It’s where residential and commercial zonings exist side by side. It is home to
old neighborhoods and new housing developments. It’s office buildings, strip malls
and furniture stores as well as single-family homes, apartments, townhouses and
condominiums. It’s low income and high earners, renters and owners, students and
professionals.
In short, it’s a microcosm of Tucson.
“Parts of it were developed prior to World War II and some of it is still being
developed today,” said David Taylor, a city planner. “It’s a mixture of
land uses, except industrial.”
No one characteristic captures its heart and soul, although it has distinctive
landmarks. Park Place and El Con malls, Reid Park and the Arizona Inn spring to mind. It
was once totally unincorporated Pima County, but that was some time ago.
“It’s the quintessential post- World War II town,” Taylor said.
“Everybody built the same sort of stuff after the war.”
The post-war boom spurred its growth as it developed in mostly easterly and northerly
directions. Now more than 122,000 people live there in more than 58,000 households.
It’s best-known neighborhood — and oldest — is Sam Hughes, which borders
the University of Arizona’s eastern edge.
But other neighborhoods have carved out their niches as well.
“We have worked very hard in the last 10 years to bring more people to our Midtown
Neighborhood for longer periods of time,” said Brad Holland, president of Midtown
Neighborhood: the Garden District. Holland describes his neighborhood, which lies between
Alvernon Way and Swan Road to the west and east, and Speedway and Grant roads to the south
and north, as an eclectic mix of homeowners and renters.
“With regards to what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood, we don’t agonize,
we organize,” he said.
Holland has lived in his home for more than 20 years and has seen his
neighborhood’s ups and downs. Currently he thinks it’s set to become a more
desirable place to live.
“With the improvements at Swan and Grant roads, we’re poised to become a
pedestrian neighborhood,” he said. “My parents walk wherever they want to
go.”
Some of the more affluent Midtown neighborhoods include El Encanto, Montevideo and Sam
Hughes. It is in the latter where many UAprofessors bought homes. But others come for the
the neighborhood’s community spirit.
“Because our housing stock is over 50 years old, it brings both challenges and
opportunities,” said Anne Hernandez, president of the Sam Hughes Neighborhood
Association.
Still, she said, it’s the only place she wants to live — even with the
changes.
“We’re stretching the boundaries of Tucson as a city, so I guess it’s
not surprising that the boundaries of midtown stretch out as well.”
