Get in line to buy an “urban mansion.”

The 44 Broadway Development is taking reservations for the 30 split-level lofts that managing partners Ron Schwabe and James LeBeau plan to build in the old federal courthouse annex at 44 E. Broadway.
The units at 44 Broadway Lofts should be ready for residents next summer in the building that housed the Charles Keating savings and loan trial in 1992.

Prices will range from $350,000 to $700,000.

Realtor Susan Cassidy at Long Realty already has a list of 100 interested people, many from Tucson but some from as far away as Georgia. She and her husband, Tom, are handling loft sales.

“I think they are going to go immediately,” Cassidy said.

On the roof, Schwabe and LeBeau intend to build an exercise room, hot and cold spas, and a conference/banquet room, along with leaving space for rooftop lounging.

Lofts will have exposed, open-web steel trusses and polished-concrete floors, nearly 20-foot floor-to-ceiling dual-pane windows and covered balconies with downtown views. There will be three stories with 10 condos per floor.

Given the headroom and the cubic footage, LeBeau called the lofts, which run from 978 to 1,246 square feet, “urban mansions.”

“We pride ourselves in taking blighted buildings and making them new,” he said.
And the duo has a record: They converted the former Arizona Sash & Door on Sixth Street for art galleries, shops and storage.

With the courthouse, Schwabe and LeBeau got a solid structure built to federal standards.
“You have all this concrete and steel,” Schwabe said. “You could never build this today. No way.”

The building sits atop open-air, street-level parking. Most of the parking will remain, but the area facing the street will be enclosed, probably as a restaurant with sidewalk dining, Schwabe said.

44 Broadway Lofts

44 E. Broadway

Phone: 798-1950

OSCAR ABEYTA
Tucson Citizen

Converting a vacant courthouse annex into high-end loft-style condominiums may seem unusual for downtown Tucson, but the market for upscale urban housing is taking hold.

Projects large and small and in varying states of completion are dotting the map of downtown.

On Congress Street just west of Interstate 10, the first houses of the new Mercado District of Menlo Park - nearly 300 homes and retail shops - will be going up in a few months.

The old YMCA building at Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street is scheduled to be razed to make way for a loft-style development.

The Arizona Ice and Cold Storage building was converted into 51 lofts, and all the units were sold as of last month.

The former convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Joseph’s Academy are also being turned into luxury lofts.

Randy Emerson, director of development for Rio Nuevo, said two other mixed-use projects are making progress but are in the early stages.

Presidio Terrace, a townhouse and apartment development just north of the Tucson Museum of Art, has received plan approval from the city and must now finish up design and permitting before construction can begin.

The Post on Congress, to be built on the site of the former Thrifty Drug store, is being designed and has not submitted plans to the city for review.

Emerson said developers of the ex-drug store site are in negotiations to buy the parking lot behind the Chase Bank building.

James LeBeau, a partner in 44 Broadway LLC, which is converting a former courthouse annex, said his group’s project will likely be the first completed in the heart of downtown.

He said as more people move downtown, restaurants and retail operations will follow.

Projects that include ground-floor retail such as The Post on Congress, which will be across from the courthouse annex LeBeau and his partners are converting, will help make downtown more pedestrian oriented, he said.

“Who wants to walk by this now? But when it’s done, people will be coming here,” LeBeau said, gesturing at the vacant lot across the street.

Jayson Meyerovitz, another partner in the firm, said Tucson is starting to see a trend that other cities have seen for years.

“Urban living is hot everywhere,” he said. “People are tired of driving.”

OSCAR ABEYTA

Tucson Citizen

A high-end loft condominium project is scheduled to open late next year in, of all places, a nondescript former federal courthouse annex.

If all goes as planned, the $8 million project will likely be the first significant condominium development in the heart of downtown.

The building, vacant for five years, is unusual because it was built with 20-foot ceilings to accommodate courtrooms. The soaring ceilings are perfect for building two-story loft units, developer Ron Schwabe said.

“The only good thing about the building is the ceilings,” he said, joking.

The building, at 44 E. Broadway across from the former U.S. District Courthouse, will be converted into 30 loft condos, with a rooftop pool and sun deck. The exterior will get a makeover, losing its utilitarian 1970s-era facade.
Schwabe said he expects the project to sell out within a couple of weeks once the condos go up for sale.

“We already have people who are calling us wanting to reserve a unit, but we’re not taking reservations yet,” he said.

The development team expects to begin applying for building permits this month and begin construction in the spring.

Developer James LeBeau said the team is happy to play a small part in redeveloping downtown. “We’re really trying to do something very nice for the city,” he said.

The developers will offer a preview at the loft site Dec. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m., before the annual Downtown Parade of Lights.

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