47 Scott expanding with small coffee shop/bar
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Breakfast soon to be on the menu at Café a la C’art
La Cocina reopens with new management, menu
Phx. builder sets up S. Az. base on Stone Ave.
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News
News
High-end outlet mall proposed for I-10 frontage
July 22, 2010 (1:56 pm) | Permanent Link
Teya Vitu
A premium branded retail outlet mall has been proposed for the city-owned freeway frontage property, currently site of the temporary Greyhound bus depot.
The city expects to issue a formal request for proposals later in August to sell the roughly 8.8-acre strip into the private sector. A few years ago, the city considered building a tortoise shaped arena on that land, but the design and the site were both scrapped for the arena.
A committee would weigh the proposals and recommend one to the City Council, said Lou Ginsberg, the city’s real estate program director.
For a couple of years already, non-traditional retail developer Rodney Yates has eyed the vacant Downtown freeway frontage for a premium branded destination outlet center.
“Retail is a great catalyst for revitalization of Downtown,” said Yates, founder of Scottsdale-based OTB Destinations.
Yates envisions three anchor stores and about 50 smaller stores along the freeway frontage road stretching from Congress Street south to Cushing Street.
Yates seeks to fill the anchors with “value concept” versions of Nordstrom, Bloomingdale. Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue – the same concept as the Saks Off Fifth store at Foothills Mall.
“I’m not saying Nordstrom is coming,” Yates said. What he is saying is those premium retailers these days are focusing more on value concept stores than building new department stores.
A Nordstrom Rack store is already scheduled to open at Oracle and Wetmore roads in Fall 2011, according to the company’s website.
The Interstate 10 widening project, in particular, attracted Yates to downtown. He intends to tap into the shoppers who flock to Tucson from Mexico.
“Destination retail works well for Mexican nationals,” said Yates, who has developed similar outlet malls call Legends at Village West in Kansas City, Kan., and Legends at Sparks Harbor in Sparks, Nev.
The land value is still in the appraisal process, Ginsberg said.
