photo: David Olsen
In the 22 years that Steven Eye has leased 31 E. Toole Ave. from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), he has built a solid community organization by not only hosting thousands of artists to exhibit in a unique gallery and hundreds of cutting edge musicians to perform in an acoustically awesome venue - but has also personally, physically worked on every inch of the warehouse's 6,825 square feet.
"Since April of 1987, I have had a month-to-month lease and have used my own money to maintain it," Eye said.
The lease agreement has always been based on the building "as is," Eye explained. Though the monthly rent has been inexpensive, $300 for the first 13 years and $450 for the last nine years, "I'm estimating that it has cost (me) $50,000 to renovate and fix it" over two decades, Eye said.
Though a month-to-month lease is a tenuous situation for any renter to be in, especially considering time, sweat equity and fiscal investments, Eye said that he saw the potential for what the building could be and felt he was in the right place at the right time to offer community artists a space to "feel safe in and inspired by."
Though Solar Culture has successfully done that all these years - the question now is - will Eye be able to continue to provide such a space to the community with another interested party placing an offer and deposit on the building since ADOT put the Toole Avenue warehouses on the market in October?
Eye said that Steven Fenton, president of Fenton Investment Company, is the interested party. By placing the 10% deposit ($9,500) of the property's appraised value ($95,000) in mid October, Fenton started a 30 day countdown.
Teresa Welborn, ADOT's media representative, said that if and when ADOT receives a second offer before the 30 day deadline, "That's when we have the auction." Otherwise, the original offer is rewarded the buy.
The time for Solar Culture to submit an offer is drawing nigh. Welborn said the deadline is 10 a.m. Monday, November 9 for local ADOT representative Jacki Valinski to receive a deposit and letter of intent to buy. The auction would then take place the next day, November 10, at 11 a.m. at ADOT's Tucson District Office - 1221 S. 2nd Ave.
There is hope for Solar Culture's survival as the Warehouse Arts Management Organization (WAMO) has stepped up to back Solar Culture with Tucson's Industrial Development Authority (IDA) agreeing on Monday, November 2 to give WAMO, a 501c3 non-profit, a loan to purchase the building.
IDA's board president Marilyn Robinson said the loan is part of the non-profit corporation's Community Investment Loan Program. Another aspect of the IDA is the Bond Financing Program, which generates the monies for IDA's community investment programs.
"The base of what we do is issuing revenue bonds. That money doesn't pass through our hands, but we enable others to gain bond revenue" Robinson explained. "In return, we get some fees based on the amount of the bonds and those fees enable us to give loans for community investment. We don't receive money from the city, county or taxpayers."
According to the IDA website (www.TucsonIDA.com), the organization "provides financing of community development projects whenever appropriate and where traditional sources of funding may be unavailable."
Their website states that IDA "will promote and assist projects designed to enhance, revitalize and rehabilitate the cultural, social, economic, historical and physical resources of the downtown, lower income neighborhoods, infill projects and of the broader Tucson community."
Based on that mission statement, Robinson said, the loan to WAMO was approved because "clearly this project is to enhance downtown and community development."
WAMO board president Marvin Shaver said that the organization has been working with IDA for about five months to secure the loan because WAMO wants "to save Solar Culture as the venue it is and keep Steve Eye there forever."
"WAMO buys Solar Culture and keeps Eye as a tenant and he pays WAMO rent," Shaver said. "Further down the road, the goal is to have Eye own it."
WAMO, which began in 2004, is charged with managing artist-occupied warehouses in the Historic Warehouse Arts District - a district on the National Register of Historic Places and located on the north edge of downtown, along the Union Pacific railroad tracks.
"The goal is to place restrictions on the properties and set up a structure to have a high percentage of the buildings' uses be affordable, below-market art space," Shaver explained. "As gentrification happens in the areas surrounding the Toole Avenue warehouses, the artists won't be priced out of their work spaces."
Regarding Solar Culture and Eye, Shaver said that Eye sees Solar Culture "as his legacy. This is very important and deep to him."
"We're keeping our fingers crossed that whoever bids against us doesn't have bottomless pockets," Shaver said.
Based on the loan for the current appraised value of the building, Eye's monthly rent will go up to $1256 per month and could be more if there is a bidding war.
Fenton, a large stakeholder in the downtown and greater Tucson area, was unreachable for comment about the auction and his interest in the building with four phone messages left between Tuesday, November 3 and Wednesday, November 4.
In other warehouse news, 1 E. Toole Ave. (the old Zee's Gallery) has an offer in for the property valued at $165,000 with Thursday, November 5 at 10 a.m. being the deadline for any other offers with the auction to take place at 11 a.m. at 1221 S. 2nd Ave. on Friday, November 6 if someone else steps up.
The spaces at 15, 17 and 19 E. Toole Ave., where Salvador Duran, Astro Fab Collective and the office for Mahlia Collection reside, have not yet received an offer for the $265,000 asking price, nor has anyone claimed interest in the $360,000 119 E. Toole Ave. property.
Welborn said those tenants are on 30 day, month-to-month leases and that the tenants can stay, "if they choose to, until we sell" the buildings.
"We like to dispose of property and aren't in the business of being property managers. We buy properties for right-of-ways, to build roads."
Welborn also said state statute stipulates that the jurisdiction gets first right of refusal to purchase the properties to use "for transportation purposes or public purposes like a library or a parking garage."
"If they don't want it, we market them to sell."
