Downtown Tucsonan - July/August 2008 - (Page 6) D ow n tow n Low d ow n by Lee Allen & Downtown Tucsonan Staff on a roll sushi restaurant at 63 e. congress is set to open within a few weeks. expect solar powered outdoor stage lighting and sound at the hoco festival in august. TRACKING TROLLEY TRACKS Updating some of downtown construction progress: “Work is on-going on the new northern half of the 4th Avenue underpass structure,” says Tucson Department of Transportation project manager Mike Skilsky. “We expect to shift the Union Pacific Railroad operation to temporary new tracks across the north half of the new underpass about Thanksgiving time at which point work can start on the southern half of the structure.” The Fourth Avenue/Downtown connection is scheduled for a grand re-opening sometime in late spring/early summer 2009. Trolley track work (pavement removal) has begun north of the underpass at 9th Street and should be on-going through mid-July to complete existing tracks near 8th Street on 4th Avenue. The intersection of 9th and 4th will remain closed during this period of construction. “Tracks are now being installed around Congress, down 5th Avenue to Broadway, then west on Broadway to connect to previously-installed rails. We’re looking at early August to have Broadway complete along with 5th Avenue between Broadway and Congress,” Skilsky says. Work on 5th Avenue north of Congress will begin once the Depot Plaza underground parking garage nears completion sometime next year. REDLINE ROUTE While transportation improvement projects have resulted in the arrival of barricades and detours impacting pedestrian, vehicle and bicycle travel, the City of Tucson continues to run its Redline Route as part of its free TICET travel. Redline is funded through the Fourth Avenue Underpass Project and is designed to mitigate the loss of access during the construction. It operates seven days a week from Park Avenue to Stone Avenue and includes 24 stops (covering 100 retail businesses, nearly 70 restaurants, and a dozen clubs, galleries, and museums). It’s a free ride to shopping, food, and fun with someone else doing the driving during Fourth Avenue construction. Redline operates daily from 10am till 10pm Sunday thru Tuesday and until 2:30am Wednesday thru Saturday. A Texas developer working on a 700-room Sheraton Hotel near the Convention Center and arena has been dealt a six month timeline to prepare a pre-development agreement, the first phase of project planning. Garfield Traub Development will research and report on construction costs and schedules for the hotel and arena, along with financing plans and development agreements. Still unresolved is the fate of The Hotel Arizona property. The City and hotel owner HSL Properties have not been able to agree on a fair purchase price for the hotel, which is proposed for renovation and re-branding as a Doubletree Hotel. SUMMERTIME BLUES Recent developments have caused promoters of two area projects to slow to a snail’s pace or come to a complete halt, both the result of failing to win federal low-income housing tax credits. A one-year hiatus is expected on the six-story, $31 million, One West condominium project on the southwest corner of Speedway and Stone. The tax credit would have been worth $1 million a year for the next decade, the principal source of funding affordable housing there. Developers there indicate they may wait another year to reapply in what they hope will be a more positive economic market. Another developer wanted to turn the 60-year-old former Miracle Mile Ghost Ranch Lodge motel into senior housing. While the Arizona Department of Housing did not include those two as recipients of tax credits, two others were selected a substance abuse rehab center at 2835 N. Stone and the elderly/disabled lower-income Martin Luther King Building at Depot Plaza that includes market-rate apartments at One North Fifth. The agency considered nearly 50 applications before funding 16 housing projects throughout the state to the tune of $155.5 million worth of credits. DOWNTOWN DEPARTURE Construction and parking issues have spelled the apparent downtown demise of Griffonage Studios, shortlived at 270 E. Congress. “We have plans to re-open in the fall at a new, yet-to-be-disclosed, location,” says owner Jan Zbiciak Brummett. “Given constant rerouting of traffic, construction, and parking issues that continue to discourage folks from coming downtown on a regular basis, we’ve decided to take a second look at downtown as a viable business venue,” she says. “We’re closing the studios on Congress Street and sometime over the next few months will make a decision as to whether to continue downtown or not.” Meanwhile, workmen at the site of the future On a Roll sushi restaurant at 63 E. Congress expect the business to be open within a few weeks. A lighted exterior sign was installed in early June, brightening up the Scott/Congress corner. LOTS OF BRIDGES FALLING DOWN First it was the Fourth Avenue underpass, the oldest such in the state, built in 1916, and demolished as part of reconstruction to improve access to downtown. In recent weeks, it’s been the St. Mary’s Road Bridge and the Speedway Boulevard Bridge , part of the I-10 Prince Road to 29th Street Widening Project. Sidewalk superintendents who enjoy watching the past disappear will have another opportunity on July 11-13 when the Grant Road Bridge goes bye-bye. The demolition process begins on Friday at 9pm and wraps up by 6am Monday with contractors working 24-hour shifts to re-open the road as soon as possible. Although not as dramatic as imploding a hotel structure in Las Vegas with TNT where bricks and mortar drop into a dust pile, it’s still an historical event as the Department of Transportation allows excavators with hammer and shear to remove the structures in the name of progress. Arizona Dept. of Transportation officials estimate that the I-10 project will be completed in early 2010. TUCSON CITY COUNCIL Armed with an approved $1.3 billion budget for the next fiscal year, Tucson City Council members are now focusing on a variety of issues a major one of which will arise in early July when city staff presents a Rio Nuevo project schedule for development west of the Interstate. Councilmember Regina Romero has asked city manager Mike Hein to present an operations and marketing plan for city-planned Westside development by early August and has also asked the manager to authorize over $41 million to begin construction on a variety of projects from the Tucson Origins Heritage Park to underground parking. STAYING SOLVENT Artists are supposed to struggle it’s part and parcel of the myth but one struggling arts organization is looking toward a creative partnership in order to stay in business. ArtFare the Muse, with a history of financial challenges, offers space to up-and-coming artists. In order to avoid closing its doors, ArtFare wants to open its Sixth Avenue space to students from nearby Tucson Academy of Leadership and Arts. ArtFare artists would contribute to the teaching curriculum and students would create, alongside working artists. 6 downtown tucsonan.july/august.08
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