Downtown Tucson Partnership is reporting the opening of award-winning Elvira’s Restaurant in Downtown Tucson.

You’ve probably seen the decorative and slightly peeled decals on the windows of the old Saint House location on 256 E. Congress, teasing pedestrians with the anticipated arrival of Downtown Tucson’s newest business, Elvira’s Restaurant, opening Friday, April 22.

Cocina. Vino. Tequila. The three words found on the restaurant’s windows easily sum up what Elvira’s is all about: great authentic Mexican food and flavorful wines and tequilas.

The restaurant’s roots go back to the border town of Nogales, Mexico, where the restaurant was established in 1927. Elvira’s quickly became a favorite on Nogales’ popular tourist strip, Avenida Obregon, where it remained until 2009. When it came to opening Elvira’s next location, the owner Ruben Monroy seriously considered Tucson but ultimately decided to relocate to the historic town of Tubac, Arizona.

Folks have tried getting a peek of Elvira’s interior by peeling the restaurant’s decals.

Now, after six years in Tubac, Elvira’s will be heading to its originally envisioned location, the Old Pueblo.

Behind Elvira’s award-winning dishes is owner and chef, Ruben Monroy, who took over the restaurant in the early 90s, shortly after graduating college.

“I wanted to do new things and create different cuisine,” said Monroy. In 2000, he enrolled in a culinary school in Mexico City, which helped him enhance the authentic recipes he had from his grandmother, Elvira.

With many Mexican restaurants around, Elvira’s plans to separate itself from the rest by offering a unique and creative menu that Monroy calls “traditional but with a touch of fusion.”

Corn truffle, squash blossom, manzano, and morita chiles are just a few of the many ingredients Elvira’s utilizes. “My menu is basically Mexican food from the center of Mexico,” says Monroy. “It’s more fusion and inventive. We change a lot of recipes without taking out its essence.”

From classic Mexican dishes like chile rellenos to marinated ahi tuna, Elvira’s puts a spin on both the traditional and the new, but it’s their famous mole negro, or what they call the “King of Moles,” that’s sure to pack the place in the future.

“Our mole negro has been here forever. We get most of the ingredients from Mexico to get the same flavor,” Monroy says. With over 30 ingredients, the mole negro is destined to be a must-try when visiting the Downtown area. Elvira’s will offer eight different varieties of moles, enough to entice and satisfy the biggest mole aficionado.

For more information and to stay up-to-date on Elvira’s, visit their Facebook page here.

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 113.75 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 17,982.52. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 10.92 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2,091.48. The NASDAQ composite index slid 2.24 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,945.89.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $1, or 2.3 per cent, to close at $43.18 a barrel in New York after. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped $1.27, or 2.8 per cent, to close at $44.53 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose about a penny to close at $1.52 a gallon. Heating oil fell 3 cents, or 2.4 per cent, close at $1.30 a gallon. Natural gas was little changed at $2.07 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Cabela’s Shares Spike on Buyout Report “Cabela’s stock gained as much as 7.7 percent Tuesday after Reuters reported Bass Pro Shop and Goldman Sachs were teaming up to make a bid for the firm. By partnering with Goldman, Bass Pro receives the equity financing necessary to pursue Cabela’s and makes such a deal more likely, given the potential cost savings and synergies a combination of the two U.S. sports and outdoor retailers would bring, Reuters said.” (CNBC)

MGM Growth Properties Raises More Than $1 Billion in its IPO “MGM Growth Properties LLC shares climbed in their trading debut Wednesday, the latest sign that the IPO market could be starting to thaw. Shares opened at $22.75, after pricing late Tuesday at $21 each, the high end of its target range. The stock recently climbed 7.9% to $22.66. The real-estate investment trust, which invests in properties such as casino resorts, raised $1.05 billion in its initial public offering and sold 50 million shares.” (MarketWatch)

Jeff Green on Risk and Real Estate Investing “Before the 2008 financial crisis, Jeff Greene made massive bets against the subprime mortgage-backed securities market. He put everything on the line, and reaped hundreds of millions of dollars when the wagers came good. Now, at 61 with three kids, he’s less willing to put his neck on the line financially, but he’s still making a big dent in South Florida and New York City.” (The Real Deal)

Weak Mall Traffic Spells Pain for Abercrombie, American Eagle and L Brands “There’s no question that consumers have become increasingly comfortable shopping online. At best, a changing retail landscape has turned shopping malls into showrooms. At worst, online shopping is turning shopping malls into graveyards: As foot traffic in malls decreases, it’s not just the malls that are in trouble, it’s the stores within them — particularly the ones that rely on impulse purchases. In its annual report, Simon Property Group (SPG) said that only three of its top 10 tenants in 1993 exist in their same form today.” (The Street)

NHL Eyes New $2.1 Billion West Side Office Tower for HQ “The National Hockey League is in discussions to lease about 160,000 square feet at 1 Manhattan West, a $2.1 billion office tower being constructed by Brookfield Properties in Hudson Yards. Several sources familiar with the deal said the NHL, which has been searching for space for several months, has honed in on 1 Manhattan West in recent weeks. The office tower is rising at the corner of West 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue as part of a bigger $4.5 billion Manhattan West project.” (Crain’s New York Business)

Fundrise Ditches Traditional Crowdfunding to Focus on REITs “Fundrise has abandoned the real estate crowdfunding model it pioneered – at least for now. The company will instead focus on managing its non-traded REITs, new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. The strategic shift by one of the industry’s most visible startups comes as intense competition and an inflow of institutional investment have moved real estate crowdfunding away from the small investor-centric model it started off with.” (The Real Deal)

Your Neighborhood May Have Toxic Air, Land and Water and You Don’t Know It “Southern California may have beautiful beaches and sunsets, but looks can be deceiving. The California real estate market of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim is the most polluted housing market in the U.S., with 321 zip codes, or 99% in the market having high, or very high levels of exposure to unhealthy air, polluted land or water and, if that wasn’t enough, dangerous drug labs, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate research firm.” (MarketWatch)

Hines, Welltower Plan Seniors Housing in Midtown Manhattan “The New York office of Hines, along with Welltower Inc., a specialist in healthcare properties, have closed on the acquisition of a development site at 139 E. 56th St. The location is on the northeast corner of Lexington Ave. and 56th, which is  Midtown Manhattan. The partners will demolish the existing commercial structures on the site to make way for a new construction, 15-story senior housing property with retail at the base.” (Multi-Housing News)

Buying Real Estate Notes for the Small Investor “There is a lot of information out there about buying notes as a real estate investment niche strategy. It can be very profitable, particularly if you approach it with more than one strategic goal. There are investors doing this now, and some are helping homeowners to keep their homes while profiting in the process. The approach taken most often is to buy a note on a distressed property and to either foreclose on it or to continue to work with the homeowner within the structure of the current mortgage and payments.” (Huffington Post)

The Marijuana Business is Really the Real Estate Business “In the unstable and risky marijuana industry anything can happen–your neighbor could wage a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act suit against you, your bank can tell you that you need to move your money to another institution, or you could lose your license for a small screw up. But in all of this uncertainty and risk, pot entrepreneurs are making one safe bet: buying real estate.” (Inc.)

US applications for jobless aid fall to four-decade low — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to a four-decade low last week, a sign that employers are unconcerned about weak economic growth in the first three months of 2016. Weekly applications for jobless benefits declined to a seasonally adjusted 247,000, the lowest reading since November 1973, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less-volatile figure, dropped 4,500 to 260,500. The total number of people receiving benefits has fallen 7.6 per cent from a year ago to 2.14 million. (AP)

More Americans are expected to remodel their homes this year — A rising number of Americans are preparing to renovate their homes this year, a potential boost for the economy, according to projections released Thursday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report estimates that spending on remodeling and repairs will climb 8.6 per cent this year to $310 billion. The gains would bring renovations close to the 2006 peak of an inflation-adjusted $327 billion. The additional spending would likely contribute to broader economic growth, creating more jobs for construction workers and building supply firms. Driving the increased spending on contractors are rising home sales.

Phoenix, AZ – CBRE has completed the sale Tri-City Pavilions located at the northeast corner of Dobson Road and Main Street in Mesa, Ariz. The ±96,336-sq.-ft., Safeway-anchored shopping center commanded a sale price of $13.1 million ($136 PSF).

Bob Young, Glenn Smigiel, Steve Brabant and Rick Abraham with CBRE’s Phoenix office negotiated the transaction on behalf of the seller, J.G. Management Company of Westlake Village, Calif. The buyer is Fairfield, New Jersey-based Lamar Companies.

“Tri-City Pavilions is an interesting project. It has a prominent East Valley history, and is also playing a key part in the area’s future development,” said Young. “The property was originally developed as Tri-City Mall in 1968 and was anchored by JC Penny, Diamonds Department Store and a Bashas’ supermarket. Subsequently, the mall was demolished to make way for the current Tri-City Pavilions shopping center and a major park and ride center for the light rail system. Additional mixed-use transit oriented development is planned for the area as well.”

Young also said the former mall had the distinction of being the first enclosed shopping center in the East Valley region of Phoenix, and was originally named Tri-City because of the intent to draw shoppers from three cities: Mesa, Tempe and Chandler.

Completed in 2000, the property was 75 percent leased at time of sale. The asset includes a ±55,000-sq.-ft. Safeway surrounded by a mix of complementary daily necessity tenants. Tri-City Pavilions is strategically located within the nexus of Mesa’s extensive transportation hub. It is surrounded by numerous bus lines, adjacent to one of Mesa’s two Light Rail Transit Centers and is just one mile from the Loop 101 Freeway.