TUCSON, Arizona — The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) 2015 approved sale of Townsend Middle School closed this week at 2120 N Beverly Ave. in Tucson to Pima Medical Institute (PMI) for $5.63 million.  The site will be developed into a medical educational campus with a mix of medical office and small retail use on the excess land.

The buyer, Pima Medical Institute has been helping students change their lives for 40 years, providing training and education for careers in health care. Pima Medical Institute offers certificate programs, associate degree programs and bachelor’s degree programs. Students get the training needed for a new career in less than a year, earn an associate degree in less than two years, or earn a bachelor’s degree in health care.

Soon after PMI became the successful bidder, Jim Marian of Chapman Lindsey Commercial Real Estate and Linda Morales of The Planning Center began the planning process tasked with creating a vision for the campus. Together with the neighborhood, they developed a concept that retains a majority of the 102,741-square-foot school building, and redirects traffic onto Craycroft, away from the neighborhoods.

The existing ball-fields were being heavily used by local soccer clubs that had funded the lighting of the fields. So a plan, in cooperation with the City of Tucson and County Parks and Recreations, was put into place to relocate these clubs to other fields at Booth-Fickett Middle School for the clubs to continue there.

Neighbors were also concerned about losing the ability to walk the school grounds in the evening and on weekends, so the development team proposed a walking path through the site that would continue neighborhood access to the new medical education campus.

Since the site is larger than needed, PMI formed a joint venture with Craig Masters and Walter Hoge of Rio West to develop a portion of the property into a mix-use medical office and small retail use that would enhance the medical education campus.

The sale is the largest yet for a closed campus by the Tucson Unified School District governing board. Proceeds from these sales must be used for specific purposes such as to pay off bonds, reduce taxes, improve existing schools, or to purchase new school sites.

For additional information on this transaction, Marian can be reached at 520.747.4000 and Morales can be contacted at 520.623.6146.

TUCSON, ARIZONA — Several rezoning projects are asking for you to Be Heard, one in the City of Tucson and the other in Pima County. Don’t miss these chances to Be Heard!

First, support is needed at the Tucson Mayor and Council Hearing on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2017 at the Mayor and Council Chamber at City Hall, 255 W. Alameda, Tucson, AZ at 5:15 p.m.  As many of you know, rezoning is needed at the northeast corner of 22nd Street and Houghton Road for a new Neighborhood Shopping Center that will be anchored by a 99,000-square-foot Fry’s Food and Drug Store.

In the fall of 2016, the City of Tucson Mayor and Council approved the first part of this rezoning, the neighborhood plan amendment. After some procedural issues, it has made it through to the Zoning Examiner hearing AGAIN last month and will be heading to the Mayor and City Council this month.

Much of the success of this project so far is to the credit of the community members who have come to the hearings to voice their support for the project. These concerned citizens and business colleagues recognize that we all need to come together and support responsible growth in our community. The Save Houghton East Coalition is relentless in its opposition of this project and is being assisted by a larger group made up largely of “no growthers” who oppose nearly every new development project proposed in Tucson. They are often successful because of their well-organized, extremely vocal opposition to new development and most importantly, show up in large numbers to the Tucson Planning Commission, Zoning Examiner, and City Council hearings to voice their opposition to these new projects. If we want to see new, responsible growth in Tucson, we need to work together as a business community and rally supporters to attend and Be Heard at these public hearings to counter this opposition.

Please contact Craig Finfrock, CCIM, of Commercial Retail Advisors or Linda Morales of The Planning Center for more information and let them know if they can count on your support. Finfrock should be reached at 520.290.3200 or email him at cfinfrock@cradvisorsllc.com Morales is at 520.209.2632 or by email at lmorales@azplanningcenter.com.

Don’t miss this chance to Be Heard. If you are unable to attend this hearing, it would be greatly appreciated if you would email the Principal Planner and Mayor and City Council Members.

Support for a second rezoning project is also being asked of the community to Be Heard by Jason Tankersley, CEO of The Fairfax Companies.

Tankersley writes: I am attempting to open up another recycling and landfill facility in on South Wilmot Road in Tucson. I need your help!

There is no other facility like this one in the country. We will have manufacturing, mining, composting, landfill, and recycling all in the same facility.

PLEASE, help us in opening this new amazing facility. (attached is a site plan and narrative describing the uses)

This project and my company need all the community support we can get. I have drafted copies of letters and request calling the Supervisors’ offices to help. The Planning and Zoning Commission Vote will be held on Wednesday, November 29^th, so please don’t delay. Letters, faxes, or calls will be helpful. Please contact Tankersley at 520.290.9313 or email him at Tank@ffxsite.net for more information.

ORO VALLEY, Arizona — Lennar Homes purchased 58.6-acres with 106-platted lots at Overton Reserve in Oro Valley from an affiliate of Tucson Land and Cattle Co., TLC Jackson, LLC of Tucson (Jim Campbell, manager) for $5.83 million ($55,000 per platted lot).

Located at Overton and La Canada Drive in Oro Valley, the seller had assembled the property in December 2016 and needed to buy, barter and trade several properties for easement and right-a-way access with Desert Springs Evangelical Presbyterian Church to achieve connecting parcels to the property.

The plan is to develop 106 lots in two parts: the Northern 39-acres with 83 lots and a 2.1 RAC, and the Southern 19.6-acres with 23 lots and 1.2 RAC all part of the same Overton Reserve.

The seller completed final plat approval for Lennar to record.  Lot sizes are 66×120, 76×120, and 81x 120. Lennar plans to build homes in the 2,200-3,200-square-foot range and Overton Reserve to have homes ready by Q2 2018.

Lennar is building homes in some of the most desirable areas of Tucson: Signatures at Tortolita Reserve in Marana, Discovery at Mountain Vail, Star Valley, Rob Hill Estates in Tucson and also in Oro Valley, Eagle Summit at Vistoso.

Ben and Adam Becker of CBRE Tucson represented the seller in this transaction.

The Becker Team can be reached at 520.323.5100, for additional information.

To learn more, see RED Comp #4763.

MARANA, Arizona — The historic Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch is now slated to become a 178-home subdivision, after the Marana Town Council approved the rezoning of a 103 acre portion the Lazy K Bar Ranch property Tuesday. The council approved the plan 4-2, with some caveats, including added protection of the open space to ensure that no further development is done on the property.

The meeting included 49 speakers, with 40 speaking in opposition to the plan. Of the nine who spoke in favor of the plan, just one identified themselves as a Marana resident, while several others were either Marana area business owners or owned property within the town. The biggest complaint about the proposal was its proximity to Saguaro National Park and Sanctuary Cove. That area is a major wildlife corridor and the fear is the housing will disrupt animal migration. Lot size was another concern. Currently all of the adjacent properties sit on big lots, with many having three acres of property.

With 60% open space, the new design would average 1.29 RAC, with smaller lots because the design calls for the homes to be clustered to preserve large uninterrupted open spaces.

Linda Morales of the Planning Center in Tucson, who represents the landowners, and Greg Wexler of Wexler and Associates, the developer, said the move to smaller lots was made to provide more open space. Morales said larger, spread out lots, would actually make things more confusing for animals traveling through the area.

The developer is committed to retaining some component of the original Lazy K Bar Lodge and patio in order to recall the history of Lazy K.

Although the rezoning and specific plan were approved, the landowner does not have a builder and there is not timeframe to begin developing the land.