Casas Adobes Plaza, at the southwest corner of North Oracle and West Ina roads, is not on any officially designated list of historic architecture.
Still, its neighbors and local historic preservationists are concerned about recent remodeling of the 63-year-old shopping plaza.
It is often compared to Broadway Village at North Country Club Road and East Broadway, the first shopping complex outside Tucson’s downtown commercial district. Broadway Village was designed by famed Tucson architect Josias Joesler, built in 1939 and was recently designated a City Historic Landmark by the city of Tucson.
Casas Adobes Plaza was built in 1954 by developer Sam Nanini and designed by Gordon Luepke, who had worked under Joesler.
Portions of it are reminiscent of Broadway Village. It has courtyards with fountains and a shaded arcade along the front.
Its walls are a mix of adobe and fired brick, some stuccoed, some not.
Its has gone through many renovations during its years in existence.
Still, nearby resident Steve Hannley was perplexed when he noticed pavers at Casas Adobes Plaza being replaced with a concrete slab and the plaza’s signature Spanish tiles coming off an overhang at the former Frog’s Organic Bakery.
Like many of his neighbors, he said, he has a deep affection for the plaza and resists any changes that would dilute its appeal.
“It just seemed like it’s disrespectful of the plaza, he said. “It’s a completely modern, contemporary addition.”
Hannley recalled that when pavers and roof ornaments were ripped out at Broadway Village, people raised a fuss and the city issued a stop-work order.
He wondered if he couldn’t make a change this time. He can’t.
“Like so many things in our community, it has no protection,” said Demion Clinco, executive director of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation.
“It’s disappointing that these places that are in this community are not treated with more respect,” he said.
The plaza, a mix of retail shops, restaurants and a Whole Foods grocery, has long been a gathering place for folks in the Casas Adobes area, named for the adjoining subdivisions of adobe-brick homes, built by Nanini in the 1950s.
An architect who worked on the plaza in recent years said that its many additions and renovations have kept the spirit of the place and preserved the most important expressions of Luepke’s architecture.
Burak Bekat of a.23 Studios designed the expansion of the Whole Foods Market at the north end of the shopping center and the work underway at the former bakery, which will become home to BIRD Modern Provisions and Bar, a Southern-flavored, modern American restaurant from the owners of Obon and Goodness.
Bekat said the restaurant will fit within the perimeter of a canopy-covered patio at the former business and will not impede the courtyard.
“The addition we are putting in, height- and width-wise, is smaller than what was enclosed with the canopy structure The landlord was very hesitant to create additional bulk there”
“You are going to feel like “OK, this is going to fit.”
Brandon Katz, BIRD’s co-owner, said the original design for the restaurant would have been an even better fit.
“We proposed a brick and adobe-like structure. The landlord wanted to retain a modern feel,” Katz said. Katz said revisions to the design have held up the opening, now set for June.
The plaza’s local investors sold it in 2015 for $46 million to Maryland-based Global Retail Investors. The local property manager referred questions about the plaza to to Wright Sigmund at GRI. After repeated phone calls, Sigmund’s office asked for a list of written questions.
After they were sent, an email response said “we are not able to speak on record about the properties.”
Hannley said he likes the addition of another restaurant. He just wished it wasn’t enclosing what was formerly patio space.
Likewise, he likes having Whole Foods nearby, but wishes it fit more neatly into the plaza’s form.
Hannley is enamored of the whole mid-century-modern Casas Adobes vibe.
He lives nearby in a 1959 home. He’s happy to have the upscale Whole Foods market nearby and glad it expanded rather than closed, but still he’s miffed that its expansion disturbs the scale of the entire complex.
Architect Chris Evans, president of the Modern Architecture Preservation Project, said Casas Adobes Plaza has been significantly modified over the years and it is impossible to claim “historic integrity” for it.
It remains, however, “an icon and really the heart of northwest Tucson,” Evans said. “And because of that, its historic significance for the community is substantial and perhaps equal to Broadway Village.”
Its many renovations honored the scale and look of the place until recently, Evans said. “These new modifications are different and troubling,” he said.
