Downtown Tucson’s Burgeoning “Hotspot for Entrepreneurs”

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Providence Corporation acquired the 30,000 sq. ft., four-story building at 44 East Broadway Blvd., Tucson in 2010, for $3 million to redevelop. The company occupies the second floor for its IT Department, and leases the third floor to Peach Properties and the Sonoran Institute. Providence worked with Peach Properties to develop four residential lofts with rooftop decks on the top floor for resale. The Green Chamber is occupying the ground floor.

The University of Arizona Foundation purchased the last remaining residential condo in the building for[mepr-show rules=”58038″] $334,000 ($185 PSF) for the 1,803 sq. ft. condo that sold in shell condition. The Foundation purchased the condo to be used as guest quarters for visiting staff and out of town guests.

Since inception, more than 25 years ago under the direction of Ron Schwabe, Peach has developed over 2,400 residential units and more than 600,000 sq. ft. of commercial space totaling over $155 million in projects. Half of these have been in the historic core of Tucson at such projects as 1 East Toole, 119 East Toole, 64 East Broadway, 50 East Broadway, 44 East Broadway, 210-220 East Broadway and One North Fifth where the company is actively involved in transforming the look and use of historic buildings.

The project at 44 E Broadway, with only a 1,000 sq. ft. retail space available, has Peach Properties and former officer of The Providence, Fletcher McCusker, moving on to a new development project downtown. This time at 1 East Toole Avenue where Peach Properties is redeveloping this 18,000 sq. ft. corner stone property, originally built as a produce warehouse, in the Warehouse Arts District, into a “hip, open office space, split with a new collaborative workspace,” and dubbed the ‘Toole Avenue Hive’ by Schwabe.

McCusker has moved his new start-up business, Sinfonia, into the former produce warehouse. In April, Sinfonia agreed to purchase 49% interest in Tucson-based Assurance Home Care and Assurance Caregivers. The company subsequently acquired Serenity Hospice, a local home-based hospice care service and AirVida, another Tucson-based oxygen and sleep therapy business. The concept being to combine all the home health care products under one roof.

McCusker is quoted in a recent interview with the Arizona Daily Star as saying, “The driver for all this is the Affordable Care Act. Under the new rules, as you and I age, they can’t just stick us in a nursing home. You’re going to have to demonstrate that home health care was unsuccessful.” Some 45 million people are expected to be eligible for such services by 2014.

Besides Sinfonia, The Hive provides space for UofA’s Eller College of Management, the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship and Startup Tucson, a nonprofit, tech-oriented startup offshoot from Gangplank.

McCusker who is also chairman of the Rio Neuvo downtown redevelopment project sees the Hive as part of an emerging Downtown Innovation District, which includes Gangplank Tucson based in the old Pioneer Building; that we reported on in March https://realestatedaily-news.com/tucson-lease-report-week-of-march-25-29/ and in May https://realestatedaily-news.com/tucson-lease-report-week-of-may-20-24/

The Maker House, an artisan focused collaborative space operating from the historic Bates Mansion that we reported on in April https://realestatedaily-news.com/tucson-lease-report-week-of-april-15-19/ is another part to the hotspot.

Xerocraft Hackerspace with its 25 members, is a tech-oriented nonprofit that will soon move into 2,000 sq. ft. at the Steinfield Warehouse, 101 W Sixth Street. Xerocraft was founded in 2011 as a small club of passionate hackers and makers. It incorporated in January 2012 in order to become a 501c(3) tax-exempt status and received IRS approval on May 11, 2013.

The Steinfield Warehouse Community Arts Center and WAMO (Warehouse Arts Management Organization) have a waiting list for 7 affordable live/work apartments within the historic Steinfield Warehouse currently under renovation. Units will be ready in the spring to summer of 2014 and will be filled on a first come / first served basis.

Tucson appears to be emerging as a “hotspot for entrepreneurs” these days and was named one of five emerging hubs for entrepreneurs in the August issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. “The success in Tucson is a result of the community taking deliberate, ordered steps to surround startups with help,” according to the magazine.

Ron Schwabe should be contacted at (520) 798-3331 and Patricia Schwabe can be reached at (520) 603-6103. McCusker should be reached at (520) 623-7336.[/mepr-show]