After 20 years of operating on the edges of east-side Tucson, far from the urban core, a prominent environmental group is moving its headquarters downtown.
The Sonoran Institute, which seeks to conserve Western open spaces from the grasslands of southeast Arizona to the prairies of Montana, announced this week it will move in March or April to offices at 44 E. Broadway.
The move is part of a broader effort by the building's owner, social-service provider Providence Service Corp., to renovate this and two adjoining buildings to help revitalize downtown.
Since forming in 1990, the Sonoran Institute has worked in five east-side offices, starting with Saguaro National Park in 1990 and ending with its current headquarters at 7650 E. Broadway, not far west of the Pantano Wash.
The move downtown to the third floor of the former Federal Courthouse Annex means an 8 percent rent savings for the institute, which like many nonprofit groups has struggled financially since the recession started. It will be paying $7,042 monthly for a 6,500-square-foot office on the downtown building's third floor, which is now gutted for renovation.
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More important, the new headquarters will be a perfect fit for the institute's mission of trying to rebuild downtowns as part of a broader strategy to protect farther-flung open spaces, institute officials said Friday. The group operates seven offices in the U.S. West, with a staff of 45 and a $5.3 million budget.
"We finally get to walk our talk," said institute founder and director Luther Propst. "It's about time."
Today, the atmosphere is stark at the institute's future office. The brick building's previous owner had stripped the structure to renovate it for condos - a plan that fell through when real estate collapsed. The office has only its original cement floors, steel girders where a ceiling used to be, and no walls or windows on the building's north and south sides.
On the north, the office looks directly onto the still-vacant block along Congress Street, east of Stone Avenue, that was cleared in 2004 but never redeveloped. On the south, the office looks onto St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave.
The renovated office will feature glass panels on both sides, with steel supports. A steel frame, heating and air conditioning, bathrooms, showers and drywall insulation will be installed in the coming months, for $195,000, said James Cook, the renovation's contractor.
Besides making the Sonoran Institute more politically credible, the new headquarters also will make it more effective, working close to city and county office buildings, Propst said. The location also will allow many of the group's employees to walk or bike to work because they live closer to downtown than to Tucson's east side.
"To have the institute here is important," said Fletcher McCusker, Providence's CEO. "It's all about creating a sustainable, vibrant downtown."
In the rest of the building, the first floor will be used as covered parking, the second floor will be offices for Providence and the fourth floor has been sold for four penthouse condos, McCusker said. He said he can't disclose the purchase prices until the deals close in four to six weeks.
The institute's move is symbolic of evolving attitudes about how economic development occurs, said Laura Shaw, a spokeswoman for Tucson Regional Economic Opportunity, the nonprofit economic development firm. She joined a tour of the space with McCusker and institute officials on Friday.
"It used to be that people followed jobs and moved to where companies operated," she said. "In the 1980s, companies located or expanded in places where there was available land and tax advantages. Now, companies base these decisions on where talent wants to live.
"Young professionals want a vibrant downtown, a natural environment and recreational opportunities," Shaw added. "They want balance in their lives."
Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.