Tucson Development Thread
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ge-p1thumb.jpg

One huge arch
Cost of suspension bridge over I-10 unknown but rising; span would be Tucson's tallest structure

By Thomas Stauffer
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

New images released Thursday by the UA show an enormous arch spanning Interstate 10 that would serve not only as a landmark for Tucson but would also support a pedestrian bridge and a proposed science center.

While the images of the arch and suspension bridge, which also spans the Santa Cruz River west of Downtown, are more detailed versions of one introduced in October by architect Rafael Viñoly, the estimated cost has yet to be fleshed out, said Alexis Faust, executive director of the University of Arizona's Flandrau Science Center.

"I honestly don't know what it's going to cost and I don't even want to guess," she said about the project. "We know that it's more. The question is, how much more, and we won't be able to answer that until some more design work has been done."

The Uruguay-born Viñoly envisions a suspension bridge with a 360-foot-high arch that would make it the tallest structure in Tucson.

The arch would be the support structure for the science center and pedestrian bridge, which would provide panoramic views of the city and its mountain scapes, Faust said.

But his more detailed design does much more than just create a structure that would serve as a landmark such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, she said.

"One of the things we're really trying to show people with these new images is that this is not only iconic, but what it will support, what goes inside of this bridge," she said. "The earlier image apparently left some people with the idea that this would just be an arch or an arch supporting a pedestrian bridge, when this is obviously much more than that."

Citizens' groups stressed a desire for the structure to tread as lightly as possible on the land, Faust said.

"You can't tread much more lightly than only hitting the ground at the two points where the bridge lands," she said. "Rafael also made a comment that one way of honoring a sense of place is to provide a space to look at things from another perspective, and this will certainly allow people to look at not only rooftops but also at mountain ranges, geology, and where we are in the context of Arizona."

A focal element of the Rio Nuevo Downtown redevelopment project approved by voters in 1999, the science center project, which includes the arch, the bridge, and all science center buildings, had earlier been projected to cost about $100 million.

The next step is an economic feasibility study on the center, which is expected to be released in about a month, Faust said.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved $73 million for the center, added to state tax increment financing of $20 million from Rio Nuevo, a $16 million private endowment, private donations and federal and state funds related to the widening of I-10 and restoration of the Santa Cruz River, Faust said.

Construction of the science center project would require synchronization with the widening of I-10 from West Prince Road to West 29th Street, a three-year, $122 million project, said Doug Nintzel, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation.

"We've already had a lot of coordination leading up to the start of construction and that is going to have to continue through all stages of this work," Nintzel said. "We're going to concentrate on that particular section first and that will require working closely with the science center."

Work is expected to begin on the science center in late 2006 and end in late 2009. Work on I-10 will begin in the spring of 2006, said Dennis Alvarez, ADOT's Tucson District engineer.

The science center project evolved from one that would have required additional construction features to the I-10 widening plans to one that will not require additional work or expense for the freeway project, Alvarez said.

Work schedule:

● Construction is expected to begin in late 2006.

● Construction would be done concurrently with work on the affected portion of Interstate 10, which is being widened from Prince Road to 29th Street.

● Estimated completion date is late 2009.

● The bridge, which includes the campus buildings and the pedestrian walkway that winds through, by and over the different buildings, would be about 1,200 feet long and 50 to 60 feet wide.

● The cost estimate is more than $100 million.

Additional Images:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ge-numbers.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...-bridge-p2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ridge-p3-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...-bridge-p4.jpg

Now THAT is a cool proposal! Congrats, Tucson!

Aaron (Glowrock)

Very interesting. I'll have to call my aunt and see what the buzz is about this in the Tucson suburbs. :)

--don

I like it. I was afraid Rio Nuevo would be another one of those hybrid projects, mixing a "festival marketplace" with an aquarium or a baseball stadium. The bridge is gorgeous and iconic. It also shifts the focus of Tucson from the homogenized schlock of the foothills to the edgier, more creative part of the city. Tucson could hit a home run with this project.

That's ridiculous... a ped brisge taller than any other structure in the city? Are they serious?

Anyone ever driven through Nebraska along I-80? Kinda reminds me of that but cooler. I'm thinking they could do something better with a $100 million.

I think it looks great. I also think it's way too progressive for Tucson and, thus, will never see the light of day. I hope I'm wrong. DT Tucson is actually pretty nice and has lots of potential. I like the idea of Tucson being the "gateway" between the US and Mexico.

Wow! That's a hell of a bridge.

a ped brisge taller than any other structure in the city? Are they serious?

i don't see why not. well, money.

Several times. That little place can be a nice break from the long trip. I always stop there and at cabela's on the way to lincoln from boise.

This bridge looks awsome. Think of the pictures you could take from that thing

Wow, I love that bridge. Since Tucson might be getting its signature man-made structure, Phoenix needs to consider something like this as well.

In any case, a 360' tall bridge is awesome, that'll look soooo cool. Go Tucson!

-Andrew

Ummm - 360' tall suspension bridge in a landlocked city? Very odd...I'd almost think it'd look way too out of place. Something like this over the Tempe Town Lake would be more 'in place'.

Interesting...

I noticed in the pictures that the bridge seems to be 'open air' - I'd imagine they'd have to cage it in to keep lonely people from jumping onto I-10...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ridge-p3-2.jpg

What’s that you spot in the telescope? Why it's the sprawly shitfest Casa Grande growing towards us.:D

^ LOL!! :haha:

I must say, it would be pretty bizarre to have a pedestrian bridge as the tallest structure in a city the size of Tucson.

Then again, they need something to get people across the vast expanse of I-10, with its 3 whole lanes in each direction! ;)

Actually, I guess it would be pretty cool to drive under that on I-10.

They should do something like this for the Central Avenue bridge over Deck Park.

^ Yea, might as well. I mean, while they're currently in the process of tearing up the current bridge ...

The Tucson Arch? It definately would be iconic.

They're tearing up the bridge over deck park?! Why?

^ Yea, for the light-rail line. It's being altered.

To what extent?

They have to realign the lanes and sidewalks, and most likely remove the divided gap in the median as well. Who knows what the final product will ultimately look like at this point, but alterations are being made.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ridge-p3-2.jpg

Is it just me, or does that photo look like everyone was just plucked out of the 1980s, early 90s and thrown into 2005?

The future itself is already plucked.

Tucson could certainly use an iconic structure for its struggling downtown and Rio Nuevo project. It certainly won't be in the form of an office or hotel tower any time soon, and this gateway bridge/science center could provide a true identifying landmark for the city.

As the metro area population approaches the one million mark, is Tucson ready to step into the future with vision and imagination as a vibrant urban center, or will it be content to remain in the sleepy, sprawly Old Pueblo mode?

Let's hope not the latter.

More Tucson-related development:

I read a few days ago that Starwood is launching a new hotel brand called "aloft", a downscale version of the W Hotels, and Tucson will be one of the five cities to get the first ones. (And not even a mention of it in the Daily Star.) http://development.starwood.com/aloft_popup.php

Any rumors as to where it might be? You think they might be really daring and build it, say......DOWNTOWN? :no: LOL

With Gen-X business travelers as their target market, I would guess they'll put it somewhere around UA to pick up the university/medical school travel business. (Probably not the foothills or airport areas.)

Yea, and this: http://www.welcometowhotels.com/aloft/index_flash.html

Looks nice.

I'm thinking it's going to be along Skyline in the Foothills-area, possibly near Westcor's new La Encantada shopping plaza ... ?

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...analBridge.jpg

Speaking of bridges, here's a public art project the City of Phoenix plans for the Arizona Canal at 24th St. (near the Biltmore). It's called Water Reveries.

Rio Nuevo is quite the project, but the east side of the 10 doesn't provide enough residential to balance out everything else.

In fact, most of the Rio Nuevo project seems to be a grand revitalisation scheme similar to what downtown Phoenix has seen over the years to little success. Arenas, offices, and retail shops don't revitalise an area--people do. This is decidedly absent in at least the east half.

But back to the bridge itself, the importance of an iconic structure for Tucson is the coolest proposal that's come to that city in a long time, hell, since the UofA was first conceptualised in late nineteenth century. Depending on how the city is zoned around it, the I-10 corridor and downtown would be ripe for high density residential development with the views it could offer. It'd be like a Golden Gate Bridge framed by mountains instead of the ocean.

I've always thought Phoenix should have a signature structure of some sort, but it's cool that Tucson is seeing such vision. Indeed, the city could find its place on the map like the Gateway Arch defines St Louis.

You're right, combuchan--Rio Nuevo needs a stronger residential component. Urban residential development can be tricky, however, and often gets caught in the proverbial chicken-and-egg conundrum: prospective residents want certain amenities in the way of culture, retail, restaurants and nightlife before moving in; yet those very businesses and institutions are often hesitant to commit to an area without a substantial residential base to support them.

For successful urban development--particularly redevelopment--there must be a compelling and viable vision, and a sufficient number of developers, entrepreneurs, civic leaders and citizens that believe in and support that vision and are willing to risk the necessary political and financial capital to make it happen. To date, Tucson's Rio Nuevo vision hasn't created much consistent momentum, although the tide may be starting to turn.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Tucson is at a crossroads regarding its urban future, as numerous issues, including the worsening traffic congestion and the cost of basic infrastructure for the ever-expanding suburban sprawl, are already forcing the question. (see the 5 Trends Tucson? study: http://www.tucsonaz.gov/planning/res...ns/5trends.pdf)

Perhaps the Rio Nuevo plan for a strong urban core is premature: Phoenix's population is nearly four million, and they have yet to achieve a strong commercial and residential core downtown. But Tucson has never been nor wanted to emulate Phoenix, and any modern urban core it creates should be far different in both flavor and scope than its neighbor to the north.

As a result of the city's prior redevelopment efforts and the lack of much visible progress to date, they are plenty of naysayers about Tucson's prospects of ever having a thriving downtown again. However, as the area's rapid pace of growth continues, I would hope that civic and business leaders, as well as the community at large, begin to acknowledge and address the increasingly urban needs of a metropolis with nearly one million residents.

Re: Starwood's new "aloft" brand hotel slated for Tucson...

This week's online "Inside Tucson Business" reports Starwood saying that the hotel will be on a company-owned property, with the paper speculating that it might be the Four Points Sheraton at Broadway and Campbell, which would then be remodeled for a reopening in 2007.

So, maybe there won't be any new construction for this hotel after all...

Not the worst location, but that still seems like an odd spot for the hotel overall.

Regardless if it's ultimately new construction or not, it's still a positive thing that Tucson was chosen as one of the first 5 cities.

Yes, particularly since Tucson lacks much in the way of upscale accommodations in and around downtown. Hopefully, the remodel of the Santa Rita will at least provide a nicer boutique hotel.

And speaking of hotels, it appears that Rio Nuevo is no longer talking about building a new city-financed hotel as part of the expanded Convention Center . If they were going to proceed, the owner of the downtown Radisson (the only large hotel downtown) was threatening to convert his hotel to condos and build more condo towers on his site, since the hotel isn't making any money now, and he sees another new hotel as direct competition in a very weak market.

So for now, it seems that Rio Nuevo is supporting an expansion and redevelopment of the Radisson as the main "headquarters" hotel for the convention center. I would think that any immediate expansion of downtown's hotel inventory would be very questionable--at least until the new arena and convention center expansion are approved, and there are a few more commercial office towers to draw in business travelers.

Hey, that's twenty years better than where Tucson is, developmental and infrastructure-wise. ;)

For those of you interested in downtown Tucson, Rio Nuevo has a new, revamped website: http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/rionuevo/

Thanks, much nicer than before.

I like the maps.

Downtown Tucson hotel sheds Radisson affiliation

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/business/96681.php

Tucson's downtown Radisson is now the Hotel Arizona. The article suggests that the owners want a more upscale and "edgier" hotel as they prepare to add another tower or two on the property. (The proposed towers are listed as Diamond Rock Plaza East and West in the SSP Tucson profile.)

Although the owners announced the expansion plan in February, it will hinge on the city's decision to build a new arena, expand the convention center, and possibly build a separate convention center hotel.

The irony in all these redevelopment schemes is that if Tucson never did anything, it would be sitting on a gold mine today. The convention center was built on the site of the city's old barrio, and when it was torn down in the late 60s, Tucson lost the chance to be as cool as Santa Fe. Yes, there's still some of the old barrio left south of Cushing Street, and it's extremely valuable real estate. but imagine having something much larger. Tucson is still fortunate to have what it does, but the missed opportunity is yet another cautionary tale in our zeal to be ahistorical and deracinated.

Yes, soleri, the city's downtown "redevelopment" of the 70's was an unfortunate chapter for Tucson's barrios. (Probably even more irritating to displaced residents since it basically failed to revitalize much of anything, and left a major "dead zone" in its wake.)

I'm not sure Tucson would ever be cool like Santa Fe is, or was (although Sedona is trying real hard), as the population surge and sprawl that started in the 50's sent the city in a whole different direction.

But, maybe the city fathers can atone for a few of their original downtown sins by creating more barrio-style neighborhoods like the upcoming Mercado District at Menlo Park with its Cultural Plaza, all part of Rio Nuevo's plan for west of I-10. www.mercadodistrict.com

It won't replace the original structures and neighborhoods that are long gone, but will hopefully restore a small semblance of authenticity to Tucson's historic downtown.

Here's some 20/20 hindsight on urban renewal and downtown Tucson's redevelopment history:


Posted: Monday, Oct 10, 2005 - 09:13:29 am MDT

Four decades later, watershed year still affect's Tucson's future

By Philip S. Moore, Inside Tucson Business

This is an anniversary year, but only some people are celebrating.

It was four decades ago this year that Gene C. Reid, the City of Tucson’s Parks and Recreation director, decided that a zoo might be a good idea for Randolph Park. What he chose to do, then, continues to expand today, attracting more than 400,000 visitors each year as one of the city’s leading tourist and community destinations.

Also celebrating a 40th anniversary, on Sept. 21 was the Wilmot library building. Tucson-Pima Public Library spent $406,730 to construct the 15,550 square foot branch, the third for the regional library district. In 1966 the Wilmot Branch Library and its architect, Nicholas Sakellar and Associates, were selected as one of eleven winners of a biennial national architectural award for “distinguished accomplishment in library architecture” sponsored by the American Institute of Architects in cooperation with the American Library Association, and has since been named a Tucson landmark.

It was also exactly 40 years ago, this year, between February 1965 and May 1966, that the city’s government and citizens decided to end a decade of debate over the costs and benefits, and voted to breathe life back into Tucson’s fading downtown with a sweeping urban renewal project that would clear away the old and make way for the new.

Backed by $15 million in bonds to leverage federal, state and private investment, the city made a commitment to clear 29 decaying city blocks west of Church Avenue, between Washington Street on the north and 14th Street on the south, and make it into what all the best minds of the times conceived as the city of the future.

They decided to give the city a series of new government buildings to attract offices and bring people back to the downtown’s stores and restaurants, and they decided to build a new convention center, the city’s first, to finally get a local share of the nation’s growing convention and trade show business.

While universally condemned today, for the Tucson of 1965, it made sense. Southern California architect and new urbanist Stefanos Polyzoides, designer of the new Mercado at Menlo Park, may compare Tucson’s urban renewal to the firebombing of Coventry, Dresden or Berlin, or the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima, but James Corbett, Tucson’s mayor at the time, said it was simply the best option available.

After all, the barrio had it coming, he said. Federal urban renewal was specifically targeted at areas that met the standard for blighted neighborhoods and West Congress Street, along with Barrio Libre and La Hoya (the hole) were obvious choices.

Since the railroad came to town in 1880, Tucson’s center had shifted from the old Presidio and Royal Road, now Granada Avenue, to the intersection of Stone Avenue and East Congress Street.

West Congress, which had served the many small farms that once flourished along the banks of the Santa Cruz River, had declined along with the farms to become a dilapidated series of rundown businesses catering to Tucson’s lowlife.

Sentiment and the distance of time have emphasized its qualities, but low home ownership rates, a high percentage of housing units that failed to make minimum safety and health standards, and declining population all marked the old neighborhoods for extinction.

Speaking to a Tucson Weekly reporter in 1997 about later objections to the project, Corbett said, “I never quite figured it out. Were they talking about the bars on West Congress, the derelicts and drug users on Meyer Street or the slumlords owning properties down there?”

What made the renewal project essential, according to the city’s planners of the era, was the completion of Interstate 10 along the east bank of the river. That made the west side of downtown important again, and with the federal government willing to put up $4.5 million to help pay for it, Tucson could transform seedy back streets into a modern urban center that the public could embrace.

Discussing the inner west side area in a 1971 report on the urban renewal project and the later-discarded Butterfield Freeway proposal, a city report acknowledged the historic character of the community but said, “With the rising mobility of the younger Mexican-American population, the older, less stylish areas have lost favor. Many of them would now prefer to live on the more prestigious far east and west sides.”

The city planners said the area was “at the stage in its life cycle when older, long-term residents are beginning to die, and some of the middle-aged residents finally have amassed enough money to move to their dream homes in more stylish areas. Fewer and fewer young Mexican-Americans stay in the area to raise their own families.”

As a result, “Original owners or their descendents are becoming absentee landlords. Renters then come from one social class, people who cannot afford to move to any other area. Houses and vacant land, over a long period, cease to be owned by the original families of the area and increasingly fall into the hands of speculators.”

Whatever the intentions of the time might have been, four decades later the project remains, “a ghost that hangs over anything and everything we do downtown,” said Marty McCune, coordinator of historic preservation and Río Nuevo for the City of Tucson. “It’s something we have to live with and address.”

McCune said, “The one thing that urban renewal did was awaken the barrio. The whole preservation movement was born as a result, and that has had a major impact on the city in the years since.”

She said, “There are still improvements that need to be made, but if you look at where these neighborhoods were 40 years ago and where they are now, you can see how much has been accomplished through the public and private investment in preservation that emerged as a reaction to the wholesale land clearance that happened then.”

Urban renewal also set the agenda for the Río Nuevo project. It made community improvement the highest priority. “Thanks to the lessons learned from urban renewal, we never wanted Río Nuevo to be about forcing people from their homes,” McCune said. “We worked hard to meet with all the neighborhoods affected and worked closely with them to make sure if Río Nuevo affected them, it did so in a positive way.”

It also made accepting and embracing national population trends important, she said, “A lot of people’s lives were turned upside down to do something that people thought was a good idea.” However, in the end, little was changed for the city as the 1960s march to the suburbs continued without slowing.

While urban renewal accomplished almost everything it set out to do, “it wasn’t enough,” McCune said. “We learned from the experience that it takes a lot of different features to make urban renewal possible. It takes a mix of housing, commercial development and parking. It takes public money leveraging private investment, and it takes a trend that favors redevelopment, which wasn’t there in the 1960s when everyone was moving from the city center to the suburbs.”

Now, there is support for what city is trying to accomplish, said Río Nuevo Director Greg Shelko.

“There are people out there that say the day of the downtown is past but if you look at every master-planned housing development in the suburbs, they talk about community and show pictures of a town center. Downtowns are centers of culture and commerce. They define a city,” he said. “That’s why downtown is still important. Choosing to live downtown is a lifestyle choice for some but everyone, whether they live there or not, wants to be proud of it.”

In the 1960s, urban renewal was about buildings, Shelko said. That’s why it failed. “You can’t rebuild communities by tearing them down and replacing them with a magic bullet kind of a civic project like an arena or convention center.”

Shelko said, “You need to create a multifaceted approach that takes in everything that needs to be done to address the quality of life. You create a diversity of attractions, of housing and incomes. That what creates a vital downtown.”

I agree it's a beautiful design and would certainly look impressive but what I'm wondering about is the location. Usually such a grand design would be used to span a river or a lake or even a narrow canyon. That would create dramatic views from the bridge as well as views of the bridge itself. But is this case it sounds like all we're talking about is crossing a freeway. It almost seems like building such an archtectural statement in this location might end up looking silly.
Bob R.

Tucson remains smarter than Phoenix
 

Since Tucson is always looking for things to laud over its bigger neighbor to the north, here's the latest from a new Business Journal study:

Out of 171 metro areas around the country, Tucson was rated 63rd-best educated (based on educational levels for working adults), while Phoenix trailed far behind at #118.

(In all fairness, I would suspect this may have to do with the UofA and its medical school representing a larger percentage of Tucson's economy and employment than do ASU and other universities in the Phoenix area.)

More statistics: in terms of the county's hottest metro job markets (based on the unemployment rate and job growth), Phoenix came in 2nd behind Las Vegas, and Tucson a respectable 15th--ahead of Austin, Dallas, and San Diego. (Ailing Detroit was dead last.)

http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/29.html

Slim Prospects for new Rio Nuevo Housing
 

Looks like Rio Nuevo's dream of creating a strong residential component downtown won't be easy:

Land Shortage Slows Next Phase of Downtown Housing Development

By Philip S. Moore, Inside Tucson Business
Posted: Monday, Oct 17, 2005 - 11:04:32 am MDT

With only nine lots out of 91 left to sell at Armory Park del Sol, John Wesley Miller is looking for his next downtown housing project.

But the search has become problematic as rising land values, historic protection and large tracts set aside for future public projects have created a shortage of available downtown land for redevelopment.

Nearing completion of his 20-acre infill subdivision, Miller said he’s ready to get started on another project, which will continue the transformation of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, but new opportunities are not easy to find. “I’ve put the word out to every realtor that we’ll be sold out at Armory Park del Sol by the end of the year, if not before,” he said. “I’m looking for anything I can find but nothing is available.”

Miller said there’s a possibility that the city might have a site available at Cushing and 22nd streets and there’s other opportunities being negotiated elsewhere.

“We were hoping there would be something available by the time we’re built out, but it isn’t going to happen,” he said.

Shortage of available land for residential development is a sign that Río Nuevo is working, Miller said, but it may also be a sign of problems ahead for the project, which was supposed to preserve a mix of public, commercial and residential development in the city’s core.

“The city’s politicians said they wanted to preserve that mix,” he said. “I don’t want to let them forget that.”

He said public buildings, like the proposed arena and science center are important, “but I see my job, right now, as holding their feet to the fire to remind them that the residential component is a top priority.”

Also a top priority is preserving the character of the neighborhoods being redeveloped, he said. New housing is important, but matching it to what’s already there is even more valuable, he said.

“At Armory Park del Sol, I had the zoning for twice the density, but my first concern was making sure we built something that would blend well with the existing Armory Park neighborhood,” Miller said. “There are no walls or gates to separate the project from the neighborhood. We’ve preserved the feel of the community and, as a result, the community has welcomed our residents to be part of the Armory Park Neighborhood Association.”

While Río Nuevo can’t directly support private development projects, Miller said the staff has been cooperative in supporting infrastructure that makes construction viable.

“I’ve been talking with them and I think they’re doing a good job, but I’m a builder and I want to get things developed. So, I’m impatient to get started,” he said. “I spent most of my life on the edge of the city, at Sabino Canyon and Oracle and the foothills, but I’ve fallen in love with my roots and wish I could create more land downtown to develop. This isn’t about the bottom line. I’m so excited about what we’re doing downtown that I want to keep doing it.”

Greg Shelko, director of Río Nuevo, said he wishes there was more land for residential redevelopment, too, but if owners aren’t willing to sell, there’s nothing that his organization can do to force them to do it.

“There are only a few sizeable parcels of real estate in downtown and the demand for them is high,” Shelko said. “The market receptiveness to this kind of downtown housing has been remarkable. What we need to do, now, is to instill some confidence in people who’ve been sitting on the sidelines with vacant land that this is the time do develop or sell to someone who will.”

He says confidence is starting to show and redevelopment in Tucson’s oldest neighborhoods is beginning to pick-up.

“Look at what the market activity is like, now, and you see more things happening,” he said. “Over the next 12 months, it will be interesting to see what market changes take place.”

Making land available for private redevelopment is more than passively waiting for landowners to make their move, countered Richard Foerster, associate broker for land at Tucson Realty & Trust. While he agrees with Shelko that some land owners are waiting to see what develops before selling, Foerster said too much of what’s been done in Río Nuevo has added to the speculation, which ultimately works against the success of downtown redevelopment.

“Río Nuevo is a political football,” Foerster said. “We all wish it would be done but I’m not sure I see it getting anywhere.”

Although most of the vacant land is zoned commercial, he said the amount of real estate set aside by the city for various projects have restricted what’s available. That, in turn, has encouraged landowners to be overly optimistic in their prices.

“Assembling parcels of land is always expensive, but people don’t want to tie up their property in case they get a better offer,” he said. “Some people are now trying to sell commercial land for $15-20 per square foot, while those with residential land are pricing at a level that doesn’t make sense. It also begs the question of affordability.”

With large tracts set aside for municipal projects and others set aside for proposed large-scale commercial centers, such as hotels and mixed-use projects, Foerster said. “Where’s the money going to come from for all of this? Everybody seems to be in the market but nothing is happening,” he said.

“Will anything happen? I just don’t know and I don’t think anyone knows. I’ve seen land cleared but I haven’t seen anyone breaking ground. I’ll be watching to see what comes of this.”

We've seen similar speculation in downtown Phoenix, particularly involving ASU. It helps explain why governments sometimes have to use the power of eminent domain to assemble land for development.

Vacant land needs to be taxed in such a way that discourages speculation for its own sake. How this can be done equitably needs to be figured out.

I hope Tucson gets solid, value-heavy residential. This means, no shoddy wood-frame condos, "affordable housing" (Insta-slums), or Soviet-style apartment blocks for the elderly. There are many creative craftsmen and artisans working in Tucson, some of whom specialize in "green" sustainable construction. This is where the future is pointing. I hope Tucson can think deeply about its unique status as a desert city with an environmental edge. It might be a way to forgo the Phoenix temptation of more and more sprawl with diminishing returns.

^ I agree.

Pella's Tucson expansion "bigger than Google", says Mayor Walkup


With expansion of window maker Pella's operations, Tucson to get 450 new higher-paying manufacturing jobs:

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/98885.php

Lofts finally arrive in Tucson

Lofty expectations
Developers seeking warehouses, other buildings, land to meet demand for unique living spaces
By Thomas Stauffer
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
10/23/05

This historically horizontal city is going vertical - into loft living.

Until April virtually no lofts were available in Tucson, but developers have discovered a demand. Now they are planning, building and selling a dozen different projects in central Tucson.

As the area's broader housing market shows signs of leveling out, lofts, "loft-style apartments," "town lofts," and nearly everything else associated with the word "loft" are fetching premium prices - $200 to $300 a square foot. That compares to about $143 a square foot for the average Tucson-area home.

"It's a product no one really provided here in any real sense until the Ice House Lofts," a project that opened in April, said Greg Shelko, director of the Rio Nuevo Downtown revitalization project.

About 500 loft units have been built or are under construction or in planning, but no developer fears that the rush of loft-building will lead to an oversupply.

To the contrary, developers are seeking more warehouses and other buildings to convert into the high-ceilinged, industrial-style, flexible living spaces, or just looking for the right space to build their "loft-style" projects from scratch.

It's a national trend, said Cleveland economic development expert Ed Morrison

"People are making the choice to move back into more diverse and unique living spaces, seeking out things like density that they used to try to escape," Morrison said.

A pioneering project

To see what he's talking about, look no further than a pioneering project in what had been a bleak, industrial setting southeast of Downtown.

The Ice House Lofts succeeded to a degree that opened a lot of eyes, said City Councilman José Ibarra. Deep Freeze Development LLC transformed the 1920s Arizona Ice and Storage Co. warehouse at 1001 E. 17th St. into 51 lofts. Nine more free-standing loft homes have been built across the street as the accompanying Barrio Metalico.

"This is downtown redevelopment and infill and all these other things we're always talking about wanting to promote, and the people at Ice House did it without any help from the city whatsoever," Ibarra said.

Ibarra added two more loft projects to the list of those proposed in or near Downtown - a loft and condo project at 1 W. Speedway and an even newer proposal by a New Jersey developer who is purchasing Medina's Service Garage at 1047 N. Main Ave.

Started as artist space

So just what are these loft things that people are so excited about?

"Historically, lofts started as artist space in industrial buildings," said Randi Dorman, a principal with Deep Freeze Development and an Ice House Loft resident. "What was appealing about those spaces was the size, the light from big windows and a kind of subversive appeal because they weren't allowed to live there."

Loft has become a catch phrase, said developer Peggy Noonan, who is proposing Presidio Terrace, a project of 70 or so high-end lofts near the Tucson Museum of Art.

"A lot of what lofts are really about is flexible space, a space you can define in a lot of different ways," she said.

Most lofts have a "big-volume" of space with high ceilings, open floor plans and features such as exposed brick and trusses, said Steve Fenton, who is converting the former Immaculate Heart Academy and dormitory at 35 E. 15th St. into Academy Lofts.

Lofts may be more important for what they're not than what they are, said economic development expert Morrison.

"They're truly an antidote to sprawl on a lot of different levels," he said.

Saving gas and time commuting from the suburbs is an obvious appeal of urban loft living, but a host of other reasons have led to the loft craze, Morrison said.

"People are now realizing that they want density, because by achieving it, you're giving them a sense of security that comes from being near other people, not from wiring their suburban house with the latest electronic monitoring equipment," he said.

Friendly neighbors

"Sense of community" is a catch phrase that took on real meaning when Bay Area transplants Karen and Mohammed Soriano-Bilal moved into their Ice House loft.

"Just yesterday, three of our neighbors popped by for various reasons, to say hello or just check in because we'd been out of town," Karin Soriano-Bilal said. "No other place we've ever been has been like that."

Ice House loft owners come from "every imaginable dem-ographic," an ideal setting for Billie Maas' three daughters, said Maas, a 39-year-old pharmaceutical saleswoman.

Maas said she regrets not buying one or two more lofts at the Ice House just for investment reasons.

"I paid about $140 a square foot and they're selling them now for like $250 a square foot right now," she said.

A 2,290-square-foot developer unit at Ice House Lofts is on sale for $439,000 and a 1,650-square-foot Barrio Metalico loft home recently resold for $320,000, Dorman said.

Fenton said he's already fielding calls for his Academy Lofts, a combination of rental and sales units scheduled for completion in January.

"It's a wide range of people that are interested, including people calling from Green Valley," he said.

"Empty-nesters" whose children have grown and left may become an important demographic driving demand for lofts, Shelko said.

"They don't need a big yard that needs maintaining or a big house," he said.

In addition to empty-nesters and young professionals, a surprising number of families are moving to lofts, said Ann Vargas, the city's Downtown housing planner.

"I take calls almost daily from people asking about lofts," Vargas said. "It's housing we haven't typically had in our market, and people really want the kind of urban cultural experience that lofts are about."

Tucson inches towards light rail with trolley proposal

Notorious for rejecting new taxes to pay for transportation initiatives, Tucson residents contemplate their options to reduce worsening gridlock in a metro area of nearly one million residents:



Two panels on board for Tucson trolley
By Tim Ellis
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Published: 10.20.2005


A $90 million modern version of the trolley should be built linking the UA hospital to Rio Nuevo on the west side of Downtown, two city-appointed committees have unanimously recommended.

The Community Liaison Group and Technical Advisory Committee, which include citizen and neighborhood representatives and technical experts, have also identified what route the tracks should follow through the University of Arizona between those two points.

The recommendations now go to the City Council, possibly as soon as December. If approved, and all other steps in the process go smoothly, streetcars could be rolling through town by 2011, said Shellie Ginn, the city Transportation Department's project manager.

One major obstacle blocking the tracks is that Pima County voters would have to approve the Regional Transportation Authority's 20-year transportation plan, and the half-cent sales tax in May to provide the city's $45 million share of construction costs.

Another concern is persuading federal transportation officials to put up the other $45 million.

The city would also have to pay an estimated $3 million a year to operate the line.

The groups' vote earlier this month is the first of many steps the city must take to establish the new transit system, which city planners hope to expand into a larger system connecting the city's major commercial centers, Ginn said.

More planning and studies need to be done before the city can qualify for federal matching funds to build the line and buy the streetcars, she said.

Barney Brenner, a Tucson businessman and critic of the streetcar, said this and other previously proposed streetcar-type transit systems cost too much money that would be better invested in the city's bus system.

The system would congest city streets, both during the installation of tracks and overhead wires and cables and afterward, when the streetcars are traveling down the middle of the street, he said.

"I question the wisdom of tearing up the streets and putting tracks in," Brenner said. "It will require wires above the streets and tracks that wouldn't be needed with a rubber-wheeled alternative."

Ginn said that's why the city chose a route that runs along less-congested streets: from the North Campbell Avenue-Helen Street intersection near the UA west to Cherry Avenue, then south on Cherry to Second Street, west on Second to Park Avenue, south on Park to University Boulevard, west on University to Fourth Avenue, south on Fourth to Congress Street, west on Congress, to the greenway path through Rio Nuevo.

Streetcars will reduce congestion because they would carry people who otherwise would be riding buses and cars into the area, she said.

Brenner also fears the streetcar system will lead to a more extensive and expensive light-rail system. "I think it'll be the camel's nose under the tent," said Brenner, who helped defeat a 2003 light-rail ballot initiative.

Steve Farley, a member of one of the groups studying the streetcar proposal and leader of the group that put the light-rail measure on the ballot, said he hopes Brenner is right.

"One of the few things Barney Brenner and I agree on is that the trolley may be the camel's nose under the tent for light rail," Farley said. "Once people can see it (a streetcar) and touch it and ride it, they'll see this is one thing we want more of."

Ginn said that streetcars not only have nostalgic appeal; cities such as Portland, Ore., and Tacoma, Wash., have found they also bring economic benefits that help revitalize run-down areas, which is why the line is routed through the Rio Nuevo redevelopment area.

"Buses don't have the sex appeal of the streetcar," Farley said. "When you're trying to get people to voluntarily leave their car at home and come Downtown, you want to have a more attractive mode.

"People want to ride trains. They just do," he said. "Surveys bear that out."

Transportation: Tucson's big dilemma

Looks like the latest transportation plan for metro Tucson will be in front of the voters next May. After public input meetings, this version has been trimmed slightly, but still has no new freeways proposed, which is Tucson's style.

If residents reject this plan and tax increase, they will end up with the worst traffic mess in the state. As it is, the city and county don't have enough money to maintain existing roads, and without a new infusion of funds, things will deteriorate even further. How high is Tucsonans' tolerance level for more potholes and bumper-to-bumper gridlock? Maybe higher than we think.

---------------------------------------------------------------

$2B road plan greenlighted
Transit panel's OK is unanimous; supervisors may put it on May ballot

By C.J. Karamargin
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
10-27-2005

A draft $2 billion plan to ease Tucson-area transit woes won unanimous approval Wednesday from the Regional Transportation Authority.

After months of often-heated public meetings, the RTA is proposing 51 projects that should be built over the next 20 years with a new half-cent countywide sales tax. The plan now goes to the Board of Supervisors to be placed on a May ballot.

The projects are aimed at tackling one of the area's most relentless public policy problems through sweeping improvements to roads, road safety and mass transportation.

Projects include $164 million to widen Grant Road, $89 million for a streetcar that would run from the University of Arizona to Downtown, and $38 million to expand weekday bus service.

Rick Myers, chairman of the RTA citizens advisory committee, called the draft "a balanced approach" to addressing the community's highest-priority transit needs.

"It is a start, and more work needs to be done," he said.

The draft plan will now be reviewed by the eight local governments that make up the RTA. Assuming no major objections arise, the RTA will meet on Nov. 30 to ask the Pima County Board of Supervisors to schedule an election.

Voters will get the final say on the plan and the tax in an election tentatively slated for May.

"This is going to take a lot of work to explain to the public," said Katie Dusenberry, a former county supervisor who serves as the advisory committee's vice chairwoman. "We've got a big job to do."

If the past is any guide, Dusenberry is not overstating the concern that voters can be highly skeptical about boosting the sales tax to pay for improved roads and public transit. Four similar efforts have failed decisively over the last two decades.

According to the RTA, the sales tax is expected to generate $65 million in its first year.

The draft plan approved by the RTA on Wednesday represents the third set of revisions to a plan unveiled by the public body with much fanfare in July.

On Monday, an RTA advisory committee cut more than $400 million in projects from the plan in an attempt to balance the budget. The cutbacks included elimination of the biggest proposed project: $200 million to connect the eastern end of Barraza-Aviation Parkway with Interstate 10.

The proposed cuts reduced the estimated cost of the projects by about 20 percent and brought the total cost of the plan to a little more than $2 billion. That's split among $1.2 billion for roads, $545 million for transit, $185 million for safety elements, and $110 million for environmental enhancements.

Before Wednesday's approval, the RTA heard objections from six citizens, among them Ken O'Day, president of the Campbell-Grant Neighborhood Association. He predicted the widening of Grant Road "will have devastating consequences" on hundreds of homes and businesses.

Pete Tescione criticized the plan for failing to be "forward-looking." He called buses a "bridge to the past" and suggested constructing a monorail above the medians of busy streets.

"Start thinking out of the box," he said.