Citizen Staff Writer
1 Fourth Avenue underpass: Should open this summer to cars, bikes, pedestrians and new streetcar.
2Train depot: Now home to Maynard’s fine restaurant and deli as well as tony shops flanking the real rail depot.
3Scott Avenue: Being torn up south of Congress to make a street more friendly to pedestrians, with trees, benches and art.
4Modern streetcar’s downtown route: The streetcar will run from north of UA, along Fourth Avenue, through downtown and west of I-10.
5Depot Plaza parking garage: The 281-space underground garage opens in June, with the new, six-story Martin Luther King Jr. Apartments for seniors and the disabled to be built above.
6Hotel/arena/convention center: A 24-story, 525-room hotel will be paired with a convention center-arena to create what downtown Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko called a “three-pronged stool” designed to generate 1 million annual visitors, up from 150,000. Inadequate facilities are keeping hundreds of conventions from considering Tucson, and conventions (read: outsiders with cash to burn) are where the money is. TCC has about 100,000 feet of exhibition space; the new facility should have 130,000.
And a larger arena should mean more big-name music acts coming to town. Paul McCartney would have to charge $350 a ticket to make it worth playing at present-day TCC, which has a capacity of 7,500; enlarging the arena to 12,000 would enable him to charge a relatively reasonable $125.
7West Side development: Museums seen as a major anchor are on hold. Luxury homes are being built, and many have been completed and are occupied. A mercado opens this summer with a dozen local merchants.