Previous Macayo’s Depot Cantina currently being restored as section of redevelopment
Developers program to rehabilitate a virtually century old train depot that after housed a well known Mexican restaurant as portion of an place of work and hotel challenge prepared in downtown Tempe.
The historic setting up, property to Macayo’s Depot Cantina until eventually 2020, will be restored to its primary seem when it opened in 1924 and stripped of any additions made soon after.
A 17-story business tower and 18-story Hilton resort is planned adjacent to the depot on the 2.5-acre web-site around Ash Avenue and Third Avenue.
The depot would be utilised as a retail shop or restaurant, though developers hope it could someday yet again work as a doing work train station — a put where riders could hook up to the close by Valley Metro mild rail and before long-to-open Tempe streetcar or the prolonged-mentioned desire for commuter rail.
Developer E&R Holdings hopes the project would draw men and women from nearby Mill Avenue to carry greater vitality to the spot, a block west of one of the city’s most noteworthy commercial regions.
The Tempe Town Council, which favored preserving the depot and energizing Ash Avenue, permitted the task before this month.
The council also authorised a tax abatement, recognized as a Federal government House Lease Excise Tax, that will let the developer to prevent paying residence in favor of lesser lease payments. In exchange, the developer agreed to maintain the teach depot, shell out $100,000 to two regional schooling foundations, contribute $50,000 to traffic mitigation and $1 million for the streetcar development, which is slated to be concluded later this calendar year.
From station to restaurant
A educate depot has very long stood on the web site.
The Arizona Jap Railroad commissioned the teach depot in Tempe in 1923 immediately after a picket depot on the site burned down, according to metropolis paperwork.
A team of people, apprehensive that the fireplace would threaten the city’s status as a industrial hub and avert the metropolis from becoming part of a mainline to Phoenix, had lobbied the railroad company to rebuild the depot.
The company employed Fitzhugh and Byron, which was a distinguished Phoenix-primarily based architectural company, for the occupation.
The depot, which charge $11,000, was completed in June 1924 and “ensured Tempe ongoing railroad-relevant prosperity and allowed the town to provide as a end together the mainline to Phoenix accomplished in 1926,” city files present.
A 1924 report in The Arizona Republican explained the 3,600-sq.-foot station as “comprehensively present day and interesting.” The brick developing experienced a furnished waiting room, baggage space and place of work.
“Steam warmth and other fashionable enhancements give the most comfort for travellers and workers of the station,” the almost century-previous report mentioned.
The creating fell into disrepair in later on many years as passenger rail services declined next Globe War II.
Tempe acquired the depot from the railroad firm in 1985 for $520,000 using federal money, according to a 1988 posting in The Arizona Republic. The metropolis then place out a connect with to builders to restore the developing, metropolis paperwork present.
Builders constructed Depot Cantina Mexican Restaurant close to the authentic construction and the metropolis marketed the depot to developers in 1988 for $560,000, The Republic documented. The cafe rebranded as Macayo’s Depot Cantina in 1991 following the family members-owned restaurant chain ordered the residence.
The coach station continued to run as an Amtrak passenger rail quit from 1987 to 1996 behind the cafe.
Macayo’s Depot Cantina shut in early 2020 following very long-time owners, the Johnson loved ones, bought virtually all of the chain’s locations to Sort Hospitality. A new Macayo’s opened on Scottsdale Street previous 12 months.
Restoring educate depot to previous glory
Preceding proprietors hardly ever shown the depot on the Tempe Historic Assets Sign up or National Sign-up of Historic Areas nevertheless it truly is eligible. That still left it susceptible to important alterations and intended small city oversight of foreseeable future redevelopment.
E&R Holdings has been doing the job with the city’s historic preservation director and preservation commission as the job has moved as a result of the town setting up method. The developer wants to “rejoice” the depot’s background, stated Manjula Vaz, the attorney symbolizing the developer.
They will give Tempe a conservation easement to guard the exterior’s historic character and checklist it on the city’s historic sign-up, as part of the agreement with the city.
The developer programs to strip the multi-coloured adobe that was designed in the 1980s and protect the first brick development, similar to get the job done on the former Monti’s La Casa Vieja on Mill Avenue which was restored to its initial 1920s kind.
Crews plan to demolish all non-historic exterior additions, inside walls and other things extra in later a long time to produce a shell place for long run use, in accordance to town paperwork.
Doors and home windows will be changed with historic or duplicate doorways and windows, and crews will restore the historic concrete floors, ceiling and roof, documents present.
City staffers believe the depot’s architectural integrity is intact.
Vaz informed the council in November that the depot could develop into a bike or coffee store. It could work as an lively train station if a commuter rail ended up to once more go through Tempe and provide as a connection to other public transportation, she explained.
Depot would be surrounded by new growth
Developers program to build just about 1 million sq. toes of business, lodge, retail and cafe space about the depot.
A seven-tale parking garage would be constructed around the current light rail line, which bisects the web site.
The business tower is planned on the north finish of the site on major of the garage.
The resort would go on the southern close of the website, and feature 280 visitor rooms, 9,415 square feet of convention space, places of work and restaurant and bar space.
An amenity deck with a lounge area and pool on the eighth flooring would connect the two properties.
Options phone for commercial room on the floor flooring of both equally properties, outdoor eating and a huge outdoor plaza connecting the lodge and teach depot.
The developer is working with Valley Metro on a observe barrier to separate the floor flooring of the structures and the plaza from the educate tracks.
Though citizens in the encompassing neighborhood pushed again versus the proposed height of the buildings — the business is 245 feet and the hotel is 237 ft — the height is in line with other development downtown.
Vaz explained builders hope the task pulls people off Mill Avenue and activates the Ash Avenue space, which is the principal western gateway into downtown.
Want to converse Tempe progress? Reach reporter Paulina Pineda at [email protected] or 480-389-9637. Observe her on Twitter: @paulinapineda22.