In February 2014 the City of Tucson prepared a request for proposal (RFP) for the sale and redevelopment of the 4.7 acre Ronstadt Transit Center in Downtown Tucson at Congress and 6th Avenue. Two bidders responded to the RFP that has since passed through multiple stages of public input. Wednesday evening, the public was invited to hear conceptual plan presentations for two mixed-use, yet very different projects. One, by Team Alexander Company of Wisconsin and Oasis Tucson as co-developers, and the other presentation delivered by Team Peach Properties of Tucson.

Presenters for Team Peach Properties at the meeting comprised Ron and Soleil Schwabe of Peach Properties as Lead Developer; Matt Brown of EB5 Global as Hotel Developer and Pam Sutherland as Financial Consultant; Phil Swaim of Swaim Associates as Lead Architect and Miguel Fuentevilla and Sonya Sotinsky of FORSarchitecture+interiors as architects; Steve Jordan of Ryan Companies as General Contractor; Jim Schoen of Kittelson & Associates for Transit and Traffic; Mike Barton and Matthew Taunton of HDR for Transit and Civil; Laura Mielcarek of Wheat Design Group as Landscape Architect; and Rick Kaneen of Kaneen Public Relations for Communications, along with the City of Tucson and community.

In brief, the Peach Team’s conceptual proposal includes a transit oriented development anchored by 250 housing units (20% affordable) for all ages and economic backgrounds, 450 parking spaces and a 144-room hotel and conference center. Retail with restaurants along Congress and 6^th Avenue and public plazas to include a public market integrated with the transit mall and welcome center, open space, urban rooftop food production, rooftop swimming pools, artist studios and live/work lofts. University of Arizona Arts and Science Center have already shown an interest in the project to expand the UA presence downtown.

Peach also proposed a conceptual solution to the greyhound bus terminal that is to be relocated downtown, placing it at the Historic Corbett Building and connecting the two transit centers via skywalk to overpass the highway and railroad tracks and allow for additional parking.

The Alexander / Oasis Team presenters comprised Randy Alexander and Matt Meier of Madison, WI and Jim Campbell of Tucson as co-developers; Aleks Istanbullu of Aleks Istanbulla Architects for Urban Planning and Architecture; Demion Clinco of Frontier Consulting Group for Historic and Contextual Analysis; Stacey Weaks of Norris Design for Planning and Landscape Design; Steve Tofel with Tofel Construction as General Contractor; Jim Glock of Structural Grace for Transportation / Structural Engineering; Mick Mathieu of Mathieu Engineering for Traffic Analysis; and Jan Gordley of Gordley Group for Communications.

The Alexander / Oasis conceptual proposal includes 378 housing units, 626 structured parking spaces, 21,600-square-feet retail and 3,200-square-feet commercial space, first floor live work space, and open space.

Public comments on the two projects are being accepted until Friday and allow for time for the development teams to respond to public feedback. Committee Phase II Evaluation should be complete by  September / October for recommendations to Mayor and Council by November 2015. A final development agreement could possibly be as soon as Mid-2016 to begin redevelopment of the Ronstadt Transit Center and the two parking lots to the north.

To learn more about the project go to https://www.tucsonaz.gov/integrated-planning/ronstadt-transit-center-joint-development  and to submit your comments to Rebecca.ruopp@tucsonaz.gov by Friday.

Tucson, AZ – Northwest Integrity Housing Company of Boise, Idaho (Thomas Mannschrek, principal) acquired two Section 8 subsidized housing projects in Tucson for an aggregate total of $8.7 million. Both are to undergo major rehab by new owner and were 90% occupied at time of sale.

The 140-unit Mayfair Manor Apartments at 5180 E. 22^nd Street in Tucson sold for $4,768,289 ($34,059 per unit) and the 100-unit Shadow Pines Apartments at 4011 North First Avenue in Tucson sold for $3,931,711 ($39,317 per unit).

Mayfair Manor is to be rebranded Miraflores Apartments and Shadow Pines renamed to Catalunya Apartments. The seller of both properties were affiliates of The BSE Trust of Tucson (Bill and Shirley Estes, Trustees).

Both transactions were brokered by Bob Kaplan, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR, now with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

The acquisition rehabilitation financing involved a 20 year extension of a Housing Assistance Payment Contract from the U.S. Department of Housing, and The City of Tucson also separately providing a $750,000 loan for each property through the HOME Program.

The low-income tax credit investments from Affordable Housing Partners, Inc., and a bridge loan from the Sterling Bank of St. Louis, Missouri for $503,069, and two tax-exempt bonds, $8,229,466 and $7,015487, issued by The Industrial Development Authority of the City of Tucson with the Lotzar Law Firm, P.C. served as Counsel to the Bond Issuer and Bond Counsel. The Bond was sold on a private-placement basis and was purchased by the Sterling Bank of St. Louis, Missouri.

Mannschrek, also President of Thomas Development Company in Boise said, “We were under contract since May 2013 due to all the offices of HUD that had to sign-off on it, from Tucson to Pheonix to Washington, it just took a long time. We greatly appreciated the support we received from HUD and the City of Tucson for these projects, especially City Council members Karen Uhlich and Richard Fimbres who were very supportive.” Mannschrek estimates the rehab cost to be about $38,000 per unit and also emphasized he believes in using local talent and expertise.

Kaplan said, “The properties are both 1971 construction and originally built as Section-8 housing. Both properties had been well-maintained, but are in need of upgrades such as new windows, a new chiller system, common area upgrades all very expensive rehab work.”

Tofel Construction, Inc. will handle the rehab of both communities slated to begin September 8^th, with Miraflores’ expected completion May 2015 and Catalunya scheduled for March 2015. Evan Elgin of Elgin/Cohen Architects will be the lead architect on the project and Paul Ash Management Company has been retained to continue with the property management.

Thomas Development Co. is looking for additional multifamily investments.

To learn more Kaplan should be contacted at (520) 202.2938.

A 43-unit affordable senior housing project is under construction at 2220 N Silverbell Road on the Westside of Tucson. The owner, Silverwood Casitas, is a 501(c)3 Arizona non-profit corporation (John Glaze, President) on 5.9 acres at the southwest corner of Silverbell and Grant Roads.

The project is Section 202 HUD Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.

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HUD provides capital advances to finance the construction of structures that will serve as supportive housing for very low-income elderly persons, including the frail elderly, and provides rent subsidies for the projects to help make them affordable.

HUD provides interest-free capital advances to private, nonprofit sponsors to finance the development of supportive housing for the elderly. The capital advance does not have to be repaid as long as the project serves very low-income elderly persons for 40 years.

The Section 202 program helps expand the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the elderly. It provides very low-income elderly with options that allow them to live independently but in an environment that provides support activities such as cleaning, cooking, transportation, etc.

Project rental assistance funds are provided to cover the difference between the HUD-approved operating cost for the project and the tenants’ contribution towards rent. Project rental assistance contracts are approved initially for 3 years and are renewable based on the availability of funds.

The general contractor, Tofel Construction of Tucson, is responsible for delivery of the project at a $4.2 million construction cost. Poster Frost Mirto of Tucson is the architect. March 2014 is the anticipated delivery date.

Glaze can be reached at (520) 318-0993. Tofel can be contacted at (520) 571-0505. The Architects, Poster Frost Mirto are at (520) 882-6310.

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[ismember]On 3/27/2013, Family Housing Resources, Inc (John Glaser) transferred the 5.9 acres of vacant land to Silverwood Casitas (John Glazer) for a declared value per affidavit of value of $545,000 in a non-arms length transaction. West Submarket. [/ismember]