While work continues on One North Fifth, part of a three-building downtown development project at the site of the former Martin Luther King public housing project, interest in the complex is "extremely high" and a quarter of the 96 available units already have been pre-leased "without a lot of efforts."

That’s the word from Matt Brown, project manager for Williams and Dame, the Portland, Ore.-based firm that is the private-sector partner in redeveloping the site.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment One North Fifth, 96-unit downtown apartment complex being developed by Portland, Ore. firm Williams and Dame. Stuart L Mattingly photo ADVERTISEMENT

Brown said models have been set up and the firm is receiving 10 to 15 calls a day and an equivalent number of emails about the availability of the units.

He said pre-leasing is taking place in two parts: the firm is aiming for an early August opening for the 96 residential units, while also constructing 8,500 square feet of new retail space, which should be available in late fall.

He said Williams and Dame is trying to find retailers who aren’t part of chain stores or chain restaurants.

"Urban residents don’t want to live above a chain store or a chain restaurant. They want retail that is unique," he said.

Of the 96 units, Brown said 11 have been set aside as "affordable" housing. The rest, he said, are "definitely at the higher end of the rent spectrum" for downtown, but still are affordable for people with an average income.

The City of Tucson received a $9.8 million HOPE VI Revitalization grant in May 2005 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to revitalize the public housing units at the Martin Luther King (MLK) Apartments and create a new mixed-income community.

A prominent participant in redevelopment in Portland, Ore., Williams and Dame became interested in downtown Tucson partly because of the four-mile streetcar system approved here by voters in 2006 and already under construction, Brown said. The firm won the development agreement to create Depot Plaza, which includes the new One North Fifth rental complex.

"The streetcar project for Tucson is pretty exciting and has the potential to help drive downtown development over the coming 10 to 20 years," Brown said.

When his firm first got involved in late 2006, Brown said, the original plan was to create condominiums at the MLK site, but his firm recommended keeping the building and renovating it as apartments.

"Downtown Tucson is not currently a proven market for condos, but we think it will be," Brown said. "In the short term, the important thing is to get people living downtown. Right now, downtown actually doesn’t have a lot of apartments or condos available."

Once downtown becomes populated, Brown said, the retail, theater and other private development will follow. "Downtown won’t be successful if only people from the Foothills drive there. We need to create an attractive, affordable downtown neighborhood around residents."

Brown conceded that much has changed between 2006 and 2008.

"Economically, not just Tucson but the whole country looks different — it will take a lot of patience on our part, our investors’ part, and on the part of the city to see the changes we want to see there. But we’re confident that in long run, Tucson is ready for this."

He points to the proximity of the University of Arizona with its 50,000 students, the fact that the region has just reached the 1 million population mark, and the fact that the city continues to have projected growth for the future.

"I really think we’re going to see a shift — we’ve seen it in Portland — we’re just at the front end of people beginning to change their behavior," Brown said. "People are thinking about where they live and how they live — that’s the importance of the streetcar project in Tucson. You can live 80 percent of your daily life along that line without having to get in a car — you can get to appointments, get to work — it takes a lot of pressure off people to have those options available."

Donovan Durband, executive director of Downtown Tucson Partnership, said, "If the Tucson streetcar had significant impacts within two blocks in either direction on stimulating new development, we would have a transformed downtown. If we had even 20 percent of the growth in residential units and office space in our downtown as Portland has had, the impact on downtown would be enormous."