Tucson Development Thread

[DSGNR7]

Originally Posted by Anqrew

I must be psychic, . But yeah that spot between Hub and PG is pretty coveted so it must be something great! Cant wait to find out, are you involved in Downtown Development, how'd you know this information?

I work for FORSarchitecture+interiors. We have been very fortunate to work closely with Scott Stiteler and his team to help transform the corner of 5th + Congress.

I was told Friday that the announcement of this new tenant between HUB + Playground should be going public tomorrow, Monday the 15th. But hell, why don't I give you guys a little heads up...

The newest addition to the downtown Tucson restaurant district will be Phoenix's Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco. For those who haven't heard of Pizzeria Bianco, a quick google search lists it as one of the top pizzeria's in the United States. Although Chris Bianco has three other restaurant concepts in Phoenix, Pane Bianco, Bar Bianco and Italian Restaurant, his original Pizzeria Bianco is one of the most sought after restaurants and developers from around the country have been hotly pursuing this brand. Ultimately though, Chris' love for Tucson and the amazing progress downtown is why Tucson is getting the 2nd Pizzeria Bianco!!! Hope you are all excited as we are.

[Anqrew]

Originally Posted by DSGNR7

I work for FORSarchitecture+interiors. We have been very fortunate to work closely with Scott Stiteler and his team to help transform the corner of 5th + Congress.

I was told Friday that the announcement of this new tenant between HUB + Playground should be going public tomorrow, Monday the 15th. But hell, why don't I give you guys a little heads up...

The newest addition to the downtown Tucson restaurant district will be Phoenix's Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco. For those who haven't heard of Pizzeria Bianco, a quick google search lists it as one of the top pizzeria's in the United States. Although Chris Bianco has three other restaurant concepts in Phoenix, Pane Bianco, Bar Bianco and Italian Restaurant, his original Pizzeria Bianco is one of the most sought after restaurants and developers from around the country have been hotly pursuing this brand. Ultimately though, Chris' love for Tucson and the amazing progress downtown is why Tucson is getting the 2nd Pizzeria Bianco!!! Hope you are all excited as we are.

Ah, i was fairly certain you worked for FORS as you knew so much.. But wow! So glad you could share this information with us early! i know i was really anxious to find out what it was! You guys at FORS are awesome! While I have personally not heard of this restaurant, I'm very excited, i looked it up online and it looks and sounds like an amazing place for Tucson to have. It even has its own wikipedia page! so it must be very prominent.

I also find it very exciting that so many people outside Tucson are looking to invest, we now have Flagstaff and Phoenix branching to downtown Tucson, which to me is great news to know that people from out of the city look so highly on downtown now.

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by dsgnr7

i work for forsarchitecture+interiors. We have been very fortunate to work closely with scott stiteler and his team to help transform the corner of 5th + congress.

I was told friday that the announcement of this new tenant between hub + playground should be going public tomorrow, monday the 15th. But hell, why don't i give you guys a little heads up...

The newest addition to the downtown tucson restaurant district will be phoenix's chris bianco of pizzeria bianco. For those who haven't heard of pizzeria bianco, a quick google search lists it as one of the top pizzeria's in the united states. Although chris bianco has three other restaurant concepts in phoenix, pane bianco, bar bianco and italian restaurant, his original pizzeria bianco is one of the most sought after restaurants and developers from around the country have been hotly pursuing this brand. Ultimately though, chris' love for tucson and the amazing progress downtown is why tucson is getting the 2nd pizzeria bianco!!! Hope you are all excited as we are.

holy @@$)*(@%(*@$!!!

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by Anqrew

Ah, i was fairly certain you worked for FORS as you knew so much.. But wow! So glad you could share this information with us early! i know i was really anxious to find out what it was! You guys at FORS are awesome! While I have personally not heard of this restaurant, I'm very excited, i looked it up online and it looks and sounds like an amazing place for Tucson to have. It even has its own wikipedia page! so it must be very prominent.

It's amazing. It's literally the most famous pizza place in the country. The Phoenix location actually feels a bit Tucson-like. I'd be a bit concerned about the number of pizza places downtown but I think they all offer something different.

[ComplotDesigner]

Originally Posted by Ritarancher

I drove on speedway and turned on Campbell and I saw two tower cranes. I'm guessing that park ave has its crane now.

You're right, here is a screen shot from UEB streaming camera:



http://www.uebbuilders.com/webcams/tyndall2.html

And not a high-rise, but here are some images of Walmart at El Con (04-14-13)

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by ComplotDesigner

You're right, here is a screen shot from UEB streaming camera:



http://www.uebbuilders.com/webcams/tyndall2.html

And not a high-rise, but here are some images of Walmart at El Con (04-14-13)

Man, Wal-Mart can put up a building fast as hell.

[ComplotDesigner]

I think they're opening this coming fall!

[nickw252]

Seriously, posting about Walmart?

The two tower cranes are great to see though.

[Ted Lyons]

Development is development. There are almost countless examples of more off-topic discussion in this thread.

[nickw252]

Originally Posted by Ted Lyons

Development is development. There are almost countless examples of more off-topic discussion in this thread.

I wasn't questioning whether it was development news or suggesting it was off topic...

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by nickw252

I wasn't questioning whether it was development news or suggesting it was off topic...

I agree...you were questioning the importance of a Walmart in a "Skyscraper forum" discussion.

My question is: how close is this this big box to downtown or the university? You don't want these things close to urban cores. Their parking lots alone kill street life. Although I am not familiar with Tucson, I don't think this Walmart is that close to downtown but if it is within a few miles...probably still not the best thing.

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

I agree...you were questioning the importance of a Walmart in a "Skyscraper forum" discussion.

If this is the real justification, why do we talk about any single-floor development? Where do we draw the line? If this thread were dedicated to strict discussion of skyscrapers in Tucson, it would be about two pages long.

My question is: how close is this this big box to downtown or the university? You don't want these things close to urban cores. Their parking lots alone kill street life. Although I am not familiar with Tucson, I don't think this Walmart is that close to downtown but if it is within a few miles...probably still not the best thing.

3 miles. Tucson has a big box ordinance, so that term technically isn't applicable here anyway. Regardless, it's at a shopping center that already has a Target, a Home Depot, a Ross, a Burlington Coat Factory, a JC Penney, and a 20-screen movie theater. It's not setting any sort of precedent even if it's not the most desirable retailer.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by Ted Lyons

If this is the real justification, why do we talk about any single-floor development? Where do we draw the line? If this thread were dedicated to strict discussion of skyscrapers in Tucson, it would be about two pages long.

It isn't about how tall a project is, but generally what a project adds to the urban character of a city. That is the general discussion of threads for any city on this forum. Walmart, by its very nature, is the antithesis of urban form.

3 miles. Tucson has a big box ordinance, so that term technically isn't applicable here anyway. Regardless, it's at a shopping center that already has a Target, a Home Depot, a Ross, a Burlington Coat Factory, a JC Penney, and a 20-screen movie theater. It's not setting any sort of precedent even if it's not the most desirable retailer.

Yeah, given that description of the area this Walmart is going in, it doesn't look like it will hurt.

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan

It isn't about how tall a project is, but generally what a project adds to the urban character of a city. That is the general discussion of threads for any city on this forum. Walmart, by its very nature, is the antithesis of urban form.

And still, there is much discussion here that doesn't fit within those parameters. Every discussion of The Bridges we've had would be outlawed under those guidelines and the same can be said of most threads here.

[phxSUNSfan]

Originally Posted by Ted Lyons

And still, there is much discussion here that doesn't fit within those parameters. Every discussion of The Bridges we've had would be outlawed under those guidelines and the same can be said of most threads here.

Of course no discussion is "outlawed" and there are no "guidelines" for what can be discussed in terms of what is being developed...it is just rare for Walmart to receive this kind of attention on this forum unless it was in a negative context.

[ProfessorMole]

anyways......

There were two crews starting to take the lit signs down for Johnny Rockets and the other stores today where the CVS will be going on Main Gate. East side of Level has all the scaffolding taken down and looks done except for balcony railing. West side is picking up on the brick laying for the center portion that runs all the way to the roof.

[Anqrew]

I don't think it's too bizarre to discuss a Walmart being built, like said development is development. For me personally, I am very curious and I like to follow the developments at El Con mall (where the Walmart is) because it has gone under extensive renovations and still is, add on top of that the debate this Walmart has brought between the city the mall and the neighborhood, this Walmart has received a good amount of press. So while in another city this might be viewed as mundane, it's a big deal in Tucson.

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by ProfessorMole

anyways......

There were two crews starting to take the lit signs down for Johnny Rockets and the other stores today where the CVS will be going on Main Gate. East side of Level has all the scaffolding taken down and looks done except for balcony railing. West side is picking up on the brick laying for the center portion that runs all the way to the roof.

Yeah. Drove down Park today and was surprised to see all that scaffolding gone. I was driving so I didn't look too closely, but it looks like the finishes around the windows have to be installed still as well.

[Ted Lyons]

Originally Posted by Anqrew

I don't think it's too bizarre to discuss a Walmart being built, like said development is development. For me personally, I am very curious and I like to follow the developments at El Con mall (where the Walmart is) because it has gone under extensive renovations and still is, add on top of that the debate this Walmart has brought between the city the mall and the neighborhood, this Walmart has received a good amount of press. So while in another city this might be viewed as mundane, it's a big deal in Tucson.

To reframe what phxSUNSfan brought up earlier about not wanting big chain stores too close to downtown, El Con serves the purpose of giving those stores an option near downtown that doesn't actually impact the area itself.

In that regard, it's a pretty valuable asset as there are a lot of cities bigger than Tucson that don't have shopping centers near their cores that are accessible by people who live in those cores. For example, having lived in Seattle, before the City Target opened recently, the closest Target to downtown was at a mall almost 8 miles from downtown. Similarly, the closest Wal-Mart was in Renton, which was over 12 miles away. There were a lot of stores that someone with a decent income could frequent to replace those options but not as many places targeting the low- to mid-income demographic.

[Ted Lyons]

What we already knew thanks to DSGNR7.

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange...owntown-tucson

The Rumors Are True: Pizzeria Bianco Is Opening In Downtown Tucson

POSTED BY JIM NINTZEL ON TUE, APR 16, 2013 AT 12:31 PM

Chris Bianco could have opened his second pizzeria anywhere in the world.

He picked downtown Tucson.

“Tucson has been one of my favorite places, for a lot of different reasons,” Bianco said. “I have good friends in Patagonia and in Sonoita and the wineries there. Tucson has always been a good stop on the way for music and inspiration and architecture and the barrio

Bianco hopes to be up and running near Congress Street and Fifth Avenue (between comfort-food Hub and the nightclub Playground) sometime in November.

Bianco has running Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix for nearly two decades and was a step ahead of downtown revitalization there, opening in Heritage Square in 1996. His menu is small—just a half-dozen pizzas, a trio of salads and handful of small plates and side dishes—but the praise has been large. Bianco is the only pizza chef to have won a James Beard award. GQ has credited Bianco with launching the artisan pizza movement. Bon Appetit declared the pie to be the best in the nation. (It’s also considered the best in the world by Tucson Weekly editor Dan Gibson, who will explain his reasoning in this week's print edition.)

Bianco has been praised for his care in combining fresh, quality ingredients from his own garden and local suppliers for everything from the dough to the toppings.

“You learn to take your own sense of what makes something good,” Bianco says. “It’s about celebrating your backyard. … When we get to Tucson, I think there will be an even bigger opportunity to do it.”

While he’s not yet ready to reveal all the relationships he’s building with local suppliers here, Bianco says “my back door has always been open to farmers and people to bring what they’ve got to show up. You show up with some local peaches and I guarantee you, I’ll find a way to put them in a salad.”

Bianco, who oversaw all the pizzas that went into his oven until a few years ago (when complications from a chronic asthma condition forced his to step away from the dusty dough), has been offered opportunities to open a second pizzeria from big shots around the globe.

But it was seeing the developing restaurant scene in downtown Tucson that convinced him to expand here.

“I walked into the space and I saw the red brick and the good neighbors,” Bianco said. "I'm just so excited."

The new Pizzeria Bianco is a huge win for downtown Tucson, which has been steadily developing a reputation as a restaurant destination in recent years as new eateries such as Hub, 47 Scott, Maynards Market and Kitchen, Sparkroot and Reilly Craft Pizza and Drink have opened downtown. Janos Wilder, who was doing Sonoran locavore dishes long before locavore was cool, returned to downtown from the Catalina Foothills to open DOWNTOWN Kitchen + Cocktails in 2010. Two famed Flagstaff eateries, Brix and Diablo Burger, both are planning on opening new spots in the Rialto building next month.

Scott Stiteler, who will be Bianco’s landlord, says that he sought a focus on unique eateries in the downtown properties that he owns.

“My objective was to create an intersection that people all over Tucson and hopefully from places farther away feel the need to go and check out,” says Stiteler, who is also the landlord for Playground, Hub, Sparkroot and other eateries along Congress Street. “If you’re going to have a place to explore, you need a dozen or more interesting, unique businesses in your buildings.”

Stiteler’s vision for creating a dining destination in downtown played a big role in Bianco’s decision to open on Congress Street.

“To do something that is bringing together people with good intentions—that’s my kind of party,” says Bianco. “I think when things feel like home, you find a way to stay in the neighborhood and work in the community.”