Pima Community College discusses what's next for Drachman Street motels

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Abandoned motels in the Miracle Mile District have remained empty and unkept for years.

Pima Community College Purchased some of those motels hoping to expand their downtown campus.

The PCC Governing board held a meeting on Monday and discussed future plans for the buildings some consider historic.

“Sell the properties to someone who does value them, there’s no harm in walking away from it, but demolition you can’t reverse it,” said one community member.

Many people voiced their opinions at the board meeting during call to audience offering other suggestions besides demolition.

“They really embody Tucson’s automotive heritage from the mid 20^th century and especially having three of them still together is really amazing, that’s really hard to do,” said Carlos Lozano, the founder of Vanishing Tucson.

The Tucson Inn, the Copper Cactus Inn and Frontier Motels are some of the buildings historic preservation advocates are fighting to keep alive.

“If this one goes, they could all start to go because this would send a message saying that maybe we don’t value these types of historic properties,” said Lozano.

“What we try to do is preserve story and place,” Lozano said.

Many ideas were discussed including creating a community hub with and innovation center, a center for DEI and a center for entrepreneurship.

One community member suggested turning the motels into affordable housing and another recommended restoring the buildings into student-run motels to incorporate PCC students.

While no plans are set in stone, the PCC Governing board said they’re not taking this decision lightly and will continue to discuss all possibilities.

Historic preservation advocates said they would like to see the options avoiding demolition and find creative ways to keep the buildings up.

“We’re recommending that they do adaptive reuse so they can reimagine these buildings in any way that they want,” said Lozano.