8 properties make cut for facade program
Published: 08.09.2008
TEYA VITU
Tucson Citizen
Eight downtown properties have been invited to submit proposals to take part in the city's $530,000 facade improvement program, which is designed to restore historic facades in pre-1948 buildings.
A selection committee on Friday narrowed a list of 23 applications to eight. The eight property owners will each get $7,500 from the city program to cover architect fees for concept designs and cost estimates for facade work, said Glenn Lyons, chief executive of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, which is overseeing the program for the city.
The property owners have until Oct. 7 to submit proposals. Four or five will be chosen to have work funded for as much as $125,000 for a corner property and $90,000 for one midblock, Lyons said.
Each property owner will have to match the city funding.
The money comes from a downtown revolving loan fund established in 1982 to use for things such as upgrading buildings.
"Every one of the (23 applicants) deserves the funding," Lyons said. "We only have money for four (or five) and we had to cut to eight for phase one."
The eight properties are:
• W.A. Julian Building (former Club Asylum), 111-121 E. Congress St. Built 1905
• 256-278 E. Congress St. (Tooley's on Congress). Built 1916-28
• 64 E. Broadway (former Southern Arizona Legal Aid). Built before 1919
• Wig-O-Rama, Grill, Vaudeville Cabaret, 98-110 E. Congress St. Built 1904
• Rialto Block, 300-320 E. Congress St. Built 1919-21
• Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave. Built 1921
• The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St. Built 1912
• ArtFare The Muse, 51 N. Sixth Ave. - the small building between Arizona Hotel and Sears Executive Center, all three leased by ArtFare. Built 1931
The program is limited to buildings on Broadway and Congress and Pennington streets, between Toole and Church avenues, Lyons said.
The selection committee consists of Lyons and Donovan Durband from the partnership; Fran La Sala, assistant to City Manager Mike Hein; Brooks Jeffery, associate dean of the architecture school at the University of Arizona; Demion Clinco of the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission; developer Phil Lipman; Mary Lou Focht, owner of Old Town Artisans; and Jonathan Mabry, the city's historic preservation officer.
