a week! By the time this thing actually breaks ground, it will be 10 stories tops. That's Tucson style for ya lol. Seriously, the idea that ANYTHING above 5 stories is actually getting built in DT is kinda cool given the history over the last 20+ years but, come on, let's at least get a new tallest guys. What is up with the state of Arizona where everybody is afraid to have that badge??????

[kaneui]

^Unfortunately, it's the cumulative effect of numerous factors, of which I'll list a few:

1. Decades of suburban/exurban sprawl have dissipated the relevancy and vibrancy of whatever urban cores that existed previously, and reversing that trend is very slow-going.

2. The lack of corporate headquarters and the businesses that support them does not spur much demand for new office towers, and the state's dismal ranking in terms of education is a major factor in discouraging future corporate relocations.

3. A lack of economic diversification is costing Arizona dearly at the moment, with a mostly low-wage economy in a region that has depended far too long solely on rapid population growth and home building to keep things afloat.

4. And one last note--the West's growing water crisis will eventually have a major impact on Arizona's future growth rate and development patterns, as we acknowledge the utter unsustainability of the sprawl machine, particularly in an arid desert.

For the moment, Tucson can be grateful for a few large projects on the horizon such as the convention center, hotel, and arena--as long as the legislature doesn't yank Rio Nuevo funding. Obviously, they won't create a vibrant downtown all by themselves, but at least may provide some forward movement in a moribund city center that has seen little change in the last 20 years.

[Locofresh55]

Primarily we have been chatting about projects for Rio Nuevo, but it has come to my attention that not much has been talked about the possible mall being discussed for Vail. The people who developed the Mall of Americas in Minneapolis were looking to build something of similar proportions here in Vail. Is this project dead in the water? I have heard of the mega project being built on the SE side near Houghton but what about this other bad boy.


BTW.....I like the new Sheraton design.......we need some funky looking building to liven up downtown.