If you thought the entryway to Tucson could not look worse, you were wrong.
The tall sign for the Spanish Trail Motel, long a blasted out eyesore on I-10 westbound as it curves into Tucson, now fronts a burned-out, smoky-smelling hulk.
Yes, the Spanish Trail burned again β bursting into flame Sunday night and rekindling on Monday.
The burned-out shell of the former Spanish Trail motel on the southern edge of South Tucson has been a blight on the city for years. It caught fire most recently Sunday night and again Monday morning.
This is not an uncommon occurrence. The abandoned and half-collapsed motel burned in February 2024, too. And the adjacent Spanish Trail apartments, originally a part of the motel complex, suffered a large blaze in June 2020.
Another large fire struck the original motelβs buildings in December 1999, too.
Itβs something of a tradition. And it raises a short-term question β why was there still anything left to burn there?
It also raises a long-term question: What does South Tucson need to do to spark (sorry) redevelopment at the Spanish Trail and the adjacent Tucson Greyhound Park properties.
These are big properties with real development potential. But theyβve been sitting undeveloped for years, and now both are burned-out hulks. The Greyhound Park building, too, burned in May 2024.
While many locals may see South Tucson as the home of some esteemed Mexican restaurants and not much else, the potential is there. At the south end of South Fourth Avenue, vacant land abounds, right next to a freeway entrance and exit.
This photo of the Spanish Trail Motel taken in the late 1960s, shows its round restaurant. The motel once featured music and dancing and it has an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Developing it could be key to the square-mile cityβs future. But city officials have been reticent or conflicted about how to proceed. In 2023, I wrote about how a three-member bloc of City Council members got elected on a promise to resist gentrification.
Their main idea: Keep South Tucson affordable for current residents without inviting in development that could raise the cost of living to unsustainable levels.
I talked to one of those officials again Tuesday morning. Roxanna Valenzuela was a new council member when she made the anti-gentrification argument two years ago. Now sheβs mayor of South Tucson and is viewing things a little differently.
βMy mindset has shifted for sure,β Valenzuela said. βWe do need businesses, not just to come into South Tucson to keep providing residents with basic services. We have a lot of work to do to help empower the businesses that are already here, to give them tools and resources so they donβt leave, so theyβre still thriving.β
What she hopes to see, she said, is more housing β βa huge economic development driver. More housing, more density, more affordable.β
There is prime acreage for it, but two of the owners havenβt been moving fast. In fact, the owners of the Greyhound Park and Spanish Trail properties have both been served citations accusing them of violating the cityβs codes, Valenzuela said.
I requested the citations via a public records request, but I hadnβt received them by my deadline.
Brian Bowers, owner of the Spanish Trail properties with his wife Margeaux, told me he received a citation when fencing off the fire-damaged property Monday.
It isnβt the first sign of confrontation between him and South Tucson officials. Valenzuela previously threatened to picket his home over the condition of the apartments he owns in South Tucson, and she still refers to him as a slumlord.
In 2024, South Tucson sued the Bowers over the condition of their 120-unit Spanish Trail Suites and a nearby complex they own, the Sixth Avenue Suites. The city argued that the complexes amounted to a criminal nuisance, based in part on the number of police calls made to them.
The Bowers disputed the claims and later settled the lawsuit by agreeing to a series of improvements to security and conditions at the properties.
When I visited Tuesday, three residents told me things have actually been better at the Spanish Trail Suites lately.
βWhen he upped the security a couple of years ago, it really made a difference,β 10-year resident Andy Bellair told me.
βHe sure has cleaned it up a lot,β Meagan Sweeney said.
Timothy Tague told me, βI like living in this place. Iβm glad the landlord is willing to work with me and my honey.β His honey, Tague clarified, was not the woman stopping by to say hello when I was there, but his dog.
The biggest problem, now, is next door, where the old restaurant, nightclub and reception area for the motel used to be and charred ruins are now.
Valenzuela, the mayor, said of Bowers, βItβs his responsibility. He was supposed to remediate that after the first fire. He got cited and got away with it because of a technicality.β
Bowers told me demolishing the ruins there is expensive in part because asbestos is present. He also said heβs been hearing interest in the property from various potential buyers, including one who would buy it as is.
Valenzuela would like it to happen soon.
The Spanish Trail ruin, she said, βreflects negatively on us and it looks bad on the whole region. I think itβs to everybodyβs benefit that South Tucson is safer and healthier.β
Bowers, for his part, said, βWeβre open to working with whoever, but itβs always been kind of confrontational on their (the cityβs) end.β
It would benefit South Tucson and the broader region to make the compromises needed to get these projects moving.
