Passages of Tucson is making steady progress. Locally, some folks refer to the project in the SE area of the Tucson Metro - known as Vail, Arizona, as Tucson's "Mall of America" which really isn't far off of the mark, since one of the principals, Bob Hoffman, was an instrumental part of the team that made the Minnesota landmark happen.
With a project of this magnitude (the largest open-air multi-use complex in North America - 350 acres), progress can seem halted to the naked eye when agreements are being put into place and negotiations over infrastructure & governmental entities coordinated with financing requirements to have everything together enough to start moving dirt - this is just about ready to go.
One of the biggest hurdles has been getting the vast sewer line system approved, and that looks to be in place, according to trusted sources. Once a few more small loose ends are tied up, we'll see some action on the site.
So far, interest has been very high from companies interested in the hospital & other medical facilities, the 3 hotels to be built on the site (budget, mid-level & resort style), office space and retail - with letters of intent already in hand.
A few weeks ago, someone asked me for an update on the project, but I wanted to be sure my information was reasonably accurate...hence the delay in putting this together.
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All original material written by Kent Simpson unless attributed to source.©2011, 2010, 2009,2008,2007
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My son goes to school in Tucson. How far is this "Mall of America" from downtown? I'm sure it will bring a lot of jobs to the area!
Michael - it is about 25 miles from the University of Arizona. If you're looking at a map of the Tucson area, Vail is to the southeast - along I-10. The Passages project is just to the north of I-10 and just west of Hwy 83 (which goes south to Sonoita & Elgin - the wine country!) Thanks for commenting.
Howdy there and Morning Kent
Sounds like Tucson, is going to have a mighty fine Mall for folks to go to. Congrats to y'all! Thank you for stop-en by to visit, my friend, have yourself a mighty fine day.
Thanks Dale - this project is going to be a major commercial coup for the Southwest U.S. - just don't expect it to be open for business overnight!
Kent - wow that sounds like quite a project which is underway.
TW - thanks for the comment on my blog. I do hope there is going to be something on photoshop though at virtual rebar.
Have a great day!
Howdy there Kent
A major project the size of this one, sure ain't go-en be open overnight. Thats for sure, my friend.
Anything new on this supposed project? I live in Vail and have yet to see any progress of any kind. Not one bit of construction or even land clearing. And this is on something that I have been hearing about since at least 2006! To be honest, I'm rather glad that nothing is going on yet. My wife and I moved to Vail to get away from the rat race and to have something like this go in would pretty much ruin the area.
Richard - the dirt is going to start flying sometime this summer. For a project of this magnitude, things may seem like nothing is moving forward for quite a while...all during the time that there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes. The land work & construction is the quick part of development.
It has taken a long time to get to this point because of dealings with the State of Arizona & Pima County to get all details of the sewer system ironed out (basically the Passages of Tucson is going to be building out the infrastructure for Vail's system).
If you and your wife would like to move, I'll be glad to help you sell your home in Vail & find you another to move into!
SO I HAVE ONE QUESTION:
ARE THEY BUILDING A MALL OF AMERICA HERE IN TUCSON ARIZONA????????????????
Hi Mina -
The media has called this "Tucson's Mall of America" in the past - perhaps because the man spearheading the effort to build Passages of Tucson was an instrumental part of the team that built the Mall of America.
Another reason might be because Passages will be the largest open-air retail/mixed use facility of its kind in North America. Thanks for dropping by!
So the Fall 2010 update will likely be the same as last year? It's really frustrating to see no progress year after year.
Jim - I feel your frustration too! Haven't had much progress that is easy to see, but last I heard, there were a few things in motion that got bogged down for a while. Hopefully I will have something tangible to update everyone on soon.
I'm moving to Marana next month. I've waited too long for commerce in this area. I see Vail as a ghost town in the next five years.