T
ucson developer Don Bourn and
architect Steve Secrest are revitalizing
Bourn Companies’ decade-old plans to
renovate and rebuild an empty stretch of
commercial property in downtown
Tucson. The site is located on the south
side of Congress Street between Scott and
Stone avenues.
Bourn purchased the property in the
early 2000s for $100 plus related costs
such as taxes, assessments, water and
sewer charges, and similar expenditures.
The agreement with the city stipulated that
Bourn begin development on the property
within a certain timeline.
“Our agreement was, we design and
plan a major project so when we closed on
the property we had already accomplished
that. I look at it a little differently than
spending $100. I’ve spent millions of
dollars on this property already,” Bourn
said.
The 140,000-square-foot property
consists of a 22,000-square-foot vacant lot,
a former Chase Bank annex building, and
the former historic Indian Trading Post
building.
According to city documents, the most
updated plans for the vacant lot include a
Images courtesy of Tom Gibbons
Construction Around Arizona
Adaptive Reuse of
Downtown Tucson
Trading Post
Emma Green
three-story building with a basement for
19,300 square feet. The ground floor will
include restaurant and retail, while the
remaining floors will be additional office
space.
This part of the Bourn project is
estimated to generate 60 new jobs,
according to the city. The 3,300-squarefoot restaurant will create 20 jobs and the
remaining office component an additional
40 jobs.
Bourn’s original plans, designed by
architect Rob Paulus who is still involved
in the project’s design, included
refurbishing both existing buildings and the
addition of a 13-story mixed-use
development to include a ground
floor storefront, pocket park, balconies and
upper level housing.
“The original plans included a much
taller building, mainly residential and it was
going to be individual condos,” said Camila
Bekat, an economic development specialist
Twenty two
Winter 2015