TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Over the past couple of years, the Mercado District, that’s just west of Downtown Tucson, has grown and developers are planning to expand the area even more.
Now equipped with a streetcar, restaurants and shopping, the Mercado District didn’t always look like this.
“I think it was a landfill, there was never anything here,” said Tucsonan, Anna Steiner.
Developers are hoping their latest project will have the same effect as the recently built Monier complex.
“It’s so walkable now, Tucson is becoming way more walkable which is nice,” said Steiner.
The manager of Bloom Maven, located at the bottom of the Monier, said as a flower business, they’ve seen more in-person customers rather than just online orders.
“We’ve definitely noticed a lot more traffic since the other businesses moved into the Monier,” said Hannah McCarthy.
Next on the list for the Mercado District Expansion is the Bautista complex bringing in more than 250 apartment units as well as more businesses.
“It’s also bringing another 16,500 sq. feet of a commercial which will be service oriented, retail, commercial and food and beverage providing another layer of goods and services,” said President and CEO of the Gadsden Company, Adam Weinstein.
The Bautista Apartments will open in 2025 intending to attract more Tucsonans and visitors to the Mercado District.
“You can tell that the community’s growing and it’s nice to see that you know,” said born and raised Tucsonan, Natalia Valencia.
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Faith Abercrombie is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before coming to KGUN, Faith worked as a videographer for the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation and as a reporter and producer on the youth suicide documentary, "Life is..." on Arizona PBS.
Share your story ideas with Faith by emailing faith.abercrombie@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
