Downtown Lowdown

{Downtown Lowdown is written and photographed by Jamie Manser, jamie@downtowntucson.org}

Professor Chris Carroll Awarded for His Heart of Downtown

Though Friday the thirteenth may have negative connotations to the superstitious, that day smiled upon UofA English Professor Chris Carroll last month.

In a quaint ceremony at the Tucson Museum of Art’s courtyard, Mayor Walkup commended the professor for his years of dedication to the improvement of Carroll’s El Presidio neighborhood and to the revitalization of Downtown Tucson.

“What’s so impressive about Chris’ body of work is that it spans the public sector, the private sector and the non-profit sector,” said Mayor Walkup. Carroll has been involved with the Industrial Development Authority, the Downtown Development Corporation, the Citizens Downtown Oversight Committee, and numerous other public bodies and processes. He served as an interim director of the Tucson Museum of Art, has been active with the El Presidio Neighborhood Association, and contributed to the development of the arts district. Many Downtowners still remember Café Magritte, a Congress Street draw that Carroll helped establish.

The professor’s familial roots in Tucson are over a century old. His grandfather built the historic Franklin House at 402 N. Main Ave. in 1898 as a gift for his wife. Carroll and wife Susan Aiken not only live there, but were married there, as were two of his five children. Additionally, two UofA buildings are named for Carroll’s patriarchs: Herring Hall honors his great-grandfather and the Franklin Building was named in tribute of his grandfather.

The Mayor’s quarterly Heart of Downtown Award recognizes individuals, groups, organizations and businesses that provide exceptional contributions to the improvement of Downtown Tucson.

Developers: Got Vision?

Last month, the City of Tucson issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of multi-unit housing on the one-acre parking lot just west of the Tucson Museum of Art.

The RFP is searching for interested parties to purchase the property and construct multi-story housing with a mix of unit sizes and configurations that integrate the local architecture of the surrounding neighborhood with the option of including limited retail space.

The property is being sold through the City’s Community Services Department. Director Emily Nottingham said, “This is a special place in the heart of Downtown. It invites creativity and vision and I am excited to help make this property available.”

A pre-proposal conference will be held on Wednesday, March 10, 8:30 a.m. at the Rio Nuevo Project Office, 2nd floor of 52 W. Congress St. A site visit follows the conference and proposals are due by 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5.

Copies of the RFP are available from the Community Services Department by calling 791-4123 or online at www.CityofTucson.org/RioNuevo.

Changing of the Guard: Ace Rubber Stamps & Engravings

For the last 42 years, Ace Rubber Stamps & Engravings has conducted business Downtown. The company was born in the garage of Richard and Elyse Barnett in 1962, and within two years the couple was in need of a bigger location and moved to Church and Alameda.

They moved to their current location, 67 E. Pennington St. (near Scott Avenue) in the late 80s when construction began on the YMCA and parking garage.

This year, the family owned business has restructured its operation with son David Barnett serving as the company’s President, former office manager Jeffery Locke returning to serve as the General Manager and long time employee Bob Friel assuming the role of Operations Manager. Founder Richard Barnett is still involved and can be found setting type and answering phones.

Ace has also extended its hours and is now open Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The business provides a wide variety of rubber stamps and engravings that include - but are not limited to - address and notary stamps, name tags, plastic signs, embossing seals, as well as design and logo stamps.

They can be reached by phone at 622-1962, via fax at 622-1229 or through email at acestamps@theriver.com.

Immaculate Heart: Open House & Reunion

An open house and reunion for alumni, friends and associates of the former Sisters of the Immaculate Heart Convent and St. Joseph’s Academy, 35 E. 15th St., will be held at the historic building on Saturday, March 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

“We are hoping that former teachers will attend and that people will bring their yearbooks, pictures and other mementos to share,” said Arlene Quiroz, chairman of the event and graduate of the school.

The Academy Lofts LLC purchased the Immaculate Heart in January and will be converting it into 36 lofts. Managing Partner Steve Fenton said one of his goals is to create an exhibit in the foyer that documents the history of the 1886 building.

Studio 180

A new Downtown art gallery, owned by recent San Diego transplants John and Pat Caverly, had its grand opening on February 14. Studio 180, at 180 E. Broadway Blvd., will be featuring paintings, sculpture, weaving, glass work, jewelry, and ceramics by a wide variety of national and local artists.

“I’m concentrating all my energy on my art and the promotion of other artists,” Mr. Caverly said.

The artist studied commercial art for two years and fine art for two years and has had his work shown in Aspen, Denver, Taos, Santa Fe and San Diego.

The gallery currently features Caverly’s “A Decade in Retrospect,” oil and mixed media paintings. The show runs through March 20 and the gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Bevins Guitars

After nine months at 216 E. Congress St., John Bevins is moving his shop to 741 N. 4th Ave. after Ordinary Bikes moves to its 7th Street/4th Avenue location.

Bevins said that he didn’t want to sound like he was harping on downtown but “from a business standpoint, parking was a big problem. There is also the issue with one way streets. It’s intimidating to the non-downtown folks.”

[Editor’s Note: We couldn’t agree more about the negative impact of the one-way streets in Downtown. We can’t wait until Broadway is converted to two-way traffic with the construction of the new 4th Avenue underpass, and the conversion of Congress to two-way traffic to follow. We’re still waiting on the approved conversion of Stone and 6th Avenues to two-way traffic south of Broadway.]

Speaking of Parking

The City of Tucson and ParkWise are working on an analysis of parking in downtown and are developing a 10 year master plan “for off-street parking and parking garages,” said Parking Program Coordinator Chris Leighton.

The preliminary analysis indicates that Downtown has a deficit of nearly 4,000 parking spaces, considering the supply of parking and the regulatory requirements of existing uses, although the deficit is not uniformly distributed throughout the area.

The number of required parking spaces is partly determined by the square footage of a building. For Downtown, however, that number is approximately 50% of the requirement for parking outside of Downtown.

ParkWise staff and the T.E.A.M./ParkWise Commission will continue to refine the analysis and use it to develop recommendations for locations and sizes of future parking facilities.

New Infill in El Presidio

Over the years, many historic buildings in Downtown Tucson were demolished to create space for surface parking, but a recent groundbreaking in El Presidio demonstrates that the pendulum is swinging back towards the value of built structures over surface lots.

Developer Michael Keith announced the beginning of construction on Franklin Court, a 9-unit residential development at the northeast corner of Franklin and Court (see how clever the name is?), on a site where houses were once demolished for parking. Five units, sized between 1,880 and 2,150 square feet, have already been pre-sold. Architects Bob Lanning and Leo Katz have designed three models at Franklin Court, with prices starting at $340,000. The project is designed to blend architecturally with the El Presidio Neighborhood, which has been very supportive of the project. Keith said that the interest in Franklin Court was an indication that “Downtown is already happening, already the cool place to be.”

Greyhound Location Decision Postponed

The Tucson Mayor and Council voted to delay the relocation of the Greyhound Bus Station until a suitable permanent site can be identified, approved, and acquired, and a new facility can be designed and built. There had been discussion about locating Greyhound temporarily to one of two sites near I-10 while a permanent site is prepared, but council members were concerned about the inconvenience to Greyhound to be moved twice within a few years.

Potential sites presented to the council by staff included the northeast corner of 6th Avenue and Toole—identified in the Intermodal Center Plan—and a site in the vicinity of 5th Avenue and 7th Street, north of the railroad tracks.

The decision delays the start of construction of the 4th Avenue underpass by at least another year.

Railroad Depot Dedication

On Saturday, March 20 the Historic Depot on Toole will have a dedication to celebrate its restoration. Starting at 10:00am, the event will include tours of the depot, music, light refreshments and remarks by members of southern Arizona’s congressional delegation as well as local elected officials. Locomotive 1673’s bell will be rung at 11:00am, marking the 124th anniversary of the arrival of the railroad to Tucson. See page 7 for an article about the anticipation and arrival of the train on March 20, 1880.

---

---

BACK