Oregon developers are eyeing a vacant downtown parcel for a boutique hotel and “festival alley” for events.
Obie Companies, based in Eugene, has entered into a written agreement with the Rio Nuevo district to explore the project at 75 E. Broadway, adjacent to the Old Chicago Store.
“We’re impressed with what you’ve accomplished in downtown Tucson,” the company president and CEO, Brian Obie, told the board during its monthly meeting this week.
That lot was previously considered for an office complex, but those plans were nixed when the office market cooled.
The vacant downtown lot at 75 E. Broadway could soon have a boutique hotel.
The developer is planning a hotel with some mixed-use retail and residential that would be between seven and 13 stories tall.
A festival alley, similar to the one at its hotel in Eugene, can be tied to University of Arizona sporting events, Obie said. The corridor is lined with stores, bars and restaurants with outdoor seating and entertainment.
He said a market study will help determine the best fit.
“We will also be taking the pulse of the community,” Obie told the board. “What do people want to see? What is needed? What’s the energy?”
The Rio Nuevo board voted unanimously to proceed with the market study.
Obie Companies has boutique hotels in Oregon and Idaho.
In other action, Rio Nuevo agreed to contribute up to $25,000 Thunder Bacon Burger Co. for upgrades at 33 N. Sixth Ave., where it relocated last year.
The owner, Lindy Reilly, said the new seating area can now accommodate up to 40 people.
The board also voted to give Whole Slvce Pizza owners an additional $49,000 to finish building out the space for a New York-style pizzeria on the first floor of the Monier Apartments, in the Mercado District, west of I-10.
Rio Nuevo had previously given the venture $138,400.
Owners Ari Shapiro and Travis Evans said they are on target to open in April.
The board also terminated previously approved awards to two projects because developers were not able to bring them to fruition.
Lerua’s had been awarded $500,000 to reopen on the Sunshine Mile, along Broadway.
Boxyard, a proposed container village on Fourth Avenue, had been awarded $600,000 for construction.
The funds are now available for Rio Nuevo to invest in other projects.
P18 will be a cocktail bar in the basement with a 51-passenger train car and a rolling video in the windows that gives the illusion of being on a moving train. Video courtesy of Rio Nuevo.
