Request for Information - Redevelopment Ideas for the Joel D. Valdez Main Library

To inspire a broad range of visionary and context-sensitive responses, the City encourages respondents to consider the following guiding themes and design considerations:

• Activation of Jácome Plaza and street frontages as vibrant, shaded, and welcoming public spaces appropriate to a Sonoran Desert city.
• Integration with the surrounding downtown environment, enhancing walkability, connectivity, and civic presence.

• Creative approaches to reimagining or redeveloping the existing Property Components.
• Mixed-use opportunities that may include residential, commercial, retail, civic, cultural, or educational functions.

• Consideration of evolving mobility, including shared, electric, and autonomous vehicles.
• Potential reuse or reconfiguration of the underground parking garage.
• Integration with future transit improvements.

• Environmentally responsible site planning.
• Water stewardship, heat mitigation, and climate-adaptive design.
• High-performance building systems.

• Opportunities to foster inclusivity, civic engagement, cultural programming, and public amenities, including, and not limited to, a new cultural center occupying up to 40,000 square feet of new or existing space, a commercial kitchen, arts/music classroom space, and a concert space.
• Strategies to preserve or reinterpret the civic identity of the site and surroundings.

• No minimum setbacks
• No maximum lot coverage
• No maximum density
• No minimum parking requirements
• 300’ maximum building height

Respondents are encouraged to interpret these considerations broadly and to propose bold, context-sensitive concepts that advance Tucson’s cultural, economic, and civic life.

Information Requested

Respondents are invited to submit a written narrative (maximum 6 pages), with optional accompanying visual materials, that addresses the following:

1. Conceptual Use Ideas - Proposed mix of uses, programming, or activities.
2. Community Impact – Describe how the concept could contribute to the vibrancy, identity, and economy of Downtown Tucson.

1. Financing & Partnership Models – Describe partnership, joint venture, leasing or other structures that would facilitate transformation of the site.
2. Design Approaches – Renderings, diagrams, or other visual materials that illustrate the concept are recommended, but not required. Reuse of existing materials or prior project examples is welcomed.

Property Components are owned by the City of Tucson. The property is currently zoned OCR-2 and C-3. The City may entertain a zoning change to Planned Area Development (PAD) or other suitable designation. The property is within the Central Business District. The property is within the Rio Nuevo Tax Increment Financing District.

The Joel D. Valdez Main Library opened in 1990, constructed by the City of Tucson to serve as the central branch of the City of Tucson free library system. The building is over 90,000 square feet, accommodating a large library collection, as well as administrative/office, and community gathering spaces. Beneath the library lies an underground parking garage with 266 total spaces, which is managed by Park Tucson.

Adjacent to the library is a multi-use building owned by the City of Tucson, located at 149 N. Stone. Originally constructed in 1959 and extensively renovated in 2009 to achieve LEED Silver designation, renovation was funded with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant funds. The City presently occupies a portion of the office space, and maintains short-term leases of first floor retail space, generating revenue in accordance with FTA policies and guidelines.