Many of you may have noticed the construction at the corner of 5th Avenue and 18th Street. We will soon see four new houses there designed by Tucson architect, Rob Paulus. The houses are small on the exterior with an appearance similar to many of the historic bungalows in Armory park. Actually each bungalow has 1780 square feet of living space, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths according to the Paulus website (http://robpaulus.com/projects/18th-street-bungalows/). Each house will have one off-street parking space.
Four bungalows on one large corner lot is cozier than many Armory Park properties but looking at the site under construction, the space seems adequate. Some have criticized placement of four houses on the lot but that density is not without precedent in the neighborhood and it makes the project economically feasible. The developer, architect and historic board worked closely to make this project fit well in Armory Park. All should be thanked for their hard work.
We have a few more similar vacant lots in Armory Park and I would much rather see each such lot have four bungalows rather than a large apartment building or worse. The economic pressure for development of vacant lots is becoming intense so we may find that such a development is the best available alternative.
Construction of all four bungalows is moving along briskly with two of the four nearly framed. Foundation and site work looks complete for the other two.
Marketing agent for the bungalows, Rose Faitsch, informed me that, “Completion date is expected to be May 2018 for 18th Street Bungalows. Anyone interested may contact me at rose@habitationrealty.com or call me at 520-419-3905“. The marketing website is: http://www.18thstreetbungalows.com/.