A more than 100-year-old former hotel at the east end of Downtown will be sold in the next year to a private developer who will convert the ground floor into retail space, several city officials said this week.
The triangular-shaped MacArthur Building, now home to the city's Department of Urban Planning and Design, will be sold during a competitive process to the private sector once the department and other tenants are moved out, a city memo says.
The building's "flatiron" style is named for a famous triangular building in New York City.
Lou Ginsberg, Tucson's real estate special projects manager, said he expects most of the tenants to be out by 2008.
"Sometime in the next year we will go out for some type of public process to determine its future," said Jaret Barr, assistant to the city manager.
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While the city's bidding process will spell out that retail be developed on the ground floor, Barr said the second and third floors could be used for office space, residential units or hotel rooms. "It doesn't matter. They all work," Barr said.
The 22,000-square-foot building, which stands along Toole Avenue between the Hotel Congress and the Historic Train Depot, was built in 1907, the same year as the depot.
It was originally named the Hotel Heidel and served as a hotel for the railroad, said Marty McCune, the city's historic preservation officer. It was sold in 1910 and later became the MacArthur Hotel.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, but then was delisted in 1984 after a partial collapse of one side led to a facade being put on the building, McCune said. The windows were also completely replaced, further diluting its historical accuracy, she said.
"Even though it is not officially listed, we treat it as a historic building," McCune said. "It has maintained much of its original character."
It was converted into office space in the mid-1980s and became the home of the city's planning department in 2002.
The city bought the building for $2.9 million in 2005, says a memo from Transportation Department Director Jim Glock. He said the city is in the exploratory stages of selling the building.
The benefits of selling, according to the memo, are: It would put the property back on private tax rolls, eliminate the high operating costs associated with using the building and create a unique Downtown redevelopment opportunity.
If the city were to sell the building, it would need to write a restrictive covenant or deed restriction preventing it from ever being demolished, said local historian Ken Scoville.
Although Scoville said the building has historic properties and should be saved, he said parts of the outside are simply veneer and the inside was not restored well. "As long as someone doesn't tear it down and build a high-rise, it may be better to have the private sector develop it," Scoville said.
Barr said the city can control the redevelopment terms. He said the city would use deed restrictions or covenants to ensure the building is never torn down.
"It adds to the historic fiber of that area," Scoville said.
DID YOU KNOW
The MacArthur Building was originally the Hotel Heidel. It was named for John Heidel, who built it in 1907. It hosted a steady stream of railroad travelers and boasted a restaurant, barbershop, cigar and magazine shop and bellboys in scarlet uniforms.
In 1944, the hotel was renamed the MacArthur Hotel in honor of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, although it is not believed the general ever came to Tucson. The hotel went through some rough times, including arson, and finally closed in 1979.
Source: Star archives
