Sonoran Institute will move into 44 E. Broadway
By Teya Vitu
The Sonoran Institute becomes the latest Tucson company to move its headquarters Downtown from suburbia.
Sonoran follows Madden Media, Amity Foundation and Providence Service Corp. in its move to Downtown and adds to the blossoming Broadway street frontage dominated by the nine-story UniSource Energy/ Tucson Electric Power headquarters now under construction a half block to the east of the Institute’s new home.
The Institute will occupy most of the third floor of the former U.S. Courthouse Annex at 44 E. Broadway - the building that has had no front or rear walls the past couple years.
Once the building’s restored, the Sonoran Institute will move about 20 employees in March or April into the building bought last year by Fletcher McCusker, chief executive of Providence Service Corp., located next door.
“There’s been talk about moving Downtown for years,” said Ian Wilson, Sonoran’s communications director. “It came down to practicality, to available space and money.”
The institute needed about 6,500 square feet to consolidate the three separate offices it now occupies at the Broadway Proper Garden Offices, 7650 E. Broadway.
“This move with Fletcher came about very recently,” Wilson said. “He was very eager to find a way and incent us. Our lease was set to expire here in the first quarter. Fletcher made us a very good deal.”
Sonoran is the second tenant McCusker has lined up for the vacant building he acquired in late July from Bank of the West. The Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce a few months back took on the street level space along Broadway.
Providence’s 25-person information technology department will fill the second floor; and McCusker intends to put six residential condos with roof access on the fourth floor.
The Institute has been on Broadway alongside the Pantano Wash since the 1990s and has had to expand into separate offices in the same complex.
“The big advantage is we’re all going to be in one building on one floor,” Wilson said.
Luther Propst, the institute’s executive director, is eager to celebrate the Institute’s core mission with this move.
“Our employees are very excited about the Downtown move since it reduces commute times for most, and opens up new public transportation options for our staff and visitors,” Propst said.
A Downtown office puts Sonoran closer to several of its environmental partners, many with offices in the Historic Y on University Boulevard at Fifth Avenue. City and Pima County offices are nearby as is Interstate 10 for the frequent drives to Phoenix.
“This is a win-win for the Institute and for the Downtown community,” said Denny Minano, vice chair of the Institute’s board of directors. “The Institute is pursuing a sustainable approach to their move by reusing an existing building space, and Downtown is gaining another vibrant organizations as part of its community.”
McCusker has been a revitalization dynamo since moving Providence into 64 E. Broadway in May. Soon thereafter, he launched 2nd Saturdays Downtown, and he’s leading the effort to raise a private funding match to allow for more Downtown façade improvements.
“I am delighted to play a role in enticing he Sonoran Institute to join the Downtown Tucson business community,” McCusker said.
The Sonoran Institute was founded in Tucson in 1990 and has offices in Phoenix; Bozeman, Mont.; Glenwood Springs, Colo.; Sheridan, Wyo.; and Mexicali, Baja California.
With a $5.3 million budget, the Institute is a leading western conservation organization that specializes in land conservation and smart growth.
Its signature projects include:
Remapping the upper Santa Cruz River watershed near Tubac and Tumacacori.
Restoring water flows in the Colorado River to the Gulf of California.
Mapping and designing a desert city of the future for 300 square miles backing up to the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction.
A Sonoran Desert heritage proposal to increase wilderness and open public lands in western Maricopa County.
Protecting wildlife corridors in Montana.
Incorporate wildlife corridors in to local zoning ordinances in Twentynine Palms, Calif.
http://www.downtowntucson.org/news/?p=2989
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