Historic bungalows to serve unique Tucson cuisine

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) – The widening of Broadway has created a lot of disruption in the process of preparing the road for more traffic – and fears it will destroy history along the road. But Rio Nuevo supports a project on Broadway that blends preservation with a celebrated part of Tucson’s culture.

The Broadway expansion has hit businesses hard. Some have lost land and customers who struggled hard to get through construction. There was concern about lost history as old structures gave way to expansion.

But seven historic mud bungalows on Broadway will have a new life.

The Rio Nuevo Development District has paid for the cost of removing the facilities so that contractors can install underground utilities.

Now they are back in their original places, which not only have been preserved, but also give Broadway a special touch.

Randi Dorman has transformed buildings across the city into unique places to live and work.

Her business partner Moniqua Lane turned an old motel into the Downtown Hotel Clifton.
Now Rio Nuevo is underpinning its idea of ​​converting the bungalows into a restaurant to showcase Tucson cuisine – a meal so full of unique culture that a United Nations agency named Tucson a special city of gastronomy. Dorman envisions chefs creating special menus here and then stepping aside for a new chef.

She says: “Every four, eight, twelve weeks we want you to plan a whole program, almost like a theater program for the restaurant our local heritage food.”

Ward Six Councilor Steve Kozachik has criticized the general expansion as too far-reaching and too disruptive. But he says when planners reduced the width by 25 feet, it made projects like the bungalows a part of Tucson possible and adding something new that should help attract other businesses.

“If you remember when the RTA (the regional transportation authority) started, it was 50 feet wide, and all of these bungalows and another hundred or more buildings were about to be demolished. By shortening the Broadway extension, we were able to preserve these bungalows and create these kind of neighborhood-scale commercial developments that are really the tax base the RTA needs to survive. “

There is still a lot of work to do before the first dinner is served. Dorman says it could be in a year or so.

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