Fox Tucson Theatre clears big hurdle in expansion plans

Fox Theatre Foundation this week took a major leap forward with plans to expand the historic Fox Tucson Theatre to include more lobby space and room for events, dining and entertainment.

The foundation in late December closed purchase deals on several adjacent properties on North Stone Avenue that will add 20,000 square feet to the Fox; the theater’s actual footprint, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will remain intact.

The foundation acquired the theater and the adjacent Arizona Star Building from Rio Nuevo for $100 and spent $2.74 million to buy 1 W. Congress St., which was home until last spring of Bruegger’s Bagels, and four other mostly empty storefronts along North Stone Avenue to the Bank of America Building at 33 N. Stone, near East Pennington Street. The only occupied space at 27 N. Stone is home to Rae’s Place Downtown Market, whose lease expires in May. The other spaces at 13, 17 and 25 N. Stone, which housed a cookie café, distilling testing room and Southwest boutique, have been mostly vacant for several years.

“This is one step … but it’s a major one,” said Fox Tucson Theatre Executive Director Bonnie Schock. “We now begin the work to really bring this idea to life.”

That includes doing the full architectural plans, which will include creating an expansive lobby that will connect to the main theater, a lobby bar and space on a second floor that could be used for performances, a gift shop and dining options.

Fox officials have estimated the total price tag for the expansion could top $21 million, most of it raised through donations including a $2 million matching gift from Rio Nuevo, Schock said. The Fox Foundation in early December launched the “quiet” phase of its three- to five-year capitol campaign, which Fox officials expect will unfold over the next year.

But it could be early 2024 before actual work can begin, starting with the demolition of the existing structures; the Stone Avenue facades, however, will remain. Fox officials are still researching the facades’ historical significance, but Schock said they understand the facades are contributing properties to the downtown historic district and must, therefore, be preserved. She said the facades, which date to the 1950s and resemble a downtown mall, will be incorporated into the design of the addition.

Schock said the theater will work on architectural designs between now and May, when Rae’s Place’s lease expires. The convenience store has been a staple to downtown county and city workers since 2008, offering grab-and-go food, beverages, snacks and other items including gifts, locally-sourced products and some over-the-counter medicine.

Robin Wilson, who owns Rae’s with his wife, Rachel Campuzano, said the couple has not decided their next step once their lease expires.

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Ideally, they would like to reopen somewhere downtown, but so far they’ve come up empty on finding a suitable space, Wilson said.

“If we can’t do it in the same place with the same people, we won’t do it,” he said. “It will be 15 years for us and to try to start over again with a different clientele, we probably wouldn’t be able to do it.”

The couple opened Rae’s eight months after their predecessor, Simply Convenient, closed its doors after five years. Wilson and his wife both worked for the former operator.

Wilson said the couple’s bread and butter comes from downtown government employees, who regularly stop into the store for grab-and-go sandwiches, the salad bar and with other snacks. Business dropped during the pandemic, when workers were forced to stay home, but picked up when workers returned in 2021, he said.

“There’s a lot more stuff down here now so it’s not like there’s not options,” he added, mentioning the addition a few years ago of Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market at 11 S. Sixth Ave. and other downtown businesses that offer grab-and-go. “There used to be no options 15 years ago.”

Schock said expanding the Fox has been an idea the Fox Foundation board had flirted with for years. But when the owner of the neighboring properties learned that Bruegger’s would not renew its lease beyond last spring, he approached Schock about the properties.

Talks started in earnest in September 2021, months after the Fox had been closed for 15 months during the pandemic. Initially, the owner suggested the Fox lease the properties, but the conversation quickly moved to the Fox buying the properties outright, Schock said.

“We’ve set forth a bold vision, one that we believe will secure the legacy of the Crown Jewel of Tucson as not only an iconic, historic building, but also as an enduring, flagship arts organization at the heart of downtown Tucson,” Fox Board President Brent Davis said in a written release.