Students looking for places to shop and parents who want to visit campus will not have to venture far beginning in the spring.

With the completion of the University of Arizona's portion of the Main Gate Square, which includes the Main Gate Garage and the University Services Building, the Marshall Foundation is moving ahead with further construction in the area.

Bob Preble, events coordinator for UA Facilities Management, said the university has achieved its goal by constructing the University Services Building and the parking garage.

The University Park Marriott is scheduled to open Sunday, and John Malloy, president of the Marshall Foundation's board of directors, said the commercial area between North Euclid and East Tyndall avenues on East University Boulevard will be completely open for business by mid-February.

"Everything is in order, building permits have been issued. Everything complied with rules and regulations," said Kendall Bert, director of economic development for the City of Tucson.

Commercial Development

The space that was previously vacant at the corner of Euclid Avenue and University Boulevard will be occupied by national retail stores in the hopes that the area will become "a sort of regional shopping center," Malloy said.

He said the spaces will be occupied by six or seven tenants. The businesses that already have leases are The Gap, Bath and Body Works, Coffee Plantation and a woman's clothing store called The White House.

Preston Godfrey, project manager for Durrant Architects, said The Gap is working on the interior of its store, and the other tenants should be doing improvements and "fill-in" by mid-December.

The Foundation owns all of the land between Euclid and North Park avenues along University Boulevard, except four properties.

The Marshall Foundation and J.L. Investments Inc. co-own the West Main Gate Center Limited Liability Company, said Don Semro, treasurer of J.L. Investments.

Under Arizona law, a Limited Liability Company is a corporation that has the tax structure of a partnership and the liability of a corporation.

Semro said the Foundation decided to go in 50-50 on the LLC because it required "some development expertise."

The debt for the project will be around $3.8 million to build, Malloy said.

Philip Dinsmore, president of Durrant Architects, said, "It's the most complex project I have ever been involved in, also it has involved the most teamwork."

The project involves a number of parties including, the Marshall Foundation and LLC partnership, the West University Neighborhood Association, the Arizona Historical Society, the UA, the City of Tucson, John Q. Hammond, Gentle Ben's Brewing Co., Durrant Architects and Conelly Construction, among others.

"Coordinating this work has really been a trick," Dinsmore said.

Dinsmore said he has been working on the area's plans with Tom Warne, of the Marshall Foundation, since 1990.

"I have always thought that UA beat (Arizona State University) as a campus. Off campus, yuck," Dinsmore said. He added that ASU has areas off campus like Mill Avenue, and hopefully this project will move UA in that direction.

Bob Lane, president of the West University Neighborhood Association , said the association does not have an established position on the development until they see the finished project.

Lane said the association would oppose any new bars or establishments serving alcohol in the area.

Bert said the development will be "a positive to the area."

"I've seen some of the drawings and I think it will be spectacular," Bert said.

The commercial area should be complete by the end of January, Malloy said.

University Park Marriott

The University Park Marriott is a nine-story 255-room hotel on the corner of North Tyndall Avenue and East Second Street.

The hotel will be "the quality hotel in the valley," Malloy said.

Such amenities as a 110-seat restaurant, pool and spa, fitness center, and business services such as computers, a secretarial service, and a full-service convention center will be available at the hotel, a Marriott pamphlet states.

Malloy and the Foundation were considering legal action against the new Marriott because they were trying to cut corners to get the hotel open earlier.

"We're insisting on the hotel being a quality hotel. Accordingly, we want double-pane windows and we're getting double-pane windows," Malloy said. "It's been temporarily resolved and may go away. For the time being at least, we're not litigating."

On his hopes for the new hotel, Bert said, "I think it will be sold as downtown hotel space to conventions,"

Malloy said John Q. Hammond Hotels, owner of more than 100 hotels nationwide and the owner of the nearly finished University Park Marriott, will spend over $25 million on the project.

Hammond is leasing the land the new hotel stands on from the Marshall Foundation.

Improvements to Existing University Square

Dinsmore said the University Boulevard strip is trying to be a "transition between the neighborhood and the university."

To do this, the Marshall Foundation has plans to improve the existing University Square area. Improvements will be funded by the Foundation.

The plans for renovation of the area are not definite, Malloy said, adding that the renovation "may happen within the next two years."

He also said a new multi-story building may be worked into the plans to give the area a face lift.

The facade covering the original buildings will be removed, and the entire area will have a uniform look with red-brick and green awnings, Dinsmore said.

Preble said, "I think the face lift of the area is going to be positive."

Lane said any return to a historical look is positive.

"The return on the investment for Marshall Foundation has plateaued for the last 10 to 15 years when it should have been increasing," Malloy said. "The overall attractiveness of the area has gone down. I think the area needed to be rejuvenated."

The Old Pueblo Trolley has plans to provide direct access to the trolley to patrons of the hotel, Gentle Ben's and the Arizona Historical Society, said Dick Guthrie, president and chief executive officer of Old Pueblo Trolley.

The Old Pueblo Trolley will then take a turn east on Second Street making a stop at the Arizona Historical Society, Guthrie said. The trolley will continue east until Park Avenue, where it will head north to University Boulevard, then westward toward North Fourth Avenue

"This does not preclude us at some future date to go on to campus and go around Old Main," Guthrie said.

Guthrie said that despite the Old Pueblo Trolley's status as a non-profit organization with volunteers, the operating costs are high enough that trolley fare has to be $1 each way, as it is currently.

He also said that since area businesses would benefit from having trolley access, he expects that in the future the Old Pueblo Trolley could be underwritten, bringing fares down. He said this has been done in the past by the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association.

"If every student paying tuition paid 25 cents a semester towards the trolley they could ride as much as they wanted for a quarter."

Bruce Wright, UA senior officer for community affairs and economic development, said the UA has proposals in the works to build a parking structure, as a private venture, along Tyndall Avenue south of University Boulevard.

Malloy said by next semester there will be new sidewalks, and lighting and landscaping improvements. He said other improvements to the area may not be completed by next semester.

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