Tucson Development Thread - Page 252

andrewsaturn · #**5021** Posted **Jun 30, 2014, 9:36 PM**

Thanks for the pics!

dtnphx · #**5022** Posted **Jun 30, 2014, 11:04 PM**

Hey guys:

Was just in your fair city this weekend from Phoenix. I've been to Tucson dozens of times over the years. Spent some time with a friend on Saturday evening during a Local Arizona event on 4th Ave. Loved the vibe, even though it was hot as hell (as a Phoenician, I know hot). After that, we went to Congress St. via the underpass. Love the creative tiles of Tucsonians adorning the walls! Had a nice dinner at Hub on Congress. The restaurant food was good and had a very big city vibe. Lots of activity on the street and love seeing the Modern Streetcar testing on the street-very urban. I love how your downtown is scaled to people rather than the giant, monolithic buildings that dominate Phoenix's downtown. The scale of everything was right on point. Very impressed.

andrewsaturn · #**5023** Posted **Jul 1, 2014, 4:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtnphx

Hey guys:

Was just in your fair city this weekend from Phoenix. I've been to Tucson dozens of times over the years. Spent some time with a friend on Saturday evening during a Local Arizona event on 4th Ave. Loved the vibe, even though it was hot as hell (as a Phoenician, I know hot). After that, we went to Congress St. via the underpass. Love the creative tiles of Tucsonians adorning the walls! Had a nice dinner at Hub on Congress. The restaurant food was good and had a very big city vibe. Lots of activity on the street and love seeing the Modern Streetcar testing on the street-very urban. I love how your downtown is scaled to people rather than the giant, monolithic buildings that dominate Phoenix's downtown. The scale of everything was right on point. Very impressed.

Hey! I'm glad you enjoyed your evening

Congress street has definitely transformed a whole lot since just from a couple of years ago ( thanks in part to the Scottsdale original Hifi bar/restaurant and Bianco Pizzeria). The momentum can only continue and hopefully beyond just that one street. Phoenix has a nice amount of sky scrapers something Tucson lacks and I'm not optimistic that we could build a new towering tower in my lifetime. Phoenix has the economy to keep building and at a faster rate than Tucson so maybe downtown Phoenix can one day be the place to be at, a bustling urban core .

DSGNR7 · #**5024** Posted **Jul 1, 2014, 4:49 AM**

If I had to choose between fixing the small problem with the cladding on Next or completely demolishing The Hub...I'd choose demolition. Gosh, what a horrible looking building. The Hub is one of those unfortunate cases where the rendering of the building looks vastly better than the final product. Don't get me wrong, I love the progress and it definitely helps with the massing of that area; it just wasn't executed very well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted Lyons

Next looks pretty good but there's a defect where the crossbeam meets the vertical beam (you can see where the cladding flares out) on the pointless arch that will probably never be fixed.

ProfessorMole · #**5025** Posted **Jul 3, 2014, 11:08 PM**

New article on Banner's potential takeover of the UA health network. Based on the proposed agreement, it's looking like a smart move to clear some big debt and doesn't disrupt the Cancer Center in Phoenix, at least for now.
Banner Health Poised to take over UA network

Ted Lyons · #**5026** Posted **Jul 4, 2014, 2:11 AM**

Just read this: http://3storymagazine.com/mercado-tucson/. Loads of new info. I hope even a quarter of what's discussed gets completed.

Patrick S · #**5027** Posted **Jul 4, 2014, 9:51 PM**

To go along with this

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted Lyons

Just read this: http://3storymagazine.com/mercado-tucson/. Loads of new info. I hope even a quarter of what's discussed gets completed.

Gadsden Co. pays city $2.3M for streetcar construction

Ted Lyons · #**5028** Posted **Jul 4, 2014, 10:06 PM**

A development package for West End Station, including a preliminary site plan for "The West Abbey" which I believe is the same as the "Downtown Abbey" mentioned in the article, was submitted last month.

From the Mercado:

From Congress:

cdsuofa · #**5029** Posted **Jul 6, 2014, 4:54 AM**

Kinda get the feeling Gadsden is going to fill those 14 acres with absolutely nothing that contributes to the feel of downtown and basically alienate the west end from the east of I-10 portion. There is so much they could to turn that into the cultural hub of downtown or even the commercial, heck the whatever hub but they are just going to continue to build mid rise, government subsidized, low income housing. Great!

cdsuofa · #**5030** Posted **Jul 6, 2014, 5:02 AM**

Heyy looks like the county is going to buy the land for the soccer fields http://tibo.zxq.net/wordpress/?p=1648 . Feel like soccer could work in Tucson.

Ritarancher · #**5031** Posted **Jul 6, 2014, 7:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdsuofa

Kinda get the feeling Gadsden is going to fill those 14 acres with absolutely nothing that contributes to the feel of downtown and basically alienate the west end from the east of I-10 portion. There is so much they could to turn that into the cultural hub of downtown or even the commercial, heck the whatever hub but they are just going to continue to build mid rise, government subsidized, low income housing. Great!

Yes and no. I agree to some extent. If there is no street level retail then downtown vibes will be killed. The feel of a downtown also depends on the architecture of the buildings. The old Spanish style is very nice looking but can't make an efficient downtown. Business owners don't want to invest in the past. People need modern. Santa Fe has nice older architecture but it's downtown economy is based solely on tourism. That can't be Tucson. A district with fifteen or so modern looking buildings with street level retail would create a market that attracts businesses and can provide good paying jobs. That would then lead to more development downtown, assuming most or many employees want to live along the streetcar route. But I think we're getting more than just Hud housing, West end station is low income but I remember reading about another development that was middle class,I believe that the backyard is too. I think the article also mentioned a hotel as well and I'd assume all those buildings will need a large parking garage. So things are kinda looking brighter on that side of the 10

Btw. Diversity in that area is great whether it's based on income, age or race.

Ritarancher · #**5032** Posted **Jul 6, 2014, 7:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdsuofa

Heyy looks like the county is going to buy the land for the soccer fields http://tibo.zxq.net/wordpress/?p=1648 . Feel like soccer could work in Tucson.

This is a really smart investment. Soccer is by far the fastest growing sport in the US. Thousands of people are filling football stadiums nationwide to watch the world cup on tv. Tucson is capturing the opportunities soccer has. I can't think of any other spot in the continent that has twenty some soccer fields in one square mile.

Ted Lyons · #**5033** Posted **Jul 6, 2014, 6:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdsuofa

Kinda get the feeling Gadsden is going to fill those 14 acres with absolutely nothing that contributes to the feel of downtown and basically alienate the west end from the east of I-10 portion. There is so much they could to turn that into the cultural hub of downtown or even the commercial, heck the whatever hub but they are just going to continue to build mid rise, government subsidized, low income housing. Great!

That building isn't "low income," which doesn't equate to "market rate," and every building they have proposed thus far is mixed use. I don't see how that's counter to the goals of the neighborhood. If your complaint relates to Sentinel Plaza, that was the result of a land swap for what is now The Herbert and had nothing to do with Gadsden.

cdsuofa · #**5034** Posted **Jul 7, 2014, 1:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ritarancher

This is a really smart investment. Soccer is by far the fastest growing sport in the US. Thousands of people are filling football stadiums nationwide to watch the world cup on tv. Tucson is capturing the opportunities soccer has. I can't think of any other spot in the continent that has twenty some soccer fields in one square mile.

I agree I've never seen soccer so popular in the US and the World Cup has definitely never been this popular here. MLS teams are getting new, relatively large stadiums as well. Correct me if im wrong but I believe they do their own version of spring training early in the year where they practice and scrimmage. If Tucson can capitalize on that and maybe lure some MLS teams to have their training camps here in the winter that would be huge.

Ted Lyons · #**5035** Posted **Jul 7, 2014, 2:00 PM**

http://fctucson.com/team/full-mls-pr...-cup-schedule/

Patrick S · #**5036** Posted **Jul 8, 2014, 1:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdsuofa

I agree I've never seen soccer so popular in the US and the World Cup has definitely never been this popular here. MLS teams are getting new, relatively large stadiums as well. Correct me if im wrong but I believe they do their own version of spring training early in the year where they practice and scrimmage. If Tucson can capitalize on that and maybe lure some MLS teams to have their training camps here in the winter that would be huge.

Tucson's already done this.

Ted Lyons · #**5037** Posted **Jul 10, 2014, 5:08 PM**

New renderings for HUB phase II. This looks a million times better than the first phase.

http://pdsd.tucsonaz.gov/files/pdsd/...esentation.pdf

Ted Lyons · #**5038** Posted **Jul 10, 2014, 5:13 PM**

Here's a bunch of information on the plan amendment proposed for the mixed use development at Speedway and Campbell. Supposedly, some renderings were shown at the meeting on May 8th, but I can't find anything beyond the preliminary images under "Proposed Policy Exhibits."

http://pdsd.tucsonaz.gov/pdsd/current-plan-amendments

Anqrew · #**5039** Posted **Jul 10, 2014, 5:50 PM**

awesome stuff! looks like I was on to something when I thought the 20-story tower would be at Speedway and Campbell! In the Neighborhood Meeting Summary it says there are plans for a 250 ft tower! as well as a grocery, office space, high end residential units, and a 1,000 space parking garage (2 levels below ground and 5 above)

earliest plan amendment would be Nov 2014, rezoning planning at least 8 months, rezoning process another 6 months or more. I'm going to guess this will start construction in summer 2016.

southtucsonboy77 · #**5040** Posted **Jul 10, 2014, 11:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anqrew

awesome stuff! looks like I was on to something when I thought the 20-story tower would be at Speedway and Campbell! In the Neighborhood Meeting Summary it says there are plans for a 250 ft tower! as well as a grocery, office space, high end residential units, and a 1,000 space parking garage (2 levels below ground and 5 above)

earliest plan amendment would be Nov 2014, rezoning planning at least 8 months, rezoning process another 6 months or more. I'm going to guess this will start construction in summer 2016.

AMEN to that! It appears 12 stories would front Speedway, 10 would front Campbell (for the Blenman Neighborhood of course) and the 20 would be towards the UMC campus. It's not downtown, but its definitely a co-anchor for the east-end of the Streetcar route.