Mercado District Facts

Developer and Project Team Mercado District of Menlo Park is developed by Rio Development Company.   View Mercado District team.

Overview and Location

Located within Tucson’s Rio Nuevo—a billion-dollar plan to invigorate Tucson, Arizona’s downtown—the Mercado District of Menlo Park is a new 14-acre residential and commercial neighborhood that seeks to define Tucson’s future by reflecting Tucson’s past. It is located just west of Interstate 10 between Congress Street to the north and Clearwater Street to the south.

The Mercado District is designed to restore the diversity, beauty, and vitality of Tucson’s past by emphasizing authentic design and building materials that mark the unique charm of early Tucson. With narrow, bending streets, wide sidewalks, and 7 small plazas, the design for the Mercado District is pedestrian-oriented, reflecting neighborhoods from Tucson’s pre-railroad days.

Blocks and Streets

Mercado District is comprised of 8 main blocks for residential, commercial, and office development. These blocks are formed by 7 different types of streets and 7 distinct plazas and jardines that provide a varied, interesting, and interconnected public realm throughout the neighborhood. All blocks are served by rear private alleys that provide all vehicle access (with the exception of several corner lots).

Buildings

Homes and commercial buildings will be built from adobe, brick, rammed earth, and other types of innovative masonry block that are appropriately responsive to the desert environment. From Sonoran Row Houses to pitched roofs bungalows with front porches, a variety of styles echo Tucson’s Territorial design heritage. The buildings along the north and east edges of Mercado District are mixed-use commercial/residential buildings with retail on the ground floor with two floors of residential lofts, townhouses, and condominiums above.

Design Principles

Mercado District incorporates the following constituent elements of a traditional neighborhood:

• A seamless connection to the urban and natural surroundings of the site
• A 5-minute walk from center to edge
• A rich set of public spaces, both thoroughfares that range from ramblas to paseos, as well as places of repose, such as plazas and plazuelas
• A mix of residential, retail, and office uses
• A set of civic and community facilities that enable the public life of all people living there
• Educational facilities that promote life-long learning
• Immediate pedestrian access to nature
• Places for recreational activity in plazas and pocket parks or “jardines’
• House types for people of a variety of incomes and ages
• A landscape in character with the climate and culture of Tucson
• Sustainability measures that advance the long-term value and viability of the project

  View and/or download Mercado District Facts in PDF format.

Last updated April 18, 2006.

  
For more information, please contact us.