The University of Arizona's grand plans for an Arizona Biosciences Park on the South Side may be in jeopardy if the issue of a building a big-box store on adjacent property is not resolved by month's end.
Without the Tucson City Council's approval of the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter or similar store in the area of 36th Street and South Kino Parkway, both commercial developer Eastbourne Investments, Ltd. and KB Home say they will retool original plans for the area surrounding the bioscience park.
Such a change would take the idea of a high-tech corridor and downgrade it to an area of industrial yards and low-income housing, developers said.
Eastbourne's consultants said Thursday the company will build "I-1" industrial-zoned structures — including a truck stop, heavy-equipment sales, salvage yards and strip malls — unless the City Council overrides city ordinances to allow the big-box store.
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Without the support of Eastbourne, KB said it will redesign its planned community to feature entry-level homes instead of a mix including higher-end row housing and executive homes.
"We will most likely have to replan the community to fit with the demographics of the area," said John Bremond, president of KB Home Tucson.
The poker game between developers and the city has gone on for months, but previously KB Home had not said they would change their plans if Eastbourne went sour.
"This is a solution I did not want to see," Bremond said.
University officials have pushed for an integrated area of development that would include the 36-acre bioscience park, residential housing and commercial development.
"This site has a transformational opportunity," said Bruce Wright, associate president for economic development for the university.
But there are not enough votes in the City Council to override the ordinance, said Eastbourne consultant Brent Davis, and the company is basically packing up shop and withdrawing from the planning process.
"We understood this as an all-or-nothing project, and there seems to be no plausible indication the city will approve this plan," Davis said. "We have hit a brick wall 12 feet deep."
Eastbourne has told their consultants they have a late July or early August deadline to get approval. Without it, the company will move forward with its plan for industrial zoning.
Tucson voters passed the big-box ordinance in 1999, which limits the size of a grocery section in a retail store larger than 100,000 square feet.
The intent of the ordinance is to keep retailers such as Wal-Mart from constructing large retail stores in any part of the city.
Traditionally, big-box stores have met with opposition from neighbors who say such stores bring myriad negative effects, such as traffic congestion, while hurting small local shops.
"We have a land-use code to deal with the consequences of those types of developments," said Councilman Steve Leal, who represents the Fifth Ward, which this development is a part of. "We have to work with business and protect the community."
The city has moved forward with a possible compromise with Eastbourne, Leal said, and hopes to have something ready by next Friday. Leal said he is confident the city will make Eastbourne's deadline, heading off any replanning by Eastbourne and KB.
"We are doing our part," Leal said. "I don't want to talk in hypotheticals because I don't think that is going to happen. That land is too important."
Once fully built out in 25 years, the biotechnology park could employ an estimated 8,000-13,000 people, from entry-level lab technicians to professors and scientists, Wright said. To be built in phases as private investors are brought in, the park would include multiple research-related buildings, a hotel and conference center and possibly a high school emphasizing the biosciences.
Without Eastbourne's cooperation and the mixed housing planned by KB Homes, it will be hard for the bioscience park to succeed, Wright said, emphasizing the need for the original plan.
"When we hear about different uses Eastbourne and KB might have planned, it does give us some concern," he said. "It would not block our use of the bioscience park or its construction, but we are only going to be able to move forward if we can get that."