Tucson Development Thread

[kaneui]

By early next year, City officials plan to choose one of four proposals to finally complete the Barraza-Aviation Parkway, designed to relieve downtown traffic over 25 years ago:






4 options for Aviation through downtown
City expects final design by early next year

GARY DUFFY
Tucson Citizen
10.10.2006

Almost 25 years after city officials approved construction of the Barraza-Aviation Parkway, a design to complete the much-maligned road through downtown may be near. City officials expect to see a final design for the parkway's completion through downtown early next year, one that will finally help to reduce congestion there caused mainly by motorists heading toward Interstate 10.

Four proposed alignments out of more than a dozen were recommended recently for further consideration by the city's Downtown Links Citizens' Advisory Committee. After more input from home and business owners on the four possible alignments, the committee will make a final recommendation to the City Council for a decision early next year.

Downtown Links is the city's program to divert traffic from the busiest part of downtown. The "links" will improve connectivity around Aviation Parkway, 22nd Street and the freeway, the Broadway and the Fourth Avenue shopping and club districts, and the downtown area and neighboring residential areas.

The $84.6 million project will mostly be paid for with revenue from the half-cent sales tax approved by voters in May. That election established a 20-year improvement plan to be overseen by the Regional Transportation Authority, a coalition of local governments. The RTA share of the Barraza- Aviation project is about $76.1 million, with the city kicking in $8.5 million.
Though the eastern part of the parkway was completed years ago, the route through downtown has always been controversial. A route hugging the railroad tracks downtown was abandoned after artists occupying a row of warehouses slated for destruction organized to push the route north.

The parkway ends at Broadway, and an extension would keep westbound traffic pouring onto Broadway - exactly where it's already congested. "The key is to make traffic as fluid as possible, so one area doesn't bear the burden of all of the I-10 traffic," Andrew Singelakis, deputy director of the Tucson Transportation Department, said recently.

The extension will cross Broadway and head northwest along the Stevens Avenue alignment. Where it goes immediately after that is to be decided. The road will connect to Sixth Street/St. Mary's, passing beneath the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at Ninth Avenue, which is now an at-grade crossing. From that point, motorists could continue a short distance to I-10. The city has held numerous meetings with interested parties - business owners and members of nearby homeowners associations - to get input on the proposed four alternatives, which were among 15 when the planning process got under way two years ago. More such meetings are planned, Singelakis said.

Construction of the main part of the project itself will not get under way for at least five years after that, he added. The four possible routes all would contain a four-lane road along the Stevens Avenue alignment.

The plans vary in how they would disperse traffic through the area - a strong concern of businesses and homeowners. "I'm hoping they find a way to spread traffic out instead of putting it all on one street or one area," said Susan Gamble, owner of Santa Theresa Tile Works, 440 N. Sixth Ave. Gamble's business has been at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Sixth Street since 1998. The surrounding area has become a haven for artists and creativity-based businesses. Gamble worries that the wrong alignment could cut the growing artist community into isolated parcels and that heavy through traffic would dissuade patrons of those art-based firms from coming to the district.

"We've started to attract people who will come here at night for classes and the galleries," she noted. City officials take pains to emphasize that the proposed Barraza-Aviation extension will be a low-speed, four-lane road - not the high-speed, limited- access parkway that it is to the southeast. "The Regional Transportation Plan identifies it as a four-lane roadway," Singelakis said, one with a likely speed limit of about 30 mph. That section of the road would run just northeast of the Union Pacific tracks and just southwest of the historic Iron Horse Neighborhood.

"All of the alignments are going to pretty much go through our neighborhood," said Jennie Mullins, president of the Iron Horse Neighborhood Association. "We really don't have much wiggle room." The best available course may be to insist that the city consider all the impacts of the proposed road project and provide mitigation for increased traffic, noise and pollution, Mullins said. Some residents and business owners want the road plan scaled down. A dozen merchants and homeowners association members contacted City Council members in late August to suggest that the four-lane segment go no farther than Sixth Avenue, with traffic beyond that dispersed through existing streets for minimal impact to neighborhoods and business districts. "They don't want any more disruption of their neighborhoods," Councilwoman Nina Trasoff said.

Trasoff and Councilman José Ibarra asked city attorneys for an opinion on the language of the ballot item approved by voters in May, specifically whether it allowed the design flexibility requested by the group. RTA officials already have an opinion from their attorneys. "It's out of the question," Gary Hayes, RTA and PAG executive director, said last week. "We're not going to deviate from that the voters in the region approved."

[somethingfast]

I've never seen the point of this road (yes, it's a road...complete w/stop lights). It runs parallel to I-10 so...why? I mean, really. Why waste $86 million to connect a road to nowhere to a place nobody goes (downtown)? BUILD SOMETHING NEW AND USEFUL.

[kaneui]

More info. on Rio Nuevo's evolving Tucson Origins project, parts of which will detail the city's European heritage, just west of I-10:






Rio Nuevo nails down $200M, 3-museum showcase
TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
10.12.2006

The eagle has landed. Rio Nuevo in the last 24 hours has nailed down its showcase project: Tucson Origins, a potential $200 million project that will bring three museums and a reconstructed Mission San Agustin to the west side of the Santa Cruz River.

On Wednesday morning the design team firmed up where to locate the museums around a cultural plaza. And on Wednesday evening, the team showed off the results to the public at an open house at the Tucson Convention Center. "I'm just thrilled that something is actually happening," said Don Hickman, a West Side resident. "I like the concept that the science center is coming in to bring people back." Hickman believes the 125,000-square-foot University of Arizona Science Center, slated for the eastern edge of the cultural plaza, will be the only attraction at Tucson Origins to generate repeat visitors.

The west side of the plaza will showcase a 75,750-square-foot Arizona Historical Society at the north end, and a 40,000-square-foot Arizona State Museum to the south. The south end of the plaza will feature an interpretive center - a visitor center with a shared auditorium and other facilities for the three museums. To the south of the museum cluster will sit the Mission San Agustin complex and the Mission Gardens, which will re-create the origins of Europeanized Tucson. "I want it to go. I want them to build," said Rick Amos, who owns property on Freeway south of motel row. "They're trying to re-create some of what it was a long time ago. I'm ready."

The downtown architecture firm Burns Wald-Hopkins has assembled a national design team that produced a conceptual design on how to assemble a culture park that will please all the players as well as the surrounding neighborhood. "The science center wasn't a part of the puzzle until 30 days ago," said Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko, illustrating how swiftly the concept designing moved. "This is the threshold of the dream. This is realizing the dream of the community to have a world-class cultural attraction representing all things Tucson. This is a gigantic leap forward."

The science center, until a few weeks ago, was envisioned as a museum that would hang from the Rainbow Bridge - an idea now abandoned. By the end of November, Burns Wald-Hopkins will present the Tucson Origins concept to the City Council with a price tag. Rio Nuevo will pay the full cost of the mission complex and gardens, estimated at $25 million to $40 million. Rio Nuevo will also partially pay to build the science center, the historical society and the state museum, but Shelko said it has not been determined how much Rio Nuevo will pay for museum construction.

Burns Wald-Hopkins will start schematic designs in December with some construction starting as soon as March. Mission San Agustin could open as soon as 2008 with the other museums opening in 2009, 2010 and 2011, Shelko said. EDAW, a San Francisco-based architecture and environment consulting firm, oversaw the big picture: how the museums relate to each other and how Tucson Origins relates to the surrounding Menlo Park Neighborhood. "The end result is a cultural district that's not just about museums," said Jana McKenzie, principal at EDAW. "It's a district that blends the neighborhood with 10,000 years of history."

[kaneui]

An intriguing possibility for some adaptive reuse downtown--the historic Scottish Rite Cathedral on S. Scott Ave., designed by noted Southwest architect Henry Trost, could become the new home for Arizona Opera's Tucson performances and other local arts organizations:






Idea for opera's home has chorus of backers
By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
10.14.2006

The Arizona Opera could have a new home at a historic Downtown site if a group of local and state officials get their way. But it's going to take a dip into taxpayers' pockets to make it happen, and no one is quite sure yet what the bill will be. A diverse group of interests — including Gov. Janet Napolitano's Office, elected city officials and members of the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, along with the opera — are pushing to move the opera into the historic Scottish Rite Cathedral on South Scott Avenue between Ochoa and Corral streets.

The striking building — which looks dramatically different from almost any of its Downtown neighbors, with its ornate turn-of-the-century facade — would serve as the home for the Arizona Opera and a number of smaller arts concerns that are short of space and could use the facility. The block-and-stone temple has four majestic columns soaring about two stories tall and a great deal of intricate stone design around the building's edges. Built between 1915 and 1923, the cathedral is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is owned by the Masonic-Scottish Rite Cathedral Association, with which city and arts officials want to talk about buying it.

If the building is purchased, it would almost certainly be with Rio Nuevo redevelopment money because the cathedral lies within the Downtown district. No one could give estimates about what purchasing the building and upgrading it to code would cost. Jan Lesher, head of the governor's Southern Arizona office, said the governor is "a big fan of opera" and talked with opera officials about moving into Rio Nuevo. "They would love to be in the old Masonic temple," Lesher said, referring to the opera. "They looked at the facility and fell in love with it. It's such a special place and such a potential critical piece for Rio Nuevo."

Arizona Opera's general and artistic director, Joel Revzen, called the building "unique" and "fabulous" and said it would allow the opera to do a lot more outreach in Tucson. It would also allow the opera to build permanent sets, could seat about 350 to 400 people and has two performance stages, Revzen said.

He said the opera doesn't want to own the building and doesn't want to be responsible for maintenance, although he said the opera is willing to contribute some for upkeep. The opera would like to partner with smaller visual-arts organizations that need space and would like to use the building, Revzen said. "We're just very excited about the potential of being in Rio Nuevo and part of a proper arts district," he added.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, head of the council's Rio Nuevo subcommittee, said she loved the concept and has met with the Governor's Office, the Tucson-Pima Arts Council and the opera about a possible move. "The question is, can we pull it off, and should the city be a part of it," Trasoff said. "The issue always draws down to money." Although the concept is wonderful, Trasoff said, "you have to get beyond that and get down to the nitty-gritty."

City Manager Mike Hein said he has heard discussion of the plan, adding, "The governor is an opera fan as I understand it." Councilman Steve Leal said he is a big proponent of the city's buying the cathedral and has met with officials from the Governor's Office and the opera to discuss the opera's moving into the cathedral. "Let's see if we can work out an agreement that works for everybody," he said. "It's a great building and it's set up for performance and staging."

Several meetings about the cathedral will happen in the next week, as Trasoff said she is meeting next week with members of the local arts community, and Leal said he is trying to sit down with the Masons. While wanting the city to purchase the building, Leal said he is evaluating whether it makes sense to do it at the same time. "I don't want to buy it if it doesn't make sense to buy it," Leal said. "I don't have enough data to know."

[soleri]

Tucson has traditionally been much friendlier to the arts than Phoenix, and it's no accident that it gave birth to the Arizona Opera in 1970. I remember its early productions as both provinical and wonderful. Their resources were not great but the product was creative and surprisingly effective. Since then, the state's growth has magnified the company's resources by many an order of magnitude. I saw Verdi's MacBeth last night and it was on par with what might expect in a large European city. Not Paris, Berlin or London, but certainly Cologne, Marseilles or Zurich.

It's a paradox of this state's growth that the bigger and more suburban we've become, the larger the crumbs that fall onto the plates of arts' organizations. Metro Phoenix now has nearly 4 million people, and if only 1% are really interested in the arts, that's still 40,000 hard-core enthusiasts. This is the kind of trade-off that makes autocentric growth seem almost worthwhile.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by soleri

I saw Verdi's MacBeth last night and it was on par with what might expect in a large European city. Not Paris, Berlin or London, but certainly Cologne, Marseilles or Zurich.

Hmm. I wish I could agree but I can't. As a long time subscriber to the San Francisco Opera season, opera was one reason I delayed spending winters in Tucson as long as I did. But as my bottom became more and more compressed getting into the War Memorial seats, I embraced my CD collection and headed south. But once here, I decided to give the Arizona Opera a shot. And I was delightfully surprised at the quality of both the production of La Boheme I saw and of the singers. I would have really enjoyed it EXCEPT that the acoustics of the Convention Center auditorium were truely awful. It is a truism that at many of the world's best opera houses--including San Francisco--the cheap seats often have some of the best acoustics (in SF, from the back of the balcony you can't see much but you hear superb sound). But as long as the Arizona Opera has to perform in that hall, it can't be called world class--and that's a shame because from my experience it has what it takes otherwise.

I don't know anything about the Scottish Rite Cathedral's acoustics, but I've got my fingers crossed that this proposal could happen and that the hall's SOUND is worth the effort. Have you seen anything on that aspect of the matter?

But until it does happen, I'm reluctant to leave my CD collection and drive to Tucson from Green Valley.

PS--A friend I trust saw Macbeth the other night--as a new Tucson resident from LA it was her first experience with the AZ Opera--and she had pretty much the same reaction I did: the music would have been delightful if you could hear it.

[soleri]

^I heard it at Phoenix Symphony Hall, which has markedly improved acoustics thanks to their renovation. I was at the back of the hall and every note was crystal clear. I have a friend who flew to San Francisco - obviously a great opera center - to hear Tristan and Isolde and Rigoletto last week. Arizona Opera will not be at that level anytime soon. Still, I was struck how good the singing was. The Lady MacBeth I heard, Brenda Harris, was amazing.

[BTinSF]

So it wouldn't be a new place to perform, and that's what they desperately need--a place with good accoustics:

Operatic option
Arizona Opera could move into historic Scottish Rite Cathedral
By Doug Kreutz
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A historic Downtown site — which someday might house offices and rehearsals of Arizona Opera — has long echoed with music and the dialogue of live theatrical performances. The 90-year-old Scottish Rite Cathedral was designed in part to accommodate the staging of elaborately costumed Masonic plays. "In the Scottish Rite, we put on plays to teach philosophies," said spokesman Harold York, Scottish Rite representative for the cathedral at 160 S. Scott Ave.

The cathedral is in the news because opera officials are looking into the possibility of moving their offices there and holding rehearsals, small recitals and fundraising events in the building. "But there would be no full opera performances there," said opera spokesman Tom Wright. The main auditorium, with seating for about 350, is considered too small for such productions.

Any plan for moving the opera — and possibly other arts groups — into the building would involve an unknown amount of public funding to acquire the space. Elected city officials, members of the Tucson-Pima Arts Council and others have met to discuss a move by the opera, which wouldn't itself buy the building. York said he has shown opera officials around the four-level, 29,000-square-foot building but knows of no specific proposals for a sale or move. "I'm not sure how all of this is working out," he said. "We're not proposing anything, but we're open."

Opera spokesman Wright emphasized that the organization is "very early in the process" of considering a move to the cathedral, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. "We're still in the pre-planning stage," Wright said. "It's a long way off — if it's going to happen at all."

Meanwhile, here's a brief look at what's inside the building:
● The main auditorium is an ornate performance space with a stage and an assortment of colorful backdrops imported from Belgium.
● The spacious Masonic Lodge meeting room, still in regular use, once served as a courtroom set for a movie about Geronimo. Opera officials say it could serve as a rehearsal space or intimate performance venue. "We think this is the prettiest room in the state," York said.
● A smaller lodge room, currently used by a Spanish-speaking lodge group, could be used for recitals or rehearsals.
● The building includes an expansive costume-storage area and dressing rooms — features useful to any performance arts group.
● A makeup room is furnished with three barber chairs for actors receiving an application of greasepaint.
● The cathedral's library and museum room houses a collection of Masonic books and artifacts.
● A large lobby is flanked by an administrative work area and offices.
● The building also includes a banquet room with seating for 300 or more, a kitchen and storage space.
Online tour
● Take a larger tour through the Scottish Rite Cathedral at www.azstarnet.com/accent.



Source: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/152038.php

[soleri]

Looks like an ideal venue for chamber music, lieder and instrumental recitals.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by soleri

Looks like an ideal venue for chamber music, lieder and instrumental recitals.

Sure does. Reminds me a bit of my favorite spot for such things in SF: Herbst Theater:

[BTinSF]

Frankly, I'm not happy about this, but here it is:

Growth in Southern ArizonaPlanners say there’ll be 100,000 people or more living in the Santa Cruz Valley in the next decade, as a megalopolis rises from Tucson to the border. As more homes like this one being built in central Green Valley go up, local leaders and residents will be faced with complex decisions about how they want Green Valley and Sahuarita to grow. Recently, the Green Valley News’ parent company, Wick Communications, directed reporters from all of its Southern Arizona newspapers to discover how growth is changing life across the region. They found out that communities from Benson to Bisbee, Green Valley to Sierra Vista, and Nogales to Sahuarita are all dealing with similar growth-related challenges. These issues are discussed in depth in a special supplement on growth in Southern Arizona included in this issue.



Source: http://www.gvnews.com/

[JimInCal]

Since when does 100,000 folks constitute a MEGALOPOLIS? Isn't the author taking substantial creative license with his choice of words here? It is obviously meant to evoke an emotional response of the reader agaisnt such growth. I appreciate the sentiment against substantial growth in such a beautiful area, but let's not use ridiculous descriptions like megalopolis.

[vertex]

This is in addition to the people that already live there...

Given the damage to the desert that's already occurred, it will be horrible problem.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by JimInCal

Since when does 100,000 folks constitute a MEGALOPOLIS? Isn't the author taking substantial creative license with his choice of words here? It is obviously meant to evoke an emotional response of the reader agaisnt such growth. I appreciate the sentiment against substantial growth in such a beautiful area, but let's not use ridiculous descriptions like megalopolis.

Feel free to express your view to the source, the Green Valley News--they used the word, I just posted it.

Most people who live in the Santa Cruz Valley right now live here because they didn't want to live in an "urban" area. 100,000 may not make it urban by SoCal standards, but it'll make it very different than it is and, in the view of most current residents, not for the better.

I'm among those saddened by the prospect. I call the place "the anti-San Francisco" because it's about as polar opposite to the City By the Bay as you can get--and that's partly why I come here: to refresh myself and allow "absence" to make my heart grow "fonder" for the Bay Area. If the population density triples, I don't think that'll work nearly as well.

[JimInCal]

If you read what I wrote, I did place this misuse of words on the author of the article...and I did agree that this was not a good thing. It is not appropriate density for this area. I simply found the use of megalopolis out of scale and context. New York, LA, the SF Bay area, and Phoenix (in the not too distant future) are what I consider megalopolises. I feel your pain and hate to see this myself! FYI: I've only lived in SoCal for 7 years...I'm an Arizona boy (born & raised for 38 yrs) and will always be so.

[BTinSF]

I'm a HUGE sceptic on Rio Nuevo, myself. I've got the feeling Tucson doesn't have a clue how to revitalize its downtown and too many of its citizens don't really care if downtown gets revitalized or not. They'd rather do their shopping in some fancy mall and they'd rather watch a Netflicks movie on the new HDTV at home than go to a concert or opera downtown. The only people who really care seem to be the hapless men and women who give a business there a shot (a group which is constantly in flux). But here's the latest puff piece from the Citizen:

Watch for the signs of downtown rebirth
$1 billion may be committed by end of the year
TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen

Critical decisions in the next two months will lay the foundation to reshape downtown - that is: convert Rio Nuevo from talk to action. By year's end, clear-cut commitments could be in place for projects that will add up to at least $1 billion in public and private downtown investment:

1. Tucson Origins will have an official price tag as well as completed concept designs that will quickly lead to initial construction.
2. A development agreement should be in place to revive the Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments as Depot Plaza, adding two more towers to create a development with a mix of market-rate and affordable housing.
3. A final alignment may be in place for the so-called "final mile" of the Barraza-Aviation parkway linking Broadway and Sixth Street.
4. The Tucson Convention Center will seek City Council approval for a new arena.
5. Hotel Arizona developers will determine whether to go ahead with plans to add another tower next to the Tucson Music Hall.
6. The city Transportation Department plans to finalize the streetcar alignment from University Medical Center, through downtown to the Tucson Origins park on the West Side.
7. Congress Street retail revitalization.
8. Several housing projects are at various stages of approval, design or early construction: (a) The El Mirador condo-amphitheater-possible brew pub project at Stone Avenue and Franklin Street; (b) Presidio Terrace due west of the Tucson Museum of Art; (c) the first dozen homes are under construction at the Mercado District of Menlo Park; and The Post on Congress Street. "Those are the big tickets," Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. "Going forward into 2007, the public will get to see physical signs of investment in downtown.

2007 will be telling year for Rio Nuevo projects

Cranes aren't going up yet and no big hole in the ground will signal a huge downtown project any time soon, but Rio Nuevo is set for a landmark year in 2007. Several high-profile projects will cross major thresholds in winter. Much of that will involve officially committing money to projects that will be built between now and 2010.

The two most apparent to casual observers will be sprucing up the building facades on Congress Street, and the start of construction, possibly as soon as March, at Tucson Origins, the West Side cultural campus that will be anchored by a reconstructed Mission San Agustín. The Congress work will including painting buildings, minor repairs, window treatments and street furniture to spur retail revitalization.

The elimination of the Rainbow Bridge, which would have suspended the University of Arizona Science Center over Interstate 10, opened the floodgates for several projects at the same time. "Until certain decisions are made, it's impossible to make forward progress. The key one was the science center," City Manager Mike Hein said. "That helped fit the puzzle pieces together. There was consensus of the urban design on the West Side (among the museums and neighborhood). That's why that's moving forward." The science center will join the Arizona Historical Society, the Arizona State Museum and an interpretive center around a plaza north of the reconstructed Mission San Agustín.

The next key matter is the "one-way, two-way" debate on Congress Street and Broadway. The city Transportation Department stands firmly behind the present one-way configuration, but leading downtown developers and property owners want two-way traffic on both streets. Hein wants to rely on the city's Transportation Department's scientific analysis. "The question has not been answered: Can it be two-way?" Hein said. Not likely, said Andrew Singelakis, deputy director of the Transportation Department.
"It's simply gridlock (with two-way traffic). Nothing would function in downtown," Singelakis said.

The Downtown Stakeholders, a weekly gathering of downtown developers and business owners, is trying to find a way to convince the Transportation Department to go two-way. "There's a general agreement that it is easier to find your way with two-way, but it's harder to move traffic through downtown with two-way," said Roger Karber, a founder of the stakeholder group and chairman of the Tucson Downtown Alliance. "We're trying to find an optimal way to do that."

Singelakis wants to resolve the one-way, two-way question by the end of the year along with the alignment for Downtown Links - the Barraza-Aviation extension. This has been narrowed to two options: one that runs along the railroad until it merges into Sixth Street and a second that feeds off to Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues.

A few blocks to the west, Karber, as developer of the Hotel Arizona renovation and expansion next to the Tucson Convention Center, is wrapping up the studies to determine the viability of adding a 22-story tower and renovating the existing 14-story tower. "Within three to four weeks we could have some hard conclusions," Karber said. "Every indication is they are all positives."

In the next month, TCC director Rich Singer expects to have consultant research in hand spelling out the details and price tag for a new 12,500-seat arena. A new arena would allow TCC to convert the old arena into another convention center exhibition hall. "We're hoping to have a decision on the arena and convention center by the start of the year," Singer said. "It's not just the arena. The arena is tied to the convention center and the convention center is tied to the hotel. You could tie that up into an attractive package. They are all related."

A few blocks to the east, a leading Portland, Ore., downtown developer is negotiating an agreement with City Hall to redevelop the shut-down, city-owned Martin Luther King Apartments and build an adjoining Depot Plaza with two towers of affordable housing. Williams & Dame have led major projects to bring more than 1,000 residential units to former waterfront industrial (South Waterfront) and warehouse areas (Pearl District) in Portland. Hein and Williams & Dame Chairman Homer Williams expect an agreement to be in place toward the end of the year. Williams got introduced to Tucson at the start of the year when he came here to attend a streetcar symposium. He noted the significance of several Tucson projects reaching key moments at the same time. "A lot of times it's funny how these things play off each other," Williams said. "This place reminds me a lot of Portland 10 years ago."

Karber confirms that private sector downtown confidence matches government boasting of Rio Nuevo progress. "I've got two dozen major (projects) on my list. Each could be No. 1," Karber said. "I think what's happening is not just those companies directly involved in downtown are enthusiastic. There's enthusiasm building through the whole community now. Suburban developers and suburban companies are coming to realize it's for real this time."

Each of these projects passed before the City Council's Rio Nuevo subcommittee, which rigorously critiques them to get projects in shape for City Council consideration. Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, upon getting elected one year ago, became the subcommittee's chairwoman and brought on fellow council members who represent Rio Nuevo neighborhoods, José Ibarra and Steve Leal. "What I've seen is the commitment the Rio Nuevo subcommittee has made to meet every other week and push to get things moving is paying off," Trasoff said. "People are going to see tangible evidence that things are happening downtown."



Source: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/30528.php

[kaneui]

Under a best-case scenario, a downtown streetcar line could start as soon 2010:


Downtown streetcar on track for 2010 debut
By TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
10.27.2006

A streetcar could run through downtown in 2010 using federal or private fundings, according to an analysis of both funding sources. That news came as a shock to streetcar supporters pushing to use private funding to speed up the process. Until Friday, City Hall never wavered from 2012 being the earliest year a streetcar could serve downtown.

HDR/S.R. Beard, a Phoenix national transportation engineering and planning partnership, unveiled timelines Friday that private funding could put a streetcar on the tracks by February 2010, but federal funding could launch the trolley as soon as Aug. 2010, said Marc Soronson, HDR/S.R. Beard's project manager. "We made some aggressive assumptions on the federal side and local side," Soronson said. "These are best guesses of scheduling."

Soronson researched in Tucson and has had deeper access within the Federal Transporation Administation than any of Tucson's private or public sector streetcar advocates. The study was done for the Tucson Department of Transporation, which firmly supports federal funding. "We've submitted documents. We're following (FTA) guidelines," Soronson said. "So far we've gotten positive indications."

Soronson stresses there has been no formal application yet for about $60 million in federal funding to supplement $87.7 million budgeted in the voter-approved 20-year Regional Transportation Authority Plan. Steve Farley, the streetcar's most vocal champion, and the Downtown Stakeholders, the entrepreneurs behind all of downtown's high-profile private projects, are wary of trusting the federal process. But they listened attentively as Soronson delivered his findings Friday at the Stakeholders' weekly meeting. "We want to be fully on the same page by early December," Farley said. "We all want the same thing." "We certainly do," responded Andrew Singelakis, the city's deputy transportation director.

Soronson warned several unknown factors are still in play.
● Will a simpler environmental assessment suffice or will an environmental impact statement be required?
● The FTA has never shepherded a streetcar project through the new "small start" process put in place last year for transportation projects costing less than $250 million.

Mary Okoye, the city's lobbyist, said Mayor Bob Walkup early next year on his annual trip to Washington, D.C., will meet with Mary Peters, the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and a former director of the Arizona Department of Transportation. "That helps us with the internal politics," Okoye said. "We do have things in our favor on the political side. We do have a Congressional delegation who is behind this, no matter what happens in November. We have a track record in being successful in lobbying with our projects." The Federal Transportation Administration within the U.S Department of Transportation must approve the project, but the funding must be won directly from Congress.

[kaneui]

A fourth museum could build a new facility in the Tucson Origins/cultural plaza area, planned for the west end of Rio Nuevo:



current Tucson Children's Museum
(former Carnegie Library)


Children's Museum wants to move to Origins complex
By TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
11.14.2006

And then there were four. The Tucson Children's Museum wants to move from its 100-year-old downtown location and become the fourth museum planned for Tucson Origins. That's where the Mission San Agustin will be rebuilt along with a series of museums on the west bank of the Santa Cruz River.

The Children's Museum in the past month or so has become visible with its desire to be part of the museum complex that will include the Arizona Historical Society, the Arizona State Museum and the University of Arizona Science Center. The museum plans to hire someone in the next few weeks to do a combined feasibility and planning report on how it can go about doubling in size and having three museums as immediate neighbors. The report should be done by spring 2007, said Michael Luria, president-elect of the museum's board of directors. "Our attendance figures have gone up year after year by double digits," Luria said. "We really have outgrown the Carnegie Library."

The Children's Museum drew 76,000 visitors in the past year, even though the 200 S. Sixth Avenue facility has no dedicated parking lot and street parking has meters. That's up from 57,000 in 2003-04,and attendance figures since July have shown an 18 percent increase over the same period last year.
Luria points out what makes this astonishing is that many parents drive from the Foothills or the far East Side with the museum as the only destination.
"It's a half hour to get downtown and you have to find a place to park," Luria said. "You're at the museum 60 minutes or 90 minutes tops and then you have to drive back a half hour. I think what's going to happen is parents are going to have more reasons to go to the Children's Museum. They can couple it with one of the museums or a picnic."

No cost estimates have been made, nor has size been determined. Luria figures a new museum will measure about 30,000 to 35,000 square feet. The museum currently is in a 17,000-square-foot building with 11,000 square feet of exhibition space. "Several of us on the board have made it a point to go to other children's museums," said Luria, who owns the Terra Cotta restaurant in the Foothills. "They inspire us to realistically reach for the stars. Pittsburgh just built an amazing children's museum, which is considered the gold standard. I went to the Chicago Children's Museum and was absolutely fascinated by what they're doing."

Museum board members have not determined how much Rio Nuevo tax increment financing to ask for, but Luria said "obviously, we have to embark on a capital campaign." None of the museums planned for Origins has official approval yet to become part of the park, but all four took part in the festival two weeks ago on the site where they will likely be built. "The Children's Museum could bring a broader audience to the museum campus," said Karen Leone, Rio Nuevo's special projects coordinator. "The Children's Museum goal is to excite children about learning, inspire them, and this combination complements this grouping of museums."

[kaneui]

With apparent interest from developers in the 2.5-acre site, the city may issue a RFP to build a high-rise over downtown's Ronstadt Transit Center:



Ronstadt Transit Center


Air over Downtown bus station may soon open to development
By Rob O'Dell
Arizona Daily Star
11.14.2006

The city's Downtown Ronstadt Transit Center could go from an open-air bus station to a commercial multiuse tower with retail and condominiums over top of the transit center, à la developments from New York or Chicago. The city appears ready to heed repeated calls from developers who have expressed interest in building there. It will put out a request for bids early next year for developers to build around and on top of Ronstadt Center, which anchors a major spot Downtown at the corner of East Congress Street and Sixth Avenue.

Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko said the bus station on the ground floor would be reconfigured to allow for retail development facing Congress, and possibly some retail along Sixth as well. The bids will include air rights above the transit center, to build commercial and possibly condos, he added. Developers have expressed interest in building over the Ronstadt Center for years, Shelko said, adding next year's bids will determine if that interest is genuine. "We'll put it out there and see," Shelko said.

There aren't too many places Downtown that have a 2.5-acre footprint, said Donovan Durband, executive director of the Tucson Downtown Alliance. Because of that, and its location near the Rialto Theatre and Hotel Congress, Durband said "there's definitely market interest" in the site. "That is a major corner right there," Durband said. "That's an anchor corner."

Developer Roger Karber offered the city $2.2 million in January to buy the Ronstadt Center for a mixed-use retail office and residential project that included a parking garage. Although Karber couldn't be reached for comment on Monday, Shelko said Karber said is one of a few developers to inquire about building on the site. Durband also said developer Williams and Dame — which has an adjacent $25 million project called Depot Plaza where it is rehabbing the former Martin Luther King housing project and constructing another tower along with street-level retail — could be interested in developing the Ronstadt Center. A spokesman for Williams and Dame couldn't be reached on Monday.

Residents who learned of the proposal to develop the transit center said they were supportive of exploring the possibility. However, they questioned who would want to live in condos above the transit center because it could attract the low-income riders and transients, in addition to the potential noise and pollution from the buses. "It's a concept worth considering," said Barrio Viejo resident Don Rollings, who added he is opposed to public money going into transforming the center. He said the city needs to research whether the concept has worked elsewhere before starting construction, because if it hasn't worked elsewhere, "it might not be something you want to roll the dice on."

Rollings also questioned whether the developer could get enough return on its investment from the condos because they would be over the top of the transit center. He said other ground-floor uses such as a coffee shop, grocery store or restaurant conform more to a mixed-use development than a transit center. "If you have a Starbucks below your apartment, that's one thing," Rollings said.

Land surveyor Bruce Small agreed the bus station might be an impediment for some condo buyers, but said others could be attracted to an urban design similar to projects in New York or Chicago. He said the city should look into developing the Ronstadt Center. "It's very common in a big city like New York City to sell air rights," Small said. "It uses unused space."

[kaneui]

As Tucson's metro population surpasses 1 million, the questions over big-city amenities continue. With a dated and small convention center and arena downtown, the city awaits studies to determine if a new 12,500 seat arena is justified, or if the current one seating 9,500 should be remodeled. (FYI--Albuquerque, with a somewhat smaller metro pop., is considering a new 19,000-seat downtown arena.)



current TCC arena


TCC Arena: fix it up or build anew?
Programming and amenities driving debate

By Rob O'Dell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
11.19.2006

The Tucson Convention Center is the city's equivalent of an old car. The question city officials are now trying to answer is whether to invest money in the old jalopy and fix it up, or buy a brand new car with all the options and expensive new gadgets they want.

To figure it out, the city has commissioned a study to determine how much of the new amenities and programming it has planned for a new Downtown arena could be handled by a revamped TCC Arena. The second question obviously is how much revamping the existing arena would cost, said TCC Director Rich Singer. Singer said the city is looking for a new arena to have 12,500 seats, with 22 hospitality suites that hold 12 people and would likely be rented by corporations or businesses. It would also have 500 club seats with access to a 5,000-square-foot club restaurant and bar area.

Programming plans for a new arena call for an expanded number of concerts, University of Arizona Icecats hockey games, a minor league hockey team and a second-tier Arena Football League team. The new arena would cost $100 million to $200 million, Singer said, declining to be more specific. The city has a nearly completed study on the cost to be released in January.

However, Councilman Steve Leal said he heard initial estimates of $135 million and recent estimates of $185 million. Singer said that if the city could get 80 percent of the programming into a revamped TCC arena at a cost of 30 percent less than building a new one, that could be a scenario to consider. If the costs were nearly the same and the city could only accommodate half the programming it wants, that would argue for building a new one, Singer said. "The current arena has a fatal flaw, and that's that the ceiling is too low," he said. Most arenas have a 75-foot-high ceiling, while the TCC arena's is only 46 feet above the ground, Singer said. Most concert sets are geared for a 75-foot-high ceiling, the industry standard, he said. Singer said the TCC missed out on the recent Prince tour because of that. The money was right and the date was right but the ceiling was not, so Prince walked, he said.

Tucson is the third-largest city in America without a contemporary arena, Singer said. To make the TCC Arena competitive, the ceiling would need to be raised, something that consultants have said is a possibility at first blush, said City Manager Mike Hein. "Any responsible person would ask, 'Why build new? why not renovate existing (venues)?' " Hein said. "It's not fair to the community to provide just one option."

If the the arena is found to be fixable, Hein said new convention space and meeting rooms would be constructed and added on to TCC. If a new arena were built, he said the extra convention space would come from demolishing the existing TCC arena and building new convention space there. Hein said three studies on the arena will be released in January or February: on the new arena's final cost, on renovating the existing TCC Arena, and on how to renovate the entire Convention Center if a new arena is built to make it a national draw for conventions.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich compared the importance of the decision to Pima County's decision to build Tucson Electric Park on the South Side on East Ajo Way near South Kino Parkway in the 1990s. "These are huge decisions that will have implications in Tucson for decades," Uhlich said, noting that a price tag north of $100 million adds to the weight as well.

Leal questioned why the debate should be a new arena versus renovating the existing TCC arena. He said he would like to see a list of all Rio Nuevo Downtown redevelopment projects and their costs. The arena involves "so much money it takes away from everything," Leal said. It is conceivable that spending as much as $200 million on a new arena could crimp other Rio Nuevo projects, Leal said, including plans to spend $200 million on the West Side as part of a $400 million-plus museum and cultural district.

That district will include a University of Arizona Science Center, new centers for the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona State Museum, and a re-creation of the convento, chapel and other features of the San Agustín Mission. "In general, I've been dubious about the arena," Leal said. "If I have $100,000 to renovate a house, it doesn't make sense to spend $75,000 on a bathroom."