When it comes to entertainment venues, Tucson has a pair of 1,000-seat-plus venues in historic former movie houses downtown and a 300-seater in a historic hotel.
La Rosa, a collaboration between former Hotel Congress entertainment director David Slutes and longtime Phoenix concert promoter and entertainment visionary Charlie Levy, will open later this year in the chapel of the iconic Benedictine Monastery, 800 N. Country Club Road.
In the fall, the city will get a 500-seat venue in a historic midtown church.
La Rosa, a collaboration between former Hotel Congress entertainment director David Slutes and longtime Phoenix concert promoter and entertainment visionary Charlie Levy (The Van Buren, Crescent Ballroom, Valley Bar), will open in the chapel of the former Benedictine Monastery, 800 N. Country Club Road.
The venue fits the sweet spot for promoters looking for something smaller than the 1,200-seat Rialto or Fox Tucson theaters on East Congress Street and a little bigger than the 300-seat Club Congress in Hotel Congress.
Slutes said La Rosa is “a beautiful venue” that can accommodate “very diverse programming,” from comedy to music of all genres. The size also opens up opportunities for local and regional performers as well as national touring acts, he said.
“This helps Tucson become that place, that artist haven, that we all dreamed it could be and should be,” said Slutes, who called the project the third act of his entertainment career that started with his band the Sidewinders in the 1990s and included nearly 27 years as the Hotel Congress music director.
Slutes and Levy co-own La Rosa and are leasing the monastery space from the property’s owners, who bought it in 2017 from the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. The sisters, who had established the monastery in 1940, closed in 2018 and relocated to their Motherhouse in Clyde, Missouri.
Nuns gather during afternoon prayer in this 1986 file photo at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
“What drew me to this project was the opportunity to create something truly special for Tucson’s music community,” Levy said in a written release. “La Rosa will complement the city’s existing venues while bringing its own unique character to the scene.”
Slutes and Levy have had a long relationship going back to Slutes’ band days when Levy would book the Sidewinders into his Phoenix clubs. The pair also collaborated in 2010 on a Tucson event protesting the state’s controversial SB1040 anti-immigration bill that led to statewide boycotts by musicians, conventions and professional sports.
Slutes said he and Levy have been working on the project for about a year, including meeting with residents in the Sam Hughes and Miramonte neighborhoods to get their blessings.
“Keeping the neighbors happy is key,” Slutes said.
Construction could begin as early as next week, he said, and it could be completed by September. The first shows could be on the La Rosa stage as early as October.
Developers of Tucson's newest concert venue are leasing the monastery space from the property's owners, who bought it in 2017 from the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
“What’s so charming about this place is it’s so beautiful, we didn’t want to do too much to it” beyond sound mitigation, Slutes said. “Mostly we’re leaving everything as is where we can because it’s a beautiful, beautiful church.”
The project also will include an adjacent fast-casual restaurant and bar called Rosie’s Tavern that will serve pizza, pasta, sandwiches and salads. Slutes said he was not ready to disclose who would operate the restaurant.”
Photos: Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Tucson Monastery
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Sister Ramona Varela, Prioress of the Benedictine Monastery, looks to see where workers are fixing the monasteries roof in 2009. The Trento Alpine Society, a thirty member choir from Trento, Italy donated their time to do a concert at the Benedictine Monastery. They helped the Monastery raise funds for the nuns $1 million Preserving Our Heritage campaign for restoration work at the monastery.
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Sister Lucia Anne Le stands ready to add in the cheese flavoring to a mixer as she makes a batch of the chedder cheese flavored popcorn at the Prayerfully Popped retail store in Tucson in 2011. The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have endured are trying to raise money to keep their historic monastery operating and make much needed repairs.
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Sister Lucia Anne Le mixes around the freshly popped popcorn as it falls out of the popper at the Prayerfully Popped retail store in Tucson in 2011. The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration were raising money to keep their historic monastery operating and make much needed repairs.
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Sister Stella Cuniff sings during an afternoon mass with Sister Ramona Varela at the Benedictine Monastery in 2007.
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Sister Anita Valdez takes the glass of wine from Sister Margaret Mary Bielinski as part of communion during an afternoon mass at the Benedictine Monastery in 2007.
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Sister Carmela Rall works on her "Lady of Vladimir" icon painting in 2005 that will take her about a month to complete. She says she makes the eyes the focal point of her paintings since "they are the windows to the soul."
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Some of the $40 icons for sale by Sister Carmela Rall in 2005. She says she makes the eyes the focal point of her paintings since "they are the windows to the soul."
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A small desk in an alcove in the hallway of the residence area in the Benedictine Monastery in Tucson in 2006, a piece of furniture from the old Steinfeld mansion up for sale by the nuns.
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The Benedictine sisters, shown in 2005, spend part of their days at work, another part in prayer. In the computer area, Sister Mary Elizabeth Krone, front, and Sister Anita Valdez work on monastery business.
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Sister Barajas moves a 1920s-vintage vanity dresser as she arranges sale items in the monastery's basement in 2006. The starting bid on this piece is $450. All the furnishings in the photo were used at the Downtown mansion where merchant Albert Steinfeld and his family lived in the early part of the 20th century. The money raised will help keep the monastery operating.
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Bishop Gerald Kicanas delivers a sermon during a special mass at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Monastery in 2010. Attendees celebrated the 75th anniversary of the nuns coming to Tucson.
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Sister Dolores Dowling chats with Michel de Missy during a reception after Bishop Gerald Kicanas celebrated a special mass at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Monastery in 2010.
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During the reception, Sister Carmela Rall laughs with Angie Lopez after a special mass at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Monastery in 2010. Attendees celebrated the 75th anniversary of the nuns coming to Tucson.
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Andrew Griffith converses with Sister Mary Joy Heinlein while standing next to a table with fresh fruit, cheese and several breads after a special mass at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Monastery, 800 N. Country Club Rd on November 21, 2010. Attendees celebrated the 75th anniversary of the nuns coming to Tucson at the request of then Bishop Daniel Gercke in 1935.
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Sister Pauline, checking the embroidery on a robe she sewed, provides many of the vestment robes for Tucson's Catholic priests with the help of just one other nun in 1998.
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Sister Valerie takes to her simple yet comfortable room for Lectio in 1998. At 3 a.m. the nuns go in private to read the bible, meditate on its passages or pray for about an hour.
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Sister Carmela laughs with her sisters in the kitchen during the after-dinner dish drying session in 1998. While most of their day is spent working or praying in relative solitude, dish-drying is a chance for all the nuns to be together, socialize, and tell jokes.
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Music Director Sister Theresa Marie Tremmel heads up the stairwell to the second floor of the monastery after morning prayer in 1998.
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Sister Mary Stella sits in the shade to pray her rosary at Benedictine Monastary in 1998.
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A 1963 photo of the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
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Sister Estelle hands out a cup of coffee and an egg sandwich in 1978 at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
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Sister Marion makes Holy bread in 1986 at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road, Tucson
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Sister Marguerite sorts through newspapers in 1986 at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road, Tucson
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Sister Elsa maintains candles in 1978 in the sanctuary of the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
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Sister Leona Eichenhofer, 90, prepares hosts for packaging in 1983 at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
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Sisters during afternoon prayer in 1986 at the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
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A 1958 photo of the sanctuary of the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
