Broadway Village Revival News

By June Hussey, Broadway Village consultant

On November 19, with approximately 35 Broadmoor-Broadway Village homeowners in attendance at the neighborhood meeting at Howenstine School, Randy Finfrock, Project Manager for Broadway Village and representative for the new owners, updated Broadmoor-Broadway homeowners on their vision for Broadway Village. As Randy explained, a consortium of business people purchased the historic Joesler property, Tucson’s first neighborhood shopping center, from its original developer, a Murphey family trust, in January of this year.

Randy presented some history of the old shopping center that he had learned by pouring over archives from Murphey, UofA, and Arizona Historical Society for months, reading books on Tucson’s history, and talking to local citizens who grew up shopping at Broadway Village. He also shared the owner’s three-year, three-phase plan to restore, renovate and reposition the Broadway Village.

The restoration, now underway, involves the painstaking “stripping”’ of non-original augmentations from the buildings applied by tenants over 68 years, including awnings, light fixtures, alarms, hardware, and cables. The buildings have been power-washed to remove decades of dirt and grime. The intent is to restore the buildings as closely as possible to their original state, as documented by photographs and eye-witness accounts. This phase is now nearly complete. A tasteful new logo has also been designed, and a new monument sign will soon be erected.

The second phase is to renovate the structures and parking lots with long overdue repairs and improvements. In addition to upgrading electrical, mechanical, and roofing systems, the renovation includes replacement of non-native vegetation, installation of fountains, light fixtures, pottery, and other finishing touches. The new owners hope to convince TEP to bury their main electrical lines, thus ridding the parking lot of unsightly and dangerous electrical poles. To preserve architectural integrity throughout the process, the group has retained the services of Michael Franks at Seaver Franks AIA, whose experience includes numerous Joesler restorations as well as the beautiful and commercially successful renovation of Casas Adobes Shopping Center.

Of particular interest to the neighbors is the owners’ vision to reposition the Broadway Village as a vibrant community hub, a place to walk, bike, or drive to buy the paper and a pastry with a cup of coffee, shop for an evening’s meal, attend a farmer’s market or bring a friend to a wine tasting event.

Many Broadmoor-Broadway neighbors remember Broadway Village in its heyday, when the Broadway Village Market sold fresh fish and the Drug Store served Cowboy Burgers and Green Rivers. While the owners can’t promise to clone those days, their leasing plan does call for a village market/deli, a bakery and coffee shop, and maybe even an ice cream parlor. Patience is a virtue in the present economy.

Randy addressed the subject of increased traffic that will naturally accompany the new tenant mix and asked neighbors for their feedback on three options proposed for the convergence of Eastbourne and Manchester as they enter Broadmoor. Owners have discussed privatizing these streets to better maintain them, and manage increasing traffic into Broadway Village and the surrounding neighborhood. He recalled that the Murphey’s deeded the land for these streets to the City in 1937 and it may be time to return them to the historic shopping center to better control its destiny. The options include 1) leaving access to Broadmoor as double lane roads; 2) converting them to single-lane access with a “Local Traffic Only” sign to discourage commercial traffic in the neighborhood, while encouraging pedestrian flow to and from and within the center; or 3) building a landscaped “cul de sac” to block all commercial traffic from accessing the neighborhood and undermining its peace and tranquility. Randy stressed that there are many opinions and variables operating here, and more research and discussion is necessary.

A show of hands showed support for all three options but a shortage of time prevented further discussion of this important subject. Randy expressed his appreciation for the neighbors' preliminary feedback and assured neighbors that he will keep them informed and ask for further feedback more formally on this important issue impacting the neighborhood. He handed out information packets and business cards. He also encouraged neighbors to voice their thoughts to association president Michael Allen, with whom Randy intends to have open, ongoing communication.