Little more than a month ago the U.S. Army Reserve Center on the South Side was the jumping-off point for more than 200 of Tucson’s finest who were deployed to the Middle East.
But in the very near future the 3.5-acre site could be that of a schoolhouse. Or a neighborhood center. Or an emergency management and training complex.
For decades the 55-year-old 1st Lt. Paul K. Allen Army Reserve Center at 1750 E. Silverlake Road has been a training facility and mustering point for Southern Arizona’s citizen soldiers.
The facility was Arizona’s only significant casualty in the federal government’s 2005 round of base closings. The nine reserve units, and 1,200 reservists, who once made their military home there are being relocated to other facilities, making the property available for possible civilian use.
The city is considering five proposals to reuse the property, sandwiched between a new subdivision of single-family homes and a National Guard facility, after the military moves out, said Ann Vargas, project supervisor with the city’s Community Services Department.
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