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Holidays to mark progress of building new UniSource/TEP HQ

July 07, 2010 (9:16 am) | Permanent Link

Teya Vitu

Holidays will mark milestone dates for the first private sector Downtown high-rise to go up since 1986.

The new, nine-story corporate headquarters for UniSource Energy/Tucson Electric Power hasn’t come above ground yet, but construction should be up to the third floor by Thanksgiving, said Scott Rathbun, UniSource’s director of corporate facilities and security.
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Rathbun charted the tower’s prescribed progress in terms of holidays. Work should reach the sixth floor by Christmas, and the concrete for all nine floors should be in place by Valentine’s Day.

Plans call for concrete to be poured for the tower’s three-story parking garage by St. Patrick’s Day, and Rathbun wants to have TEP employees in the building by Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2011.

UniSource/TEP will expand its Downtown presence from 85 to 425 employees. The building will use several sources of passive and active solar power, and solar heating will produce all the hot water, UniSource Chief Executive Paul Bonavia said.

“We’re going to set a standard for efficient building,” Bonavia said. “We’re bringing our company into the 21st century. It creates an environment for 21st century utility employees, who are much more part of the green economy than we have been.”

UniSource’s commitment to street-level retail has evolved since the company unveiled its building plans in March with 8,700 square feet of retail along Broadway. That was increased to 12,700 square feet and extended down Sixth Avenue, across from Etherton Gallery and Janos Wilder’s anticipated Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails.

“Janos Wilder, we talked to him,” Bonavia said. “We changed the way we are doing retail on the ground floor. We hope that stimulates more retail.”