As empty warehouses go, it's hard to be more noticeable than the Farmer John Meats building.
Nine years after the facility on West Grant Road near Interstate 10 shut down, Farmer John's iconic wall mural remains a well-known sight to Tucson motorists.
Painted in 1963 by Leslie Grimes, a former Hollywood scene painter, the panoramic mural depicts dozens of cattle charging through the desert on an outer wall along the north side of Grant.
The mural got regular touch-up jobs until Farmer John's parent, Clougherty Packing Co., closed the facility in August 2001. It managed to avoid being damaged by a fire inside the meatpacking building in 2007, but it's been heavily vandalized.
Since its closure, the building has been envisioned as the site for many a new venture, including a country-Western bar that local club owner Luke Cusack tried to open in 2003.
People are also reading…
The building finally grabbed a new tenant this fall - at least for a month - when local haunted-house operator Tucson Screamers moved in and began converting it into "The Slaughter House."
"It's a perfect building for what we do," Tucson Screamers' Bobby Sutton said.
According to its website - www.slaughterhousetucson.com - The Slaughter House is scheduled to operate Thursday through Sunday each week in October.
Sutton said the operation will use about 40,000 square feet of floor space, which has been refurbished with sprinklers and new doors for the haunted house.
Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at bjp@azstarnet.com or call 573-4224.
