McMahon's steakhouse transforming into offices

The site of a historic Tucson restaurant will go from serving steaks and fine wines to closing real estate deals.

Work is underway to convert the former McMahon’s Prime Steakhouse at 2959 N. Swan Road into a one-stop real estate-centric office complex, where you can close on a home, get a mortgage or financing and buy an insurance policy all under one roof.

Tenants will include the partners behind Synergy Plaza LLC, which bought the restaurant and adjacent McMahon Plaza for $5 million in October. All of them work in the real estate industry, from property sales to private financing.

“The whole concept is to be very synergetic to real estate’s basic needs,” said Kristian Gose, a private financing specialist who is partners in the plaza with his wife, Tucson CPA Wendy Alexonis; real estate salesman K Watanabe of Realty Executives; Derrick Polder of Summit Funding; and Matt Uhler, who works with Northern Arizona’s leading business brokerage firm, WCI Brokers of Prescott.

In all, Synergy Plaza has nearly 47,000 square feet of office space taking up the corner of North Swan and East Fort Lowell roads. When it bought the property five months ago, only 40 percent of the space had been leased. Watanabe said it is now 90 percent leased, including the historic 2,700-square-foot adobe house across the courtyard from the restaurant. The home was once the corporate offices for Bob McMahon, who lost the plaza and restaurant and a second restaurant, Old Pueblo Grille at 60 N. Alvernon Way, in a bankruptcy dispute in May.

Stewart Title will move into the house, which is being renovated by Bradley Hoge, VP and co-founder of Rio West Development & Construction.

On Thursday, Hoge went through the house with Gose, pointing out the remnants of an original adobe wall jutting out between the drywall. Hoge suggested that they install glass over the adobe so that it wouldn’t be hidden from view, which was an idea that Gose had also entertained.

It will be one of many steps Synergy takes to preserve the history of the restaurant and house, which they were told dates to the early 1900s. The restaurant goes back to the early 1960s, a reincarnation of a restaurant that burned down on the spot, according to Star archives. The building has been home to three restaurants since then, beginning with The Palomino in the mid-1960s. When it closed in 1994, the Sevilla family opened an outpost of their popular Euro-Spanish restaurant Encore-Med and a second restaurant, Cafe Triana, in the cavernous 14,000-square-foot space that includes four distinct dining rooms.

McMahon opened his namesake steakhouse in the spot in late 1998.

“That’s what people remember,” Watanabe said, recalling stories he had heard from people who were patrons of the restaurants. “It’s a really cool landmark and we don’t want to change it.”

“I’ve lived here my whole life and everybody knows what this used to be before McMahon’s,” Gose added.

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Gose said artwork from McMahon’s will be rehung throughout the former restaurant, including a large Native American painting that greeted diners at the entryway. They also will re-create McMahon’s “Wall of Fame,” where the longtime Tucson businessman hung photographs documenting the history of the Palmonio, Encore-Med, his restaurant and other aspects of Tucson’s history.

On a tour of the restaurant Thursday, Gose noted the flagstone floor at the entryway. It will stay, he said, as will the molding throughout the building. The dining room behind the glass wall where McMahon displayed hundreds of bottles of wine will be Watanabe’s office.

The back dining room with a fireplace will be home to Adam Dellos’ Adam D. Technologies, an information and technology firm. Polder will take the back banquet room and Gose and Alexonis will set up shop in the former wine cellar, at the end of the “Wall of Fame” hallway that flowed into the bar.

A private dining room at the center of the restaurant will become a conference room, and the center dining area will be common space.

The bar area and kitchen will be home to Savaya Coffee, which will operate a small cafe with a menu of organic, locally sourced breakfast and lunch items.

“It’s going to be a little different concept,” Savaya owner Burc Maruflu said. “We want to expand the offerings. Right now we offer everything on the sweet side, but we’re going to get more into the salads and comfort foods to go with the coffee.”

Maruflu said he will hire a trained chef to oversee the kitchen and plans to add a kitchen studio, where Savaya can create videos and conduct cooking classes.

The Swan Road location is one of two that Maruflu will open this year. The other is at 2837 N. Campbell Ave.

Gose said Stewart Title will move in in mid-March, but it could be early May before the restaurant is finished and the other businesses open.

Other tenants of the plaza include Arizona Oncology, VerVe Salon and Ignite Fitness.