UA construction to displace Zach's

Zachary's Classic Pan Pizza, located at 1019 E. Sixth St., will relocate to the other side of the street when the University of Arizona begins construction on a new Environmental and Natural Resources building.

"I would hope walking across Sixth Street wouldn't deter customers," said Dave Ellis, owner and founder of Zachary's.

Ellis, who named the restaurant after his son, said he hopes to move Zachary's into the UA-owned building that formerly housed the Two Doors restaurant at 1028 E. Sixth St.

Ellis said he is unsure how a change of location will affect business. He added that he was knew he would need to move eventually, but plans were repeatedly delayed.

"Now it's not being put off," Ellis said.

In April, 1995, the university bought the property where the restaurant has been located for 11 years. The UA has since leased the space to the Zachary's, said campus environmental planner Susan Bartlett.

The UA paid $200,000 for the land under and surrounding the pizza place, with the intention of expanding the university, said director of space management Mercy A. Valencia.

University construction plans for Sixth Street include building a new parking structure this summer in the gated area on the north side of Sixth Street, between Freemont Avenue and Santa Rita Avenue.

The structure is still in early planning stages, but the UA plans to provide at least 1,200 spaces by the fall semester of 2000 said Marlis Davis, director of UA parking and transportation services.

UA officials knew construction would be a strain on parking in the area and converted the lot on the Southeast corner of Sixth Street and Freemont Avenue into a parking area about a year and a half ago, she said.

The parking lot currently services 13 businesses on Sixth Street including Rhino Pub, Centeon Plasma Center, Zachary's and U of A Liquors.

"There are other businesses at the north side of the street [who will have] displaced parkers because of the university's construction," Davis said. "As a good guy, we established this lot as a merchant lot."

Ellis, who is vice president of the Sixth Street Merchants Association, said the merchants agreed to pay for the lot's insurance and tokens.

"We need those spaces because we are losing a lot of spaces to construction, and the (merchants') need no longer exists for parking because these people are moving to the south side of the street," said Davis.

She said she would like to get the city involved in assisting business owners with parking by providing meters.

Ellis said the Merchants Association and the UA are working on plans to accommodate patrons and businesses.