Plans for a pair of new food courts in the downtown and Sunshine Mile areas are underway, with the projects’ owners working to address funding and parking needs.

The new owners of Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market and Crescent Tobacco Shop are asking the Rio Nuevo Board to consider financing 50% of the renovation costs of their new venture, Gibson’s Food Hall and Market.

Nick Wayne, owner of downtown bar HighWire Tucson, has teamed up with John Hardin for the project, located on the corner of South 6th Avenue and East Broadway Boulevard.

They’ve knocked down the wall between the two businesses and plan to rebrand the market into a space similar to the South 4th Avenue food court American Eat Co.

Gibson’s Food Hall and Market will offer an upscale food court featuring local restaurateurs, outdoor seating and a speakeasy-style bar, as well as a market component, selling essential grocery items and specialty products. 

Wayne and Hardin told the Rio Nuevo Board during their meeting last month that the venture meets the needs of downtown Tucson. 

“It’ll be a space where you have a bar-nightlife kind of restaurant, shopping, an event center and people can transverse freely around the property,” Wayne said. “It’s noisy and dusty (right now.) Just about 50 feet away from us it’s a war zone, but it’s exciting.”

The additional revenue streams of the bar and food court will keep the market side of the business viable, Harding told board members, explaining the reason behind the changes to the original Johnny Gibson’s concept.

Wayne also owns The Grand, a new event center off of South 6th Avenue that was completed over the summer. Now that the venue is open for business, Wayne said he’s starting to see events held in the space.

"It’s exciting to see it come to life,” he said. 

Grant Krueger, owner of Union Hospitality group, plans to bring his own food court to the Rio Nuevo district, with his new project in the Sunshine Mile’s modernist Friedman Block building.

Kruger also owns Union Public House, Reforma Artisanal Proof Pizza + Pasta and The Maverick King of Clubs.

Kruger’s plans for the property, on the corner of East Broadway Boulevard and North Plummer Avenue, include two full-service restaurants, three quick-service restaurants, retail stores and an atrium for outdoor seating and live music.

“The idea would be to reduce 18 or 19 pretty rough buildings into about 13 nice ones,” Krueger told board members. “The two-storiness of the building can lend itself well to encapsulate live music.”

The current hitch in Kruger’s plans for the 48,000-square-foot block is a lack of parking.

Krueger told board members that there are only about 57 parking spaces for the building, but the property needs a minimum of 152.

“It’s probably the most challenged of all of the projects on the Sunshine Mile,” Krueger said. 

Krueger said the Broadway widening project “ate away” most of the parking spaces, leaving only those behind the building. 

“It’s not only severely under-parked, but those particular spaces in the back aren’t really customer friendly, visible spaces,” Krueger said. 

To fix the shortage of parking spaces, Krueger has been workshopping options, including sharing space with the Council House Apartments and renting spaces at night from the M. Lee Starr Learning Center. 

“It is clearly …  the absolute best solution for this particular project,” Krueger said. 

Other options Kreuger has considered include removing all the east buildings to create more spaces or constructing a three-story parking garage on site of the former DeConcini Building, located off North Tucson Boulevard, to supplement the spaces shared with the apartments.

“Now you’re talking about having enough parking spaces and not having to (demolish) any or all of the historic buildings,” he said. 

While Krueger conceded that he didn’t think a parking garage is the best use of the DeConcini space, he suggested to the board a new planned area development in conjunction with the DeConcini lot and the Continental Building to create the potential garage, saying it would benefit more than just his new property. 

“A 201-parking space garage would provide potential parking options for not just the Friedman Block,” Krueger said. 

The board will discuss both projects during a future meeting.

Arilynn Hyatt is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at arilynndhyatt@arizona.edu.

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