A project for a new Fry’s supermarket in Midvale Park can move forward now that its developers have agreed to comply with Tucson’s big-box ordinance.
The Tucson City Council approved new zoning Tuesday for the Fry’s on a 13-acre site at 1801 W. Valencia Road, near South Midvale Park Road on the city’s southwest side.
Plans call for a 102,500-square-foot grocery store plus a gas station and 8,300 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
The developer needed to meet the requirements of Tucson’s big-box ordinance, which applies to any store over 100,000 square feet with groceries on more than 10 percent of the floor space.
The site is about a quarter-mile from a Walmart Supercenter and about 1 mile from a Walmart Neighborhood Market.
The Midvale Park Neighborhood Association supports the Fry’s project.
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The Council approved new residential zoning for the 9-acre Wrightstown Elementary School site at 8950 E. Wrightstown Road, near East Speedway and North Camino Seco on Tucson’s east side.
A developer plans to build 56 houses on the site.
The project includes a few nods to the former school. The project is named The Schoolyard, and a new residential street is tentatively named Wright School Loop.
The Tucson Unified School District closed Wrightstown Elementary in 2010 to save money after parents fought off closure in 2008.
Last year, TUSD sold the school to Pepper Viner Investment Co. for $1.3 million and made the sale contingent on the rezoning. The school district also prohibited the developer from using the site for a charter school.
TAX INCENTIVE FOR BBQ BAR ADVANCES
Brother John’s Beer, Bourbon and BBQ advanced to the second step in a three-step process to receive a Government Property Lease Excise Tax incentive.
It’s the first time the City Council has considered a GPLET incentive application for a project outside of the core downtown area.
The project — a $635,000 renovation of a 1977 building that was formerly the Wildcat House — is expected to begin next month.
“Activation of this site will be instrumental in the revitalization of the Stone Ave. corridor and complements upcoming renovations to the apartment complex across the street,” according to a memo from the city manager’s office.
In the next step of the application process, an economic analysis must show the benefit to the government is greater than the benefit received by the developer and it must show the property value increasing by at least 100 percent.
Contact reporter Becky Pallack at bpallack@tucson.com or 573-4346. On Twitter: @BeckyPallack
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