A new boutique hotel, market-rate apartments, retail, restaurants and a public plaza are coming to the University of Arizona area.
The Marshall Foundation has entered into an agreement with developers to create the urban gathering place in Main Gate Square.
The 14-story Graduate Hotel & The Collective Apartments at Main Gate will be built at 930 E. Second St. β on land owned by the foundation.
Graduate Hotels is owned by Chicago-based Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners. Graduate Tucson will have 165 rooms, a ground-floor bar and cafe and a rooftop bar and swimming pool.
The Collective, a 238-unit complex, will have a fitness room, private courtyards, a spa and its own rooftop pool.
βThis project is exciting on many levels and will create a special destination and gathering place for Tucson residents, young professionals, university staff, students and their parents, families with children, and tourists,β said Jane McCollum, general manager for the Marshall Foundation. βThe Graduate Tucson & The Collective project also utilizes the last undeveloped parcel in Main Gate Square and completes the vision started by our founder, Louise Foucar Marshall, who was a savvy real estate investor, philanthropist and the first woman professor at the University of Arizona.β
The project will have about 6,000 square feet of ground-level retail and restaurant space with a folding glass storefront that opens onto a plaza with lush foliage, public art, an interactive musical water feature, an outdoor movie screen and space for special events, classes and meetings.
Its location, across the street from the Marriott, will benefit both hotels because large conferences often seek venues with multiple meeting rooms, McCollum said.
βWe are pleased to bring together world-class organizations like Graduate Hotels, Core Spaces, Up Campus and DRW Real Estate to create this unique project at Main Gate Square,β said Tom Warne, developer consultant to Core Tucson Main Gate LLC. βThis project offers many improvements to the previous plan that the community will enjoy and take pride in. We are excited to move forward.β
A previous design for the parcel approved by the cityβs zoning administration in April 2016 was for a hotel and retail only.
The residential parking will be underground with 121 spaces and a second-story parking deck with 56 spaces for the hotel.
The project will be developed on a long-term ground lease with the Marshall Foundation.
DRW Real Estate is the main partner and developer, Graduate Hotels is building Tucson Graduate, and CoreSpace is responsible for The Collective.
The project is fully entitled under the Main Gate Overlay Zone, which was approved by the mayor and council in 2012.
The development team expects to break ground this fall and complete the project in July 2020.
