Pima Community College to decide fate of iconic Tucson buildings

The Tucson community finds itself in a discourse surrounding three motels built during the 50s in the Miracle Mile Historic District

The Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation (THPF), a local organization that advocates for the protection of Tucson’s architectural history found in historic, modern, and recent buildings, made a call to the community to protest alleged plans by Pima Community College to demolish the Tucson Inn. the Copper Cactus Inn, and Frontier motels.

In past years, Pima had purchased the three run-down buildings adjacent to its Downtown Campus with the intent of restoring them and reusing them as part of their college programs; having originally committed $10 million to this purpose in 2022, THPF sounded the alarm when the budget skyrocketed to $35.7 million this past April 2023.

According to the organization, Pima wants to demolish the historic motels to construct parking lots for its campus, which is located in a heavily transited part of town on East Speedway Boulevard and Stone Avenue. However, the PCC Governing Board stated that the plan was never to do so, and instead was considering building a new facility for students and the Tucson community alike.

Among Pima’s three main plans were restoring a varying number of square feet on the properties, but all including demolishing some of the area as well.

The statement nonetheless prompted a strong response from members of the community, who see this and other buildings on Drachman Street bought by Pima as a staple of Tucson history and identity. It is due to this that, during a Governing Board’s public meeting held to discuss this issue, many Tucsonans came in to speak to the board members about what the future might look for these buildings.

The event turned into a night of uplifting stories of development projects turning once-condemned buildings into thriving places. Among the suggestions made, perhaps the most intriguing ones were turning the old motels into student-run businesses for them to study property and business management.

The PCC Governing Board is yet to make a decision, but Board Chair Theresa Riel expressed her gratitude to all those who went to speak at the session and stated that the board “will not be making this decision lightly.”

Written by Carlos Laphond Moreno (carlos@newsazb.com) for the Arizona Bilingual Newspaper.