Tucson Development Thread

[Upward]

Making it easier for pedestrians to cross the freeway makes a lot more sense than tunneling the entire freeway (since it's been there for so long as it is).

[somethingfast]

Exactly. Problem solved. Mucho dinero saved for (yeah, right) better uses.

[oliveurban]

Originally Posted by kaneui

Great plan.

Expanding the trolley line farther south into downtown Tucson is a good idea in the meantime ...

[kaneui]

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[kaneui]

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[kaneui]

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[kaneui]

As Tucson considers new mass transit options, an initial 3.6-mile streetcar line segment is part of the proposed regional transportation plan going before voters on May 16:





Locally-Preferred Alternative

by Lee Allen
Downtown Tucsonan
February, 2006

Do not confuse this streetcar with the one named “Desire.” In Tucson terminology, this streetcar concept is referred to as the “locally preferred alternative” approved recently by Mayor and Council and awaiting ultimate approval by voters as part of the Regional Transportation Authority balloting on May 16. “The council’s unanimous vote expressed support for the proposed alignment of the modern streetcar as a critical part of our overall regional transportation plan,” says Midtown (Ward 6) Council Member Nina Trasoff.

Cost of the nearly four-mile system has been ballparked anywhere from $75 million to $100 million. “Forget those numbers,” says Shellie Ginn, Tucson Transportation Department project manager. “Previous stories have contained errors. If you’re looking for exact mileage, it’s 3.61 miles with our capital costs running $89.2 million. If we meet Federal Transportation Authority criteria and pass their approval process, it’s possible the feds could match 50 percent of that cost.” Making a lot of assumptions, if everything went as planned and on schedule, streetcars could be rolling through town in 5 years.

Rolling, as in a route designed to connect major activity centers from the Arizona Health Sciences Center north of Speedway and Campbell, zig-zagging its way downtown to Menlo Park. “This streetcar line could be the nucleus for a potential expanded regional system,” according to the Tucson Department of Transportation web page.” Council Member Trasoff said the streetcar option would provide a better long-range bang for the buck in comparing it to a fixed bus route and the need to replace those buses.

Tucson transit activist Steve Farley participated in the detailed study of the streetcar proposal and thinks the time is right for its inception. “A modern streetcar line would carry twice the passengers per mile than our current busiest bus route carries,” he said. “And the cost over 20 years is cheaper than the cost of an equivalent bus circulator because buses wear out four times faster than streetcars.”

The streetcars would work in concert with the historic trolley as a potential supplemental system. Old Pueblo Trolley CEO Gene Caywood says OPT hauls an average of 27,000 passengers per year on a three-day-a-week U of A to 4th Avenue route while a city study projects a streetcar system could carry up to 4,200 passenger trips per weekday.

“Once people see a streetcar, touch it, and ride it, they’ll see this is one thing they want more of. Buses don’t have the sex appeal of a streetcar and 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,” Farley said.

As proposed, the streetcar would be a fixed-guideway electric rail system operating at street level, sharing lanes with other vehicles with an ability to operate safely in either high traffic or high pedestrian activity areas. The streetcar concept received the green light after evaluation of a number of criteria such as cost, ridership, compatibility, economic development, traffic and environmental issues, and community support. Project philosophy was to keep things simple and inexpensive by using as much of the existing infrastructure as possible, somewhat akin to a system successfully in use in Portland, Oregon that carries 6,000 passengers over a 6-mile loop each day.

Voters are being asked to pay much of the project cost through revenues from the Regional Transportation Authority and a half-cent sales tax that would be levied if the issue is approved in May. “It’s all up to the voters,” says Trasoff. “I hope they look clearly at the plan to see how all the parts come together. If you step back and look at the region as a whole, you’ll see it’s a smart move to approve the streetcar option.”

[soleri]

Here's hoping the voters approve. I drive in Phoenix, and I can't wait for the day when light rail is operational. I live less than a 1/2 mile from a stop and it will take me to just about anywhere I want to go here: downtown, the airport, the library, and Tempe. The experience of driving gets worse each year. There's no way to pave our way out of congestion and growth means the congestion will only worsen.

The siren song of freeways may sound sweet to the ears of some Tucsonans,
but a streetcar will do much, much more to improve the quality of life there.

[oliveurban]

^ Agreed.

[kaneui]

With theater attendance in decline nationwide, one has to wonder if Harkin's aggressive expansion plans make much sense, population growth notwithstanding:


Harkins set to begin building first Tucson theater
The Business Journal of Phoenix
2-14-06

Harkins Theatres will begin construction later this year on an 18-screen, 81,000-square-foot megaplex that will mark its first foray into the Tucson market, the developer of the project of the project.

Scottsdale-based Barclay Group is adding on to the existing Westpoint Crossing Shopping Center at the intersection of Interstate 19 and Irvington Road in Tucson. Upon completion of the second phase of construction, which includes the new theater, the project will be rebranded as the Tucson Spectrum.

The theater complex, slated for completion in mid-2007, will feature a children's play area in the lobby and a gourmet snack center. The current Westpoint Crossing retailer lineup includes Target, The Home Depot, Ross Dress for Less, Marshall's, Michael's, Office Max and PetSmart. The second phase of development will add, in addition to Harkins, JCPenney, Best Buy, Sports Authority, Bed Bath & Beyond and Shoe Pavilion.

Following the completion of the second phase, the Tucson Spectrum will comprise a little over a million square feet, making it the largest open-air shopping center in Southern Arizona.

"The addition of Harkins Theatres will transform Westpoint Crossing from a power center into a regional open-air mall with entertainment as a major component," said Trey Eakin, senior vice president of development for Barclay Group.

Barclay Group has developed more than 4 million square feet of retail space, it claims, and has an additional 4 million square feet planned for development in the next four years.

Scottsdale-based Harkins Theatres currently operates more than 200 screens in Arizona and Oklahoma. According to the company's Web site, it plans to expand to California, Colorado and Texas this year.

[soleri]

Off the Harkins web site, a list of other future multiplexes:


Arizona



Parke West 14
NWC - Loop 101 and Northern
Peoria, AZ
Fall 2006



Santan Village 18
NWC - Loop 202 and Williams Field Rd.
Gilbert, AZ
Winter 2006



Chandler Crossroads Towne Center 14
SEC - Gilbert and Loop 202
Chandler, AZ
Winter 2006



Tempe Market Place 18
SWC - Loop 101 and Loop 202
Tempe, AZ
Spring 2007



Spectrum 14
SEC - 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Rd.
Phoenix, AZ
Spring 2007



Norterra 14
NEC - Happy Valley & I-17
Phoenix, AZ
Spring 2007



Signal Butte Marketplace 14
NWC - US 60 and Signal Butte
Mesa, AZ
Spring 2007



Casa Grande 14
NEC - I-10 and Florence
Case Grande, AZ
Fall 2007



Estrella Falls 14
NEC - I-10 and Pebble Creek Pkwy
Goodyear, AZ
Winter 2007



Prasada 14
NEC - Loop 303 and Cactus Lane
Surprise, AZ
Spring 2008




California



Moreno Valley 16
SEC - I-215 and SR 60
Moreno Valley, CA
Spring 2006



Chino Hills 18
SWC - SR 71 and Chino Ave.
Chino Hills, CA
Summer 2006




Colorado



Northfield at Stapleton 18
NEC - I-70 and I-270
Denver, CO
Spring 2006




Texas



Coit Center 16
Coit and SR190
Plano, TX
Spring 2006



Southlake Town Square 14
SEC - South Carroll Ave. and SH 114
Southlake (DFW), TX
Summer 2006



Grand Prairie 18
I-20 and Highway 360
Grand Prairie, TX
Fall 2006

[Azndragon837]

^Damn, that's a lot of expansion. I am glad Harkins is expanding the Christown 11 one into 14, because I used to go to that one when I was a kid, but then MetroCenter opened its Harkins, and AMC with its 30 screen one in Deer Valley. It'll be nice to drive 2.5 miles to Spectrum Mall (Christown).

Soleri, where do you live by the way? You are very lucky to reside less than a 1/2 mile from a light rail stop (which one)?

-Andrew

[soleri]

^I live near Missouri and 7th Avenue, almost directly behind the new Starbucks on the corner. I'm happy, too, about the new Harkins' theaters, which will be less than a mile away.

BTW, I keep wanting to do a photo thread about 7th Avenue between Camelback and Indian School. The city is investing some money in the "Melrose" area, and some funky new stores have opened recently. There's a new independent coffee shop, Copper State, almost ready for business. The old Melrose Lanes is being torn down and there's a proposed 8 story mixed-use project being discussed for the site. Phoenix has so little of this kind of steetscape (San Diego has tons of it) that I'm wanting to foster a bit of awareness about this strip. Only problem: it's hardly photogenic. Parts, in fact, are butt ugly. With light rail coming, I think the area will begin to pick up dramatically, so all the changes are really exciting.

Nod to Tuscon: it's got a lot of potentially great streetscapes, like the Campbell and Grant area. I used to fantasize about a streetcar going from the University in that direction. It appears the new one slated will come close, but.....

[kaneui]

After buying the property from the city for $100, given permission to tear down the historic Pusch building, and then sitting on the vacant land for 18 months, Bourn Properties is now asking Tucson for an additional $4.3M in incentives to redevelop the downtown "Thrifty block," a request that has outraged certain downtown interests and City Council members:




rendering of The Post on Congress,
the "Thrifty block" redevelopment project


Bourn's Downtown wish list is criticized
By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
2.19.2006

The developer who pressed the city to tear down a 100-year-old Downtown building, and then let property sit vacant for 18 months, now is asking the city for $4.3 million more in help to build something there. Bourn Properties, which bought most of the block of East Congress Street from the city for $100, sent a list to the city this month outlining $4.3 million in potential public contributions to the project. That total doesn't include savings from a 10-year property tax abatement that's also on its list.

The list includes: building sidewalks, utility hookups and public parking; waiving taxes on construction, building permit fees and impact fees; reducing or eliminating sales taxes on retail; abating county real estate taxes for 10 years; and potentially waiving requirements for on-site loading and commercial on-site parking.

Bourn Properties said it was simply a list of potential ways the city could help out. Some city officials said the negotiations are still in their infancy. But that didn't stop the outrage from those who had opposed the Bourn project from the start.

Downtown lawyer Roy Martin, a staunch opponent of tearing down the 19th-century Pusch building built by pioneer rancher George Pusch, said it was "unreal" that Bourn was asking for more. He questioned why the city would give millions of dollars on top of providing the land at virtually no cost, granting permission to quickly tear down the building and then paying for the demolition and debris removal. The city paid $500,000 for work on the block, according to the Rio Nuevo office. "It's absolutely outrageous," Martin said.

In response to a growing storm of public outrage, Bourn said in June 2004 it would do everything it could to preserve the building. But after receiving approval of its plan from the City Council, the building was quickly reduced to rubble by that September. "They said it was urgent that the property had to come down immediately," Martin said. "They said it was vital and had to be done."

It has been a vacant block ever since, and Councilman Jose Ibarra, a Democrat, said that 18 months of inactivity should have the city reassessing its agreement with Bourn. "It's beyond frustration," Ibarra said. "We were asked to hurry on all aspects of this project. Now 18 months later it's the same vacant lot."

He said it was "totally inappropriate" for Bourn to ask for more money, adding that maybe "it's time to give an opportunity to someone who can put this project together." The city and Bourn were supposed to come up with a final development agreement in January for the development of 61 loft condos built over a row of shops and restaurants, reaching up eight stories valued at about $23 million. The block, situated between Scott and Stone avenues, once included the Thrifty Drug Store, Fields' Jewelers, Little Cafe Poca Cosa and the Pusch building that was last used by a restaurant called Talk of the Town.

Oscar Turner, Bourn's project manager, said the list isn't a demand, but "a laundry list of things the city could wish to participate in." "What we're trying to do is make sure we get the best possible project," he said.

A potential agreement with the city will be discussed Thursday at a meeting of the City Council's Rio Nuevo subcommittee, said Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, a Democrat. Trasoff said she wants to work in good faith with Bourn, and said she's willing to be flexible, but not $4.3 million worth of flexible. "He's had this property for 18 months now," she said. "I hope he can pull it off but … the bottom line is we have to move forward on that block."

City Manager Mike Hein said it's clear the City Council wants closure on that empty Downtown block, and said he is interested in moving ahead on some of the Downtown Rio Nuevo promises that have been "dangling" for years. Still, he said, requests such as Bourn's aren't unusual for developers. "It's a bullet-point list of wishes," Hein said. "I wouldn't even characterize it as an ask right now."

Republican Mayor Bob Walkup agreed, saying the request wasn't surprising and that the issue will be sorted out by the city staff and the council.


THE WISH LIST

● Public incentives requested by Bourn Properties for Downtown Thrifty block:

- Sidewalk construction, landscaping, construction of retail storefronts, utility hookups, restoration of Indian Trading Post facade and construction of one level of public parking: $2.4 million.

- Reduce tax on construction and fees for building permit, and eliminate impact fees: $950,000.

- Reduce or eliminate sales tax on retail: $80,000 a year for 10 years.

- Eliminate or reduce county taxes and fees: $855,000.

- Abate county real estate taxes for 10 years: no price listed.

- Grant variances or expedite process for property rezoning, on-site loading requirements and on-site commercial parking requirements.

Total: $4.3 million

"It's beyond frustration. We were asked to hurry on all aspects of this project. Now 18 months later it's the same vacant lot."
Jose Ibarra
Democratic councilman

[kaneui]

A 30-year extension of the TIF support for Rio Nuevo edges closer to reality in the state legislature:


House OKs Rio Nuevo extension
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
2.22.2006

A 30-year extension of the city's Downtown Rio Nuevo redevelopment district was approved Tuesday by the House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate.

The extension was approved by a 35-18 vote with seven lawmakers not voting. Of the Southern Arizona delegation, only Rep. Ted Downing, D-Tucson, voted against the bill, while Rep. Marian McClure, R-Tucson, didn't vote.

The current 10-year special taxing district was created by voters in 1999, and is expected to bring in about $124 million for projects in the Downtown and immediate West Side areas. A 30-year extension would bring in $1 billion more.

Downing said he voted against the bill because it didn't require going back to the voters for approval. "I don't think we're on firm ground unless voters are given the ability to decide," he said.

Rep. Steve Huffman said getting approval from the House was a huge step. The Oro Valley Republican said, "This is just a bill that makes sense for a lot of people." He said it was especially satisfying because when the bill was first introduced many people questioned, "Why would anybody in Phoenix vote for something in Tucson?"



From the Tucson Downtown Alliance, more reasons to support this funding for Rio Nuevo:

TIF not a tax extension
Re: the Feb. 14 letter to the editor "Vote needed."

The extension of the Rio Nuevo tax increment financing from 10 years to 40 years is not an extension of a tax. It is an extension of the period of time during which the state sales taxes that we already pay when we shop at businesses along Broadway will be rebated to Tucson to support Downtown redevelopment. We can direct the proceeds of those existing taxes to stay in our city or we can let the state Legislature spend them elsewhere.

The TIF extension bill is not about taxation, but about the distribution of existing sales taxes. When Tucson residents fully understand this distinction, it should be obvious to them that this is a winning proposition for our city.

Donovan Durband
Executive director, Tucson Downtown Alliance, Tucson

[Upward]

Harkins in Tucson? It's about time! That town has the most expensive damn theaters I've ever seen.

A lot of those new Harkins locations are scary, though, for how far out in the sprawl they are...

[kaneui]

More development delays for downtown Tucson:

1.After rejecting his request for $4.3M in additional incentives for the "Thrifty block" redevelopment project, Tucson gave Don Bourn 45 days to finalize a development agreement with the city. (Sounds like Bourn may not have the expertise/experience to pull this off.)

2. Although his proposed Plaza Centro project at the east end of Congress was rejected by a Rio Nuevo subcommittee as unfeasible, developer Jim Campbell says he'll resubmit the proposal within a month.


Get moving, city tells developer
Bourn must make progress; panelists say no to incentives

By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
2.24.2006

Developer Don Bourn got a warning from City Council members Thursday that any more delays in building on a vacant block Downtown will send them looking for a new builder. The three-member Rio Nuevo subcommittee also told Bourn the city won't be offering his company any major incentives that aren't available to other builders.

The subcommittee also heard a Transportation Department report that developer Jim Campbell's proposal to create a "Plaza Centro" at the east end of Congress Street is not feasible.

Council members Jose Ibarra, Nina Trasoff and Steve Leal voted to give Bourn 30 to 45 days to finalize a development agreement with the city and bring it back to them for approval. They agreed to fast track a rezoning to help Bourn out, but added they would put strict restrictions on Bourn from now on. Any failure to meet the new conditions will trigger a search for a new developer, they said.

"Time is not a luxury anymore," Ibarra said referring to the new timetable for getting the project done. "Everybody needs to be held accountable," he said. Bourn was originally awarded the right to develop much of the south side of East Congress between Stone and Scott avenues in June 2004, getting the land for $100. Bourn pressed to have existing buildings on the block, including a pre-1900 structure built by pioneer rancher George Pusch, torn down quickly, only to leave the property vacant for 18 months.This month he asked for more than $4 million in potential public assistance from the city.

Bourn acknowledged he made a mistake not buying an adjacent parking lot from Chase Bank (then Bank One) before trying to develop the property. Bourn said without the parking lot, on which the city was supposed to build a parking garage, he had to go for an alternate plan.

The plan Bourn presented was for a 13- or 14-story building with about 90 condos and two levels of parking. The plan includes demolishing the roughly 90-year-old Bank One Annex, adjacent to the Chase building. Bourn said it has to be taken down to allow cars to get into the parking garage.

The project would cost between $30 million and $36 million and include 17,000 square feet of retail. Preparing the land would take 12 to 16 months, he said, while construction would take another 16 to 20 months. He stressed he has already spent $1.3 million on the project and said he feels his company "is out on a limb here." "A lot of my development friends say 'your nuts,' " he said, although he stressed he is still committed to the project.

In other business, City Transportation Director Jim Glock said a proposal to scrap the new Fourth Avenue Underpass to accommodate Campbell's proposed development is not feasible. He said simply improving the existing underpass would slow and disrupt traffic and traffic-signal progression through Downtown. He said it would also delay underpass construction 12 to 24 months.

Campbell, who wants to build an eight-story commercial and condominium project where the old Greyhound Bus Depot now sits at the east end of Downtown, was unfazed and will present his proposal again to the committee within a month.

[kaneui]

Another bit of activity for the plodding Rio Nuevo project...


$26M OK'd for fire headquarters
Downtown cops get more space as part of deal

By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
3.08.2006

Downtown Tucson will have a new fire headquarters and an expanded police administration center after the Tucson City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $26 million on a new fire station in Rio Nuevo. The fire administration building, to be located on the south side of Cushing Street where it intersects with Clark and Granada avenues, will allow the Police Department to expand its headquarters, which is adjacent to the current fire headquarters.

Council members called it the equivalent of killing two birds with one fire station. Karin Uhlich called the approach the most resource-efficient plan the city could make. Police officials said they would either move some of their functions into the fire headquarters or knock down the building to expand its current headquarters into that space. The new fire headquarters will be a complex housing fire administration, Fire Station No.1 and the department's fire prevention bureau.

The $26 million project will be paid for with a type of bonds that don't require voter approval, which will be repaid over 15 years from the money saved from the city's turning its half of operation of the regional library over to the county. However, City Manager Mike Hein said $26 million is just a rough estimate because there is no blueprint yet for the building. "We don't have a definitive cost because we don't have a design," Hein said. No projected construction date has been set. The city manager said the location — now a Tucson Convention Center parking lot — was identified to be either commercial or high-density housing as part of the city's Downtown Rio Nuevo redevelopment district.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff commended the staff's meetings with area neighborhood associations — Barrio Viejo and Barrio Santa Rosa — and noted residents' support of the fire station. Pedro Gonzales, head of the Barrio Viejo Neighborhood Association, said he is usually fighting City Hall, but on this night he was speaking in favor of the project. "We are working in partnership with the city of Tucson for a change," Gonzales said.

Only one person spoke against the new fire headquarters, anti-tax activist John Kromko. He said it was disgraceful that Tucson was one of the only cities with no fire or police impact fees for new development. He said the new station should be financed with impact fees on growth, and said the money saved from spinning off the library should be put toward reducing the city's garbage fee, which was raised in 2004.

In other business, the council approved a revised list of park-fee reductions, which eliminated some ill-considered cuts approved in December, including fees for beer permits, commercial wedding fees and vendor permits. The council finalized the list of park-fee rollbacks, which are intended to help the average Tucsonan, from their 2005 levels to 2002 levels. It will cost the city an extra $40,000 this fiscal year, and about $394,000 in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

[kaneui]

The UofA and Tucson are aiming to capture their share of Arizona's emerging biotech industry:


Arizona Biosciences Park - rendering



Arizona Biosciences Park - site plan



UA lays out plans for S. Side bio park
OK sought to create management setup

By Thomas Stauffer
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
3.09.2006

The University of Arizona wants to create a nonprofit corporation to mastermind a "technology district" aimed at advancing Tucson's and the University of Arizona's position in the biotech industry. The Arizona Board of Regents will vote today in Tucson on the proposed Research Development Corp., which would manage the development of the planned Arizona Biosciences Park at South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street. The nonprofit corporation also would oversee the planned expansion of the UA's Science and Technology Park at 9000 S. Rita Road.

The Arizona Biosciences Park is envisioned as a 65-acre campus of high-tech research labs, offices, and a hotel and conference center. The park will lease the secured, state-of-the-art labs, research buildings and office space to private companies, as the UA does at its Science and Technology Park. The first phase of development would build the hotel and conference center and a multiuse office complex at the biosciences park, said Bruce Wright, UA associate vice president for economic development.

The offices built in that phase may be anchored by the new Critical Path Institute. C-Path, as it is known, is a partnership of the UA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the technology development firm SRI International Inc. It aims to develop new approaches and technologies to streamline and reform the drug-approval process.

Expansion at the UA Science and Tech Park, 12 miles to the southeast of the proposed biosciences park, will include a hotel and conference center, a golf course, offices, labs, and roads on 1,000 acres of the park, Wright said. If approved, the new Research Development Corp. would likely ask the regents for $20 million to $25 million in bonding authority to finance phase one of the hotel project, which could break ground as early as this summer, he added. "We would hope to finance the subsequent phases off the revenues generated by the hotel," Wright said.

Today, the UA tech park is approaching full occupancy, Wright said. About 40,000 square feet of office space is all that remains vacant in the 1.9 million square feet at the park, he said. When the UA bought the property from IBM Corp. for $98 million in 1994, there were two companies with about 1,200 employees operating there. Today, 30 companies employ more than 7,000 people, park spokeswoman Molly Gilbert said.

Wright said he and other officials of the UA Office of Economic Development have spent about four years working on the biosciences park concept. Other candidate sites included a parcel near University Medical Center, two sites within the city's Rio Nuevo Downtown redevelopment project, and at the UA's Campus Agricultural Center at 4101 N. Campbell Ave. "This site kept rising to the top, for all kinds of reasons," Wright said.

The UA hired Seattle-based NBBJ, which bills itself as the nation's third-largest design firm, to prepare site plans and development concepts. The 65 acres at the site were part of a land swap with KB Home for 132 acres at the Science and Technology Park. That land swap may have steered the UA toward the Kino site without a fully vetted process of the best location for the massive biosciences undertaking, said Bob Davis, a first vice president of CB Richard Ellis who specializes in industrial real estate.

"We have one shot as a community to get this bioscience thing right," Davis said. "I don't know how carefully other sites were evaluated, and there hasn't been a public, independent study that says this project at this location will work." The biosciences park is part of a larger, mixed-use project billed as the "The Bridges," which is slated to include more than 750 homes built by KB Home and Lennar/US Home Corp. and "Tucson Marketplace at The Bridges," a 975,000 square-foot retail complex by Eastbourne Investments Ltd. The project would fill the area bounded by South Park Avenue, East 36th Street, South Kino Parkway, and Interstate 10. Homes in the plan would also be built west of the main parcel on land north of I-10 and on both sides of Park Avenue.

The combination of uses for the project will allow residents the option and convenience of walking or biking to work, shopping, entertainment and recreation, said John Bremond, KB Home Tucson Division President. "We believe this is a very special opportunity for people to live in a very pedestrian-friendly, bicycle-friendly environment," Bremond said.

[kaneui]

A compromise between Tucson's original plan and developer Jim Campbell's proposal for the 4th Ave. underpass could result in both cost savings and a much improved design:


Council panel OKs new 4th Ave. underpass design
By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
3.09.2006

In the span of two weeks, Developer Jim Campbell's plan for the Fourth Avenue underpass and a "Plaza Centro" went from impossible to visionary. On Thursday, a City Council subcommittee voted to scrap years of planning for the Fourth Avenue underpass to accommodate Campbell's plans for a $50 million commercial and housing development on a lot at the east end of Downtown, where the Greyhound bus depot was located.

The three-member subcommittee gave its blessing to a new underpass design and alignment that will require gutting most of the historic 1916 underpass that now runs at the east end of Downtown, connecting North Fourth Avenue and Congress Street. The new proposal will have an new, wider underpass built along the alignment of the historic underpass.

The new design would allow for north-south lanes that would accommodate streetcars and trolley cars along them, as they would "travel with traffic." The former design had a dedicated trolley lane. There would also be dedicated pathways for pedestrians and bicycles.

The change in design still needs approval from the full council. The new proposal would not drastically alter street alignment Downtown, as Campbell's original proposal did. Instead Congress Street and Broadway would remain one-way, and Herbert Street would be converted to a walkway. Toole Avenue could also be closed under the proposal, although Campbell said that was flexible.

Councilman Steve Leal said this new proposal was truly a "hybrid" of both Campbell's and the city's earlier proposals. Only two weeks ago, Campbell was told by city Transportation Director Jim Glock at a Rio Nuevo meeting that his project was not feasible because of traffic impacts Downtown. But on Thursday, the two pitched the new tunnel alignment together. "I'm really thrilled because it seemed two weeks ago you were so far apart," said Councilwoman Nina Trasoff.

Campbell said he kept pitching his idea to build a new tunnel where the current historic underpass now sits because "nobody likes the new-tunnel, dual-tunnel idea," in which the city would have built a new underpass and kept the historic one for pedestrians. "It was design by committee and was not pleasing to anybody," said Campbell, who has a right of first refusal to buy the Greyhound property.

He said he would take credit for being a "pain in the butt to make this happen" but said ultimately it was a compromise between himself and the city. In the proposal unveiled Thursday, Congress Street would split Campbell's property with a movie theater, a restaurant and townhouse lofts on the former Greyhound site, and retail space and a landmark tower just across the street to the northeast.

Glock said the new design will delay bidding the project for a year from its intended start date. The new timeline would be 16 to 18 months for permitting and design and 18 months for construction, Glock said. "Three years from today hopefully you'll be covering a ribbon-cutting," Glock said. He couldn't give a price tag for the new underpass design, but said there would be cost savings "in the millions of dollars" over the two-underpass proposal, which was most recently bid at $31 million.

Richard Oseran, owner of the Hotel Congress, said the compromise between the city and Campbell showed there is new hope for Rio Nuevo. "There's a new City Council, a new city manager and a new day," Oseran said. "People have decided to work together and make compromises, and when they do that anything is possible."