Town Homes To Rent In Tucson

Here's another missed Tucson tourism opportunity

One day at Safeway, I ran into Bob Shelton, the founder of Old Tucson. At one time, Old Tucson was the second-most visited tourist attraction in Arizona after the Grand Canyon. We agreed Tucson is a colorful western town with an exciting, wild history.

He said someone should build a Wild West Museum to house all his memorabilia from Old Tucson. I said, yes, and let's house it in a 10-story cowboy hat at Congress and Interstate 10.

If you build it, they will come, we agreed.

The hat would become the new image of Tucson. It would have been our Eiffel Tower, our Gateway Arch a la St. Louis. It would have been huge.

Tourism is found money. Get people to come, charge them for the privilege, rent them an expensive room at a resort, let them play a few rounds of golf and take a trip back in time to the old West, and send them home. Perfect. They leave their money here but don't take away anything but wonderful memories. And they don't stay to suck up our valuable water as residents.

There was also the special taxing district that had been created to make a newer, more vibrant downtown Tucson. It was called Rio Nuevo. "New River." Catchy. People were enthused.

Somewhere in there, City Councilwoman Nina Trasoff raised her hand and said "I'd like to be in charge of that." Good for you, Nina. Motives? Many still unknown, but surely including a shot at being mayor after Bob Walkup turned in his megaphone.

And there Shelton and I were in 2007, Rio Nuevo was well underway and people were hitting up the city council with big ideas for tourist attractions. Shelton and I didn't have the money but we could see the city was investing in ideas like ours. Surely they would help.

Remember the Rainbow Bridge spanning the freeway? It was proposed to house at University of Arizona science center. The pricetag was $350 million. The UA wanted someone else to pay for it. The idea went down in flames.

There was the idea for an aquarium. Of course it makes no sense to have an aquarium in the desert when the most interesting aquatic animal is the Mountain Chub. Can you hear parents telling their kids, "Let's go see the chub today?" Yeah, big tourist attraction. So that never happened.

But our 10-story cowboy hat would be seen from the freeway and people would be amazed. We were going to have real cattle in a split-rail stockade behind the museum, also visible from the freeway. And kids would get in free.

Can't you hear it? "Look, Dad! Real cows! Let's stop!!!

Real estate: Luxury apts. target mortgage defaulters - Real Estate ...

America’s torrid love affair with homeownership has ended.

Even some with high-paying jobs are leaving their homes and letting them slide into foreclosure when they owe more than their property is worth.

For those people, buying another home isn’t an option, at least not in the immediate future. So what can they do?

They can rent.

Miramonte Homes, a Tucson-based builder, will soon unveil a new line of luxury rental homes in Tucson and Sierra Vista to fill just that niche, said Steve Quinlan, the company’s co-CEO.

“We’re trying to take care of a demand that appears to be coming to the marketplace – people who are abandoning houses,” Quinlan said.

Miramonte’s luxury rentals, which will have rates around $1,500 to $1,800 per month, should be available in Sierra Vista in January. In Tucson, they won’t be ready until next summer, he said.

Quinlan couldn’t get too specific about the location in Tucson as the property sale is still being finalized. He did say they’ll be on the north side not too far from the core of the city.

Both projects will have about 90 units, he said.

Miramonte also plans to open luxury rental properties in Flagstaff.

The units will boast many features of single-family residences: two-car garages, entry foyers with high ceilings, and private backyards. The two-story structures will be in duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes, Quinlan said.

The largest models in Tucson will have four bedrooms.

Miramonte is specifically targeting homeowners who choose strategic default. That’s the process by which people who can afford their mortgage stop paying because their property is “underwater,” or worth less than what’s owed on the debt. Sometimes a lot less.

Many such homeowners, especially in places where home values spiked sharply and crashed, will have to wait decades for their house to be worth what they paid.

As such, Miramonte is potentially tapping into a wide swath of the housing market. Marshall Vest, a University of Arizona economist, said recently that half of Arizona homeowners are “underwater” on their mortgages.

Quinlan said Miramonte will use MEB Management to handle day-to-day operations at the rental units. They will require a credit check for tenants, though Quinlan acknowledged strategic default can put a blemish on a potential renter’s credit.

Insiders' Guide to Tucson

Tucson, The Life and Times of an American City

Tucson, with map of landmarks, references, glossary, chronology [and] bibliography

Living Homes, Sustainable Architecture and Design

Saturday review