The Sonoran dogs smelled incredible at Dany's Hot Dogs, a food truck in the vacant lot at Broadway and Rosemont.
I didn't buy one this time — it was still mid-morning Tuesday — but it made me wonder: Are Sonoran dogs and carnitas tacos, along with seasonal pumpkins and Christmas trees, the highest and best use for this site?
You have to wonder. It's been 18 years since Walmart gave up on opening a neighborhood market at the seven-acre property. Neighborhood objections helped kill that idea but don't seem responsible for the latest flop.
Since then three developers have gone into rezoning processes, and yet Tucson has struck out on getting the key property developed. The latest swing and miss took place Thursday.
An out-of-town developer called Waypoint Residential wanted to put up apartment buildings on the site, with 222 total units, and went through a rezoning hearing July 20.
Zoning Examiner John Iurino recommended rejecting the rezoning Aug. 3. The developers were planning to go ahead to the mayor and council anyway, noting that the city staff approved of the project, but then they decided the whole plan couldn't work financially anymore.
The reasons, said Tom Warne, who is representing the property owners and applied for the rezoning: Rising interest rates and the increasing cost of construction.
"People are definitely attracted to the site. But right now it’s more of a macro question," Warne said. "We’ll have to brainstorm and see what happens to the macro economy."
It would be easy to blame NIMBYism for the continuing vacancy on a nice property, along a busy arterial road in the middle of Tucson. Neighborhood objections have played a role over the years, and continued with this new project, but it isn't just that.
A combination of unfortunate underlying zoning, drawn-out processes, neighborhood objections and random events have kept anything from materializing. It also feels a bit like Tucson being Tucson.
After the 2005 Walmart flop, Warne began representing the Romo family, which owns the property, and went through careful neighborhood consultation for the next efforts to develop the property.
In 2015 it was going to be a different grocery store — think Fry's or Safeway — but after a rezoning was approved, they pulled out. Warne said changes in the supermarket business were to blame.
Then it was going to be a micro-hospital with certain specialties and an emergency room. The council approved the change. Then the developer pulled out.
This latest effort made as much sense as any of the ideas. Putting apartments along a major corridor, with frequent transit, on a spot near a variety of employers and businesses is just how cities work. Not to mention, the 16-story office tower at 5151 E. Broadway is kitty corner, and Williams Centre and other large office buildings are nearby.
Six of the buildings proposed by Waypoint would have been up to 46 feet high, and the other four apartment buildings would have been 26 feet high. The acre on the corner was to be developed separately as retail.
Overall, it was not particularly aggressive in packing a lot of units on a mid-city property, in my opinion, but it was way beyond what current zoning allows.
As it stands, the northern part of the property is zoned commercial and would only allow buildings up to 30 feet high; the southern part is zoned residential and has room for about 20 separate units, each up to 25 feet high.
Waypoint's plan was for relatively high-end apartments that would serve people working at nearby offices, such as Texas Instruments, and be gated at entries on Broadway and Rosemont.
The neighbors in Rosemont West weren't particularly impressed. I attended the July 20 rezoning hearing, which was held remotely, and was prepared to roll my eyes at their criticisms, as they protested needed housing. But the truth was, I thought they were partially right.
"This project represents a stunning opportunity for the city of Tucson," neighbor Stephanie Fink said. "People travel this section of Broadway a lot. It could be a showcase. There’s nothing forward-looking in this project."
Truly, though the complex had not yet been designed, the layout made it appear like an apartment complex that you could find anywhere in suburban America.
Council member Steve Kozachik thinks there should be an expanded menu of possibilities within zoning categories, allowing for diverse housing development under various categories such as industrial and commercial. But on this particular site, he said, maybe the next effort should be for a more modest development that fits existing zoning.
"Let's stop trying to overshoot the mark," he said. He added that maybe the owners "are asking too much for this property, too."
Neighbor Sara Vazquez, whose property would have been overshadowed by the southernmost apartment buildings, told me she hopes the next effort is the one that gets the development right.
"We would love for it to be an extension of our community and include us as well," she said. "We want to grow our community."
Generally speaking, she said, she and other neighbors support the idea of denser development on the north side of the property along Broadway and less dense development on the southern half.
Abstractly, it seems like that should be possible: Maybe a hundred apartments with some retail on the northern front with maybe 20 townhouses on the south end. But the underlying zoning, parking requirements, the grinding processes and the changing economy keep getting in the way.
For now, and maybe for the long run, we'll have to settle for Halloween pumpkins and Sonoran dogs.
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