The building that for decades was home to American Meat Co. on Tucson’s south side will soon have new life as an indoor food court and neighborhood market.
The Common Group, developer of several south-side restaurant and retail rehab projects, plans to hold a soft opening for American Eat Co. & Market in February.
The 8,000-square-foot project at 1439 S. Fourth Ave. will house six restaurants, each with their own fully equipped kitchens; a bar and a coffee shop; and a neighborhood market and meat counter.
A common dining room will be big enough for nearly 250 diners, and restaurant operators will range from newcomers on Tucson’s food scene, to food trucks looking to expand to brick and mortar, to longtime restaurateurs wanting to try out a new concept or menu without incurring the startup cost of opening a new restaurant.
Tenants, selected through an application process that closes on Dec. 1, will have their own kitchen and counter space. Rents will be set depending on the size of the space, and utility costs will be split between the owners and tenants. Operators will sign one-year leases so that they are not tied into anything long-term.
In some ways, American Eat Co. will serve as a restaurant incubator, where ideas are tested and rejiggered until they work. Tenants will be responsible for the back of house — kitchen and cooking — while The Common Group will run the front, including hiring and paying servers and other staff to bus tables and take care of customers.
“If they have a new concept or a new menu, they can test it out here,” said Guillermo Gallegos, who founded The Common Group in 2014 with fellow south-side native Jesus Bonillas Jr. “And if they like it, they can stay.”
The Common Group held an open house last week for prospective tenants, giving a dozen or more tours of the space that will undergo $1.2 million in renovations. Plans call for creating an industrial urban feel with polished concrete floors, small tables made with repurposed dump-truck tire rims, rebar railing accents and bare Edison-like lights hanging from open ceilings.
One end of the building will have a private dining room in a space designed to look like a New York City alley. Repurposed metal and wood will be used throughout to lend a gritty urban feel.
Counters will use refurbished wood that resembles butcher blocks the Islas family used for decades at its popular neighborhood butcher shop and market.
American Meat Co. had stood on the corner of South Fourth Avenue and East 25th Street for 62 years. The Islas brothers, Reuben Francisco Sr., Alejandro, Joaquin, Filiberto and Oscar, opened the shop in 1953 and ran it until the 1990s, when they turned it over to their children.
The shop was popular in the Barrio Santa Rita Park, a place where families would get pork and beef needed to make Christmas tamales and beef tripe used in Christmas and New Year’s menudo.
“The Islases had been there ever since we moved into the neighborhood and that goes back to 1960,” said Angie Quiroz, president of the Barrio Santa Rita Park-West Ochoa Neighborhood Association, who said neighbors didn’t want to see the space remain vacant.
But they also didn’t want someone from the outside coming in to do something that didn’t benefit the community, she said.
“This group is homegrown. They grew up in the area. There’s a connection with that,” Quiroz said. “It’s exciting because they are very young, they have a lot of spirit and they know the community.”
Bonillas said they bought the building two months ago for $250,000 with no clear plans about what to do with it.
Over a month’s span, the idea evolved from commercial kitchen for food trucks to the food court.
It’s an idea that Susan Fulton, president of the Tucson Originals association of restaurants, praised in part because it defies food court wisdom.
“Oftentimes when it’s a food court, like in a mall, it’s just a bunch of chains,” said Fulton, who owns Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro, 5845 N. Oracle Road. “The concept of having different local restaurants where people can browse around at different kinds of food is wonderful. It’s a great idea; I love it.”
The Common Group has completed four major commercial rehab/renovation projects since forming in 2014, including a 10,000-square-foot retail complex in the former Edmund Marquez Suzuki dealership at 702 W. Irvington Road.
