Mercado District Vision

Located within Tucson’s Rio Nuevo Project, the Mercado District of Menlo Park is a 14-acre residential and commercial neighborhood which seeks to define Tucson’s future by reflecting Tucson’s past.

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 seven small plazas, the design for the Mercado District is pedestrian-oriented, reflecting neighbor-hoods from Tucson’s pre-railroad days.

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.

Traditional Hispanic town designs concepts like public plazas and shared courtyards will form community gathering places and commercial centers. To encourage the importance of pedestrian connections in the project, sidewalks are uninterrupted by driveways because cars will access garages from rear alleys or side streets.

Within the Mercado District, residents live just a short walking distance to a neighborhood market, restaurants, cultural sites, museums, extensive hiking trails, medical services and the proposed University of Arizona Science Center.

A plant palette of native species historically located along the Santa Cruz River—mesquite, ash, palo verde, ironwood, and sycamore—will be used for the streets and public spaces of the Mercado District. Plants will be irrigated with reclaimed water and a rainfall-harvesting system along a major street to capture runoff. These approaches will reduce long-term water costs and save precious water resources, at the same time filling the district with beautiful landscaping and sidewalk shading.

  
For more information, view Mercado District Facts or please contact us.