WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat The Marshall Foundation tore down the building that used to house several small shops at North Park Avenue and East University Boulevard. The foundation intends to put a new building on the site that will resemble the original building from the 1930s.

Workers demolished a building on the northwest corner of East University Boulevard and North Park Avenue that will reportedly be replaced with a more attractive building drawing from the architectural characteristics of its past.

Tom Warne, consultant for the Marshall Foundation which owns the property, said the new building will look more like the original, built by founder Louise F. Marshall in the 1930s. Renovations in the '50s and '70s took away its original look, and the new structure will be similar to the building west of it, which houses Chipotle and Urban Outfitters.

Those businesses, and many others on East University Boulevard, rent space from the Marshall Foundation, a non-profit organization that donates 50 to 60 percent of its net revenues to the UA for scholarships, donations and project funding.

When construction is complete at the busy intersection, the building will be easier on the eye, Warne said.

"We're refurbishing so that it becomes a real asset to the UA," he said. "The UA is a world class university and it deserves it."

The new building also brings the prospect of new businesses in the area and the foundation is in the process of finalizing several leases.

Construction should be complete in early spring, Warne said.

Just this year, the foundation completed the Louise F. Marshall building, named for the first female professor at the UA.

The UA is leasing the building from the Marshall Foundation.

Several academic departments, including Near Eastern studies, Judaic studies, journalism and media arts, the centers for Latin American and Near Eastern studies and the racetrack industry program are located there.