Modern Street Car an asset to travel from the U of A to Downtown

I was fortunate to attend a Tucson Green Committee meeting a few weeks ago that provided great information on the Modern Street Car, its implications on the city of Tucson, and also up to date information on the growth of the University of Arizona student body in the next few years.

If you haven’t already noticed downtown is actually beginning to transform after many years of ineffective planning, decisions, and promises.

We went to Dinner at a new restaurant called “the Hub” downtown last week and we really impressed by how many people are now actually making downtown Tucson a destination….

Something that I obtained from the Green Committee meeting, is that we will see more development  in the next few years, and that there are many businesses vying for an opportunity to be on the Modern Street Car path and in the downtown area.

The Tucson Electric Power Company building is quickly coming to fruition, as well as the new car park on the corner of 4th Ave. The Car Park will also help with some of the parking complaints that often arise about the downtown area. There is actually parking but it is not easily found……

Modern Street Car Tucson

The Modern Street Car will start its journey on the East side of the University of Arizona Campus,down 4th Avenue, Congress St,  and travel across the Freeway to the Mercado District.

It was also announced that we can expect around 10,00 more students at the University of Arizona in the next few years, so housing and real estate around the University should be a premium with limited housing already in place.

The Modern Street Car will help off campus students and planned off campus College Faculties communicate very easily with the central College hub.

We are looking forward to the ride!

Anne and Eddie McKechnie

Realtors Consultants

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

2890 E Skyline Drive,

Tucson, Az 85718

http://thetucsonexperts.com

Office (520)529-7507

One North Fifth continues to progress towards completion. It has recently been reported that over a quarter of the units have already been rented which is great news for the downtown revitalisation projects that are underway.

Williams and Dame, the Portland is the Oregon based company  that is a partner in redeveloping the site.

Brown said the apartment models have been set up and they are  receiving around 10 to 15 calls a day for information about the units.
 

The preleasing of the units will take place in a two phase process. They are looking for an August opening for the 96 units, while they also construct the retail spaces below. These should be available in the late Fall.

They are also looking for non chain business  to keep the  eclectic feel of the neighborhood.

10% of the project has been set aside for affordable housing but the rents are definitely on the higher end of the spectrum for downtown.

As many people know in Tucson, The City of Tucson received a $9.8 million HOPE VI Revitalization grant in May 2005 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This grant was given  to revitalize the public housing units at the Martin Luther King (MLK) Apartments, and create a new mixed-income urban community.

One of the principals, Williams and Dame became interested in the Tucson downtown revitalisation project, mainly because of the four-mile streetcar system, that was approved here by voters in 2006. This project is already under construction.
The Streetcar project will be a much needed asset to downtown Tucson.

Brown was quoted as saying that "Downtown Tucson is not currently a proven market for condos, but we think it will be," He also added that  "In the short term, the important thing is to get people living downtown. Right now, downtown actually dozen’t have a lot of apartments or condos available."

As we all know, as the city center becomes populated, then other developments will follow such as Retail.

The market has also changed in the last two years, but the developers feel that Tucson is ready for this kind of project.

The University of Arizona with its 50,000 students, and also Tucson reaching the 1 million population mark, and that the city despite current economic conditions continues to grow are all factors to take into consideration.
With gas prices rising many people are looking for a shorter commute to the Downtown area.

As Donovan Durband, executive director of Downtown Tucson Partnership recently said, "If the Tucson streetcar had significant impacts within two blocks in either direction on stimulating new development, we would have a transformed downtown. If we had even 20 percent of the growth in residential units and office space in our downtown as Portland has had, the impact on downtown would be enormous."

Lets see what happens in the next year.

The Rio Nuevo Project  snail pace update

For the last eight years all of Tucson has been waiting for the downtown  development of Rio Nuevo to come to fruition.

New landmarks have been promised and then put on hold in the downtown Tucson area.

It would be great to see a significant progress to Central Tucson, but it appears that we are going to have to wait at least another year again for most of the projects to get off the ground.

It appears to be the same old story. I have been telling visitors that came three to four years ago, that it would take 4 to 5 years to completion….not four to five years to get started.

The only project that seems to be getting off the ground ,and that has made progress over the last year, is the former Martin Luther King Apartment  Building now called One North Fifth.

I remember many years ago when I was a Home Health Nurse, taking care of a disabled man that lived at the complex, and it was in dire need of redevelopment then. It is a welcome change to see the remodeling of the Building as I drove passed it the other day.

Courtesy of Tucson Citizen….original building.

 One North Fifith  will have studio and one bedroom apartments for rent in the complex, and and it will also encompass retail units below.

The complex will also have athletic facilities, and underground parking plus a great roof deck to take in  a 360 view of the Catalina Mountains, the Tucson Mountains, the Rincon Mountains and the Santa Rita Mountain range at one time.

It is situated close to the Hotel Congress, the Rialto Theatre, the University of Arizona,  4th Avenue shopping, the Tucson Convention Center,  and the  Arts District.

It will be a flagship for the downtown revitalisation project, of Rio Nuevo  and should help other projects to get off the ground.