Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 - (Page 4)

D ow n tow n WHERE’S THE FONZ? It was a Downtown Tucson version of Happy Days with everybody there but the Fonz. The location for the recent Friends of Downtown breakfast burrito gathering was to allow a status report on the newly-renovated One North Fifth urban flats west of Hotel Congress and to thank Congressman Raul Grijalva for his work in conjunction with the modern streetcar which will eventually glide through that area. In next month’s Downtown Tucsonan you will read a profile of Shellie Ginn, streetcar project manager, and how she is waiting for a large check to arrive from the Federal Transit Administration. “I don’t think the funding will arrive in one massive payoff,” Grijalva said, “I’d look for funding to appear incrementally over a series of years rather that a single large payout at the beginning. But that will still be appropriate because it allows us to get our foot in the door with regular funding checks to continue in the ensuing years. There should be enough there initially, perhaps $15-$20 million, to get things rolling and momentum continuing. And quite frankly, incremental funding will allow us to do a much better job of securing commitments at the federal level than we’ve done up to this point. “I think there’s going to be more money for these kinds of alternative modes of transportation now that we’re in an energy crisis and are truly talking about energy independence. If we’re talking seriously about doing something about climate change to reduce that carbon footprint of ours, we’re going to have to go in a whole different direction and Tucson and Downtown is poised to be one of the pioneers in that area.” With the beep-beep-beep of heavy equipment working on building an underground parking garage at One North Fifth, City Councilmember Nina Trasoff emphasized the importance of Transit on the Move progress. “The modern streetcar is critically important, THE KEY, to pulling all of this together,” she said. “We have private sector investment here of millions of dollars to match public sector investment and need the streetcar to bring people into the area.” “The parking structure (with access to stores and apartments at One North Fifth as well as Hotel Congress and the Rialto Theater) is about nine months away from being complete although we’re already ready to go here, open and renting apartments,” said Ron Schwabe of Peach Properties, partner with developer Williams and Dame. “Once parking is ready, we’ll start Phase II to provide more living space. And retail buildout should be done in shell form by November. Although no signatures are on contracts yet, we’re seriously talking to a couple of restaurants as retail tenants that could make a major impact on the Downtown area.” While the big buzz currently comes at the corner of Congress Street and 5th Avenue (and the adjacent 4th Avenue underpass where a thousand yards of concrete was recently poured), attendee Jerry Dixon, whose usual development purview is the 15 acres on the west end of Downtown, put things in perspective: “What we’ve got here is a downtown bookend. We’re building the Westside stanchion and this is another part of the eastside bookend and we’re going to fill the library in between with a bunch of great stories.” bedroom condos to price out in the low to mid-$100,000 range. While city council members are anxious to get numerous Downtown development projects underway, they’ve asked for more time to review this one and discuss things like low-income housing as part of the three-phase $10 million project known as The Flats at Julian Drew Block. DONE DEAL Potential parking problems have been resolved and Madden Media and the City of Tucson have finalized a purchase agreement for the city-owned MacArthur Building, 345 E. Toole Avenue, to become the publishing company’s world headquarters. “We’re proud to be a pioneer in Downtown’s revitalization,” said CEO Kevin Madden. Purchase price of the facility was $1.7 million and Madden Media is expected to spend another $1.5 million for renovation. The deal was sealed as a result of on-going negotiations on behalf of the City by Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Glenn Lyons. Nina Trasoff, chair of the Council’s Downtown subcommittee, applauded the role DTP played in finalizing the details. “This is a major win for Downtown, I believe the first major Tucson company to move Downtown in recent years. And it’s a tremendous asset to have the Partnership working on behalf of the City to help complete the deal,” she said. POST LOFT PROGRESS. Or not. Regardless of where you notched your calendar concerning the announcement of the pending Post Lofts, it’s going to be quite a bit longer before activity levels pick up. “We submitted our initial RFP response three or four years ago and then submitted a revised plan in mid-2006,” said Don Bourn of Bourn Partners. “That development agreement was signed with a planned construction start date of Fall 2007.” In an April 2008 Post Project Update, it was reported, “Excitement is building for all of us as The Post Lofts is planning a long-awaited groundbreaking for the month of May 2008 and Banner Construction has been selected as General Contractor.” May turned into June, followed by July and August with no visible forward motion. Still optimistic, Bourn told Downtown Lowdown, “We’ll be completed in 16 to 18 months” once dirt begins to fly. That’s got to be pretty soon as the Family Housing Resources – Post Lofts web page is now reporting a planned completion date of Fall 2009 for the condominiums, restaurants and shops planned for construction at Scott and Congress. WAREHOUSE ARTS DISTRICT Also under discussion is the future of the Historic Warehouse Arts District involving approximately 50 aging buildings near 4th Avenue railroad tracks. If all goes as WAMO (Warehouse Arts Management Organization) hopes, they will pass from the state to the city to WAMO. “Artists have been making things happen in the district for over 20 years,” says WAMO President Susan Gamble, who steps down from office next month. “Now’s the time to secure the future of those efforts to create and serve vibrant arts focused in a multi-use district Downtown.” Working with WAMO is developer Williams and Dame where Matt Brown is project manager. “We’re working on a larger plan built around the arts district, using the energy generated there to create a new sense of place and a neighborhood around it. Our hope is to have some form of agreement together by late this year,” he says. ZIG, THEN ZAG At presstime, discussions were underway on plans for proposed condominiums near Broadway and South Fifth Avenue. Developer Ross Rulney wants to convert apartments in a 91-year-old building into studio and one- 4 downtown tucsonan.october.08

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008

Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 Contents Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performing Arts Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Guest Editoral Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008

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