The redevelopment of an old building on Arizona Avenue is shaping up as a very positive case study of investment in public infrastructure leveraging private investment in downtown Tucson.
As work continues on the streetscape rework along Broadway Boulevard and 5th Avenue from Broadway to 12th Street, owner/developer Ross Rulney expects to be in construction on the building he calls "the Carriage House" in the first quarter of 2010.
Rulney has owned the Tiburon Apartments on 5th Avenue for several years, and more recently assembled the adjoining warehouse structure and the Julian Drew Building, a National Register property.
With eighty residential units in the buildings leased at 95-100%, Rulney is now looking to activate the Carriage House. The proposed renovations will yield twelve high-ceilinged, loft-style apartments. Architect Rob Paulus has designed the space to preserve as much of the existing character as possible, while providing future residents with modern amenities and high-quality, urban-style finishes.
Units in this "cool, urban space" will range from 600 to 1,000 square feet, with rents starting at $700. "We should be ready for resident move-in by this time next year," says Rulney.
Since the Carriage House is set back from and not easily viewed from Broadway, it is probably most often viewed as the building one sees dead ahead when moving through the parking lot of Barrio Food and Drink and Etherton Gallery. Its east face is a smooth, orange-painted faade along 5th.
Rulney's redo of the Carriage House is to be integrated with the renovation of the historic Julian Drew Building, just to the north. Courtyards with new landscaping will enhance two apartment units in the southwest corner of Julian Drew, behind what Rulney hopes will be a restaurant space occupying the northwest corner, where architect Bil Taylor was a long-time tenant.
Streetscape improvements in front of Julian Drew on Broadway and along 5th Avenue will enhance the block with widened sidewalks, landscaping and irrigation, pedestrian and street lighting, and diagonal parking along 5th Avenue. Those improvements were to be paired with the beautification of Arizona Avenue from Congress to 12th Street, per commitments made by the City of Tucson several years ago.
Rulney is philosophical about the down-sizing of the public improvements; "Things change, and economic conditions have been difficult, so I get that," he says. He's grateful for the City's work on Broadway and 5th, but says that the Carriage House conversion will not be possible without needed fix-ups on Arizona Avenue, particularly near the building itself.
The project is contingent on the relocation of the unsightly power lines and transformers that frame the west face of the building along Arizona Avenue. Rulney is hopeful that Tucson Electric Power Company, which now owns the Santa Rita block just to the west, will cooperate with the utility relocation. The electrical equipment is not merely an eyesore; its removal is necessary for Rulney to secure a building permit on the improvements that are planned.
Rulney is excited about the project moving forward, and believes that the perception of living in and bringing new businesses to Downtown is moving in the right direction. "The interest level in Downtown retail is changing dramatically for the better," says Rulney.
