Town Building for Marana Growth and Development

Demolition of I-10 Overpass at Ina Road in Marana, AZ

MARANA, Arizona – Build it and they will come proves true for Marana, as the area had the highest home permits pulled last year as well as the highest number of new lots sold – 729-platted lots for new development.

Pima County homebuilders saw a 70 percent growth in permits year-over-year, compared to a 12 percent growth in the Phoenix market, Will White with Land Advisors Organization told us. Most of this growth was concentrated in the Northwest / Marana area over the past few years, as builders are starting to scramble for finished lot inventory.

As the Gladden Farms Elementary School opened this year in Marana, Richmond and Lennar Homes began work on 118-lots in Gladden Farms, Farm Field Five added another 99-lots, Dove Mountain is bringing another 192-lots, Tangerine Ridge has 78-lots under development, and a new 242-lot subdivision is planned at Grier & Sanders Roads, all in Marana.

Marana’s new road infrastructure should be completed in time for its anticipated population growth.

No project will have a bigger impact to the town of Marana than the Ina Road/I-10 Interchange project that moved into a new phase this past week when the I-10 overpass was demolished.

Preliminary work on the $120 million project began last summer. While ADOT is overseeing construction, the Regional Transportation Authority, which is managed by the Pima Association of Governments, is providing funding for the new interchange. In addition, the town of Marana is providing $25 million for work that will widen Ina Road and reconstruct Ina Road bridges over the Santa Cruz River west of I-10.

When complete in about 25 months, the project will ease the flow of traffic at this intersection and improve safety for users of Marana’s roads and I-10.

Improvements to Tangerine Road also continue and the good news for Marana is that its  portion should be completed by end of 2017. When completed, Tangerine will be four lanes, be completely level and include paths and walkways, similar to Twin Peaks Road.

See the Tangerine Road Drone Video here:

A second phase to the project will be improvements along Tangerine from I-10 to Dove Mountain Blvd., but that portion of the project is still down the road and is to include a new park, Tangerine Sky Park, for the area.

Marana News is reporting,  that the Marana road realignment is also underway. According to Town Manager Gilbert Davidson, the plans are 90 percent complete and bidding will begin soon. The hope is to have the project, which will realign the roads leading into the Marana Road Interchange, begin in May. The current configuration can be confusing and dangerous.

Part of this project will also serve as the initial portion of the town’s Marana Main Street project which is designed to create a downtown area in the town. Those first steps to downtown is a roundabout on Sandario that will connect with Marana Road.

The roundabout planning is about 90 percent done and final drawing should be presented soon for construction to begin in the spring with the project completion in about a year.

Construction of the new Marana Police Station will also begin in May and should be completed by the end of 2018. The new facility will have a full array of training facilities, including a gun range and computer simulation rooms. There will be meeting spaces, storage and jail/holding areas that can better accommodate prisoners who may need to stay overnight before being transferred to a long-term facility.

Thanks to the sales tax there will also be no debt on the project. The Sunset tax will go away as soon as the project is fully funded.

A new Marana Wastewater Treatment plant and recharge facility are also moving forward. Those plans are also 90 percent done, according to Marana News. North Marana is growing and the plant acquired several years ago by the town is reaching its capacity. Add to that the town’s desire to maximize effectiveness of the facility is the reason for the recharge portion of the project.

A Hampton Inn will soon be built near the Tucson Premium Outlets at Twin Peaks and I-10. The project is in its final planning stage and construction should commence in 2018.

Top Golf will be coming to the area behind Costco that was previously the Practice Tee. The popular location in Scottsdale includes a state of the art driving range, a bar, and restaurant with entertainment center and television screens is to be open by fall 2017.

More stores are also coming to Arizona Pavilions by the end of the year including Ross, TJ Maxx, Homegoods and Petco to open this year. All the new stores are relocations from outside of Marana, which means new sales tax revenues for the town.

To read the full story by Brad Allis in Marana News click here.




ULI Panel: Give Free Market a Chance Tucson (Part 2 of 2)

District Map studied by Urban Land Institute Panel
District Map studied by Urban Land Institute Panel

We reported recommendations made by the independent panel from the Urban Land Institute for Downtown Tucson Market Forces, Retail Trade Area and Tucson Convention Center. Part One was published yesterday, and this is the second part of our report.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) advisory panel presented their findings to a room of about 200 people at the Tucson Convention Center on Friday. The ULI panel consisted of seven independent volunteers from real estate related disciplines were commissioned to address such issues as: market forces, best land use, retail, quality of life issues, and implementation for Downtown Tucson development. The panel interviewed 150 people during their week-long stay in Tucson.

The candid and unbiased input from these professionals was summarized in their report that stressed the importance of prioritizing projects, taking small steps towards long-term goals, while creating synergy within the community and leveraging limited public resources to encourage private sector investment.

The study area as shown in the map included the panel focusing on downtown Tucson, the TIF District, the Streetcar route and east and west side of I-10 in this area.

Streets in the District
Street have a role in setting the desert scale and serve to match service to demand. Parking needs to be strategically thought out for development and temporary events. Fortunately, the district is walkable, given proper signage of walkways for people to park and get to their destinations.

There are currently oversized streets for their traffic volume. Streets such a Church north of Broadway could be converted for street parking. The panel warned to beware of closing any streets and suggested adding streets back to the super blocks where possible.

Quality of life is closely related to how easy it is to move around downtown. The panel emphasized that bikes and streetcars are not compatible, and bike paths should be separated away from the streetcar route. The fixed Stravenues could also help bikers get around and keep them safely separated from the streetcar.

Implementation
The implementation of revitalization in downtown depends upon the strengthening of civic engagement and cooperation between the stakeholders. It is recommended that an ongoing advisory committee be established that would comprise one member from each of the following: City of Tucson, Pima County, Rio Nuevo, University of Arizona, Public Transportation, Neighborhood Groups, Retail, Developers, Non-governmental agencies, and office owners. The panel stressed the importance of an advisory committee being representative of the stakeholders and not comprise elected officials of the government organization. The advisory committee members would act as liaisons to serve on the advisory committee.

Other recommendations the panel made were to have an IT master plan that would include data collection, for instance pedestrian count today should be measured for date to compare later in the district. Transparency was also brought up as important to engage civic participation and support. A Citizen Ombudsman would go a long way in assisting developer and citizen issues / problems as they arise.

Downtown Tucson Partnership could be used to bring temporary events to the TCC, a temporary miniature golf course that was set up in Philadelphia for 30-days was used as an example of this. This allows for small steps to be taken that would increase pedestrian activities downtown without spending a lot of money.

Another example, was the use of the fountains at TCC which are in disrepair. The panel recommended that not all the fountains be activated at once, but maybe just the one in front of the Music Hall could be made to function and help the aesthetic appearance at this entrance.

Recommended La Placita be donated by the City for activities such as educational activities like children’s visits to the museum.

A digital public walking tour should also be considered, where visitors could click their cell phone to hear a brief history at certain spots, buildings, art pieces, etc.

In Summary:
The panel concluded that a detailed market analysis would be of benefit to determine market rates for multifamily. This would encourage a hotel development to the area and determine current office space in the district.

Economically, there are no sources for funding and fortunately for Tucson the TIF district was established. That, with free market forces working together can make this happen; but it will be done only with patience and teamwork. The public sources cannot do it without private capital and vice versa. Think small steps, a new arena is not needed unless the current TCC would be at full capacity.

It is as Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said in his opening remarks at the meeting, “This may be Tucson’s last chance to get it right.”

The volunteer panel members from the Urban Land Institute consisted of the following members: John Walsh, Alan Billingsley, Michael Berne, Charlie Johnson, Ross Tilghman, Peter Hasselman, and Jan Minana. The study was a public and private joint effort of  Pima County, the City of Tucson, Rio Nuevo, Pima Association of Governments, Visit Tucson, Tucson Electric Power and Holualoa Companies who paid for the study.




Your Opinion is Requested for Regional Transportation Survey

Photo: Imagine Greater Tucson
Photo: Imagine Greater Tucson

Excellent transportation is critical to the success of our region. People want transportation options that allow them to travel safely, efficiently and comfortably, and reach the destinations that are important to them. Equally, efficient transportation is essential for goods and services to flow and our economy to thrive

Imagine Greater Tucson with Pima Association of Governments (PAG) would like to get YOUR feedback for PAG’s upcoming Regional Transportation Plan Update. This short, interactive survey is designed to help explore future transportation priorities. What things are most important to you? The purpose is to look at transportation possibilities and options regionally, not to address site-specific projects. The information collected will influence future regional transportation decisions and plans, specifically the upcoming Regional Transportation Plan Update that identifies future major transportation projects for our region.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes and will be accessible through September 22.

Click here to access the survey or visit https://www.igtsurvey.org/.