In the 18th Century Tucson was just a few homes, shops, and businesses clustered in and around the military fortress called the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson. While excavating the remains of this early community, archaeologists have discovered much older habitations in the area of Downtown Tucson, some dating as far back as 4,000 years. Rio Nuevo's Tucson's Origins Project will develop these sites and create a series of interpretative sites and community facilities to highlight Tucson's rich historic past. A team of professionals have been selected to plan the reconstruction and interpretation of the Mission San Agustin and the Tucson Presidio sites, two portions of Tucson origins.

Rio Nuevo is a comprehensive revitalization program for downtown Tucson including new attractions, shopping, restaurants, office space, and housing. Rio Nuevo is a city-planned revitalization project that will combine museums, a sea aquarium, an IMAX theater, a visitor center, retail and theme-shop areas, a convention hotel, historic reconstructions, residential areas, Native American cultural presentations and outdoor water features.

As we work to revitalize our Downtown, most of the talk is about the many exciting attractions that are taking shape here, like the UA Science Center, Civic and Cultural Plazas, Tucson Origins Heritage Park, proposed new Arena, and many other residential, retail and commercial developments. Together they’ll draw thousands of residents and visitors to our city center each year to live, work and play.

State of the art transportation, including sufficient parking and efficient transit, is just as essential to a healthy Downtown, which is why Rio Nuevo includes a number of transportation projects to ensure the success of other planned attractions.

Builders and buyers of Downtown housing are proving to be the pioneers of Rio Nuevo, the part-public, part-private effort to redevelop the heart of Tucson. Roughly over 2,000 homes are under construction or being planned in and around the city core. About half of them are on track to be built within the next couple of years.

As Rio Nuevo progresses, Downtown Tucson continues to get busier and more exciting. New residential development has drawn thousands of people Downtown to live and play in the heart of the city. These new residents are enticing other private sector developers to invest in a number of new retail and commercial attractions here as well including the renovation of the Rialto Theatre and at least one hotel. The public sector is also moving forward on several major projects, including the Civic and Cultural Plazas and the much-anticipated University of Arizona Science Center.

Construction of Rio Nuevo, a $700 million downtown redevelopment project (with $120 million coming from Tax Increment Financing funds) enhancing the convention center area with visitor attractions, museums, cultural facilities, plus commercial, office, and residential development.

"There is a real vibrancy about what's going on right now," said the 60-year-old Rogers, a resident of the El Presidio neighborhood. "There really is excitement in the air and all sorts of projects happening, and it's something I haven't seen in all my years here."

"By 2006, retailers will be following the residential developers into the Downtown area," said Ann Vargas, the city's Downtown housing planner. "By the time the UA's Science Center and the Tucson Origins Heritage Park become reality, Rio Nuevo will have completely transformed Tucson."

"By 2008, you're just not going to recognize Downtown. That's going to be the watershed year," Ann said. "When everything is said and done, we're going to have turned Downtown around in nine years. That may seem like a long time to some people, but no downtown has every turned around faster. It takes four or five years to prime the pump, to get everything going, to get all those projects off the ground."

Rio Nuevo is a collection of historic, cultural, commercial, and residential development projects intended to preserve and build upon Tucson's birthplace and revitalize downtown. The passage of Proposition 400 by voters enables the use of Tax Increment Financing to pay for this comprehensive project.
 

Included in the heart of city's Rio Nuevo Project is a broad spectrum of elements, both in the Rio Nuevo South tract and in the traditional downtown area:

• Mission San Agustín - A reconstructed mission complex at the base of "A" Mountain, to include a large, two-story convento building, a granary, other outbuildings, the Mission Gardens and an outdoor gathering/performance area.
• Presidio Museum - Construction of a museum at the southwest corner of North Church Avenue and West Washington Street, possible reconstruction of portions of the Presidio wall, and archaeological work to unearth remnants of the original wall.
• Historic restoration - Renovation and restoration of such existing historic structures as the Fish-Stevens and the Brown houses, Carnegie Library (Children's Museum), the Tucson Museum of Art, the Fox Theater, all in the downtown area, and Warner's Mill, west of Mission Road at the base of "A" Mountain.
• Museum complex - The Arizona Historical Society, Arizona State Museum, Universe of Discovery (a reconfigured Flandrau Science Center, and perhaps other entities such as Arizona-Sonora Desert and Pima Air & Space museums and
• National Museum of the American West, will have a presence at Rio Nuevo.
• Rancho Chuk-shon - A multi-cultural and education center south of the Mission Gardens area. It would feature classrooms, a day-care center, a public performance area and an open-air mercado where Native Americans and other local artisans could sell their wares.
• Riparian restoration - The city, county and Army Corps of Engineers will work to restore plants, trees and other ecological factors along both banks of the Santa Cruz River, providing a shaded area for wildlife and humans alike; eventual reintroduction of a streamflow back into the river bed.
• Retail area - A mix of restaurants, theme shops and other compatible businesses, likely along West Congress Street.
• Residential construction - New housing would be built between the retail area and existing residential areas farther west. Also, new residential construction could take place east of Interstate 10, south of Congress Street.
• Visitor/trade center - A co-operative venture between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, it would provide a focal point where tourists and "locals" alike could obtain information on tourist attractions, businesses and opportunities in both states.
• IMAX theater - The ultralarge screen facility, planned for the east side of Interstate 10 and south of West Congress Street, would be the first of its kind in Tucson.
• Aquarium - The Sonoran Sea Aquarium, to be east of I-10 and south of the IMAX theater, would showcase the marine life of the Gulf of California as an educational and entertainment attraction for families, students and visitors.
• Hotels - Tourist-oriented hotels would be established east of I-10 to support downtown tourism and the convention business.
• Bridges - Two new bridges across the Santa Cruz River have been discussed - one a pedestrian bridge at Mission Lane and a vehicle/pedestrian bridge at a second location.
• Parking - Parking lots in several downtown areas, and one or more parking garages are planned to ease the dearth of parking.
• Transportation - Among plans being discussed are extension of the university-area trolley system into downtown, and a shuttle system to access all four quadrants of a newly expanded and revitalized downtown.
• Archaeological groundwork - Archaeological investigation of the 62-acre Rio Nuevo South parcel and related property will comply with state and federal guidelines, and possibly identify prehistoric and historic features that could be preserved and displayed.
• Infrastructure - Lighting, roadways, utility lines, plumbing, trees, outdoor water features and a reconstructed acequia (irrigation ditch) system would be put into place to enhance the public construction and encourage private development of businesses and residences.

Key partners include surrounding neighborhoods, private non-profit organizations, other public entities - from Pima County to the United States government and the government of Mexico, private hotel and residential developers, and many city departments.

Rio Nuevo is dedicated to preserving and building upon thousands of years of Tucson's history on a site occupied by cultures including Tohono O'odham, Pima, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, and Anglo. The project will preserve and restore historic structures, pay close attention to the natural environment, create interpretive exhibits, re-create historic buildings, aid in construction of new museums, and stimulate private investment in Tucson's birthplace.