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It's the Rio Nuevo plan that many have awaited for nearly seven years.

The city has just completed a site plan for the west side of Rio Nuevo — a nearly $500 million "cultural campus" that will feature the UA Science Center, new centers for the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona State Museum, and a re-creation of the convento, chapel and other features of the San Agustín Mission.

The plan jelled quickly in the last 30 days after the University of Arizona dropped the concept of building its Science Center as a $250 million "Rainbow Bridge" spanning Interstate 10, Rio Nuevo officials said.

While it may not have the visual impact of the abandoned bridge concept, the complex will draw attention to itself, said Greg Shelko, the city's Rio Nuevo director.

"Driving by on Interstate 10, I think you'll probably get a vista of a collection of three really significant buildings with some innovative architecture," he said.

A naturally vegetated park, plaza and festival site will be a community gathering spot, "our version of a Central Park," Shelko said.

Under the new plan, the science and history buildings will be clustered around a plaza in the center of Rio Nuevo's west side, south of Congress Street.

The UA Science Center will be to the east along the Santa Cruz River, while the Arizona State Museum will be west of the plaza and the Arizona Historical Society to the south.

On the southwest corner, the "Origins Center" — a tribute to Tucson's birthplace — will provide entry to the historical heart of the complex: an archaeological site with pit houses from an ancestral village, and reconstructions of features of the San Agustín Mission, which once stood on the spot.

The mission's chapel and convento, built by Spaniards in 1772, were the first buildings in modern Tucson. The two-story adobe convento was used by visiting priests and as a school for the Indians who had inhabited the region for centuries.

"That is the foundation of Rio Nuevo," said Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, who chairs the city panel on the Downtown revitalization project that voters approved in 1999. "It builds on our history and culture."

A walk south will take visitors to the reconstructed Carrillo House and Mission Gardens.

Estimates show the four attractions could bring more than 750,000 visitors to Tucson annually, Shelko said.

While the site plan is complete, the final plan — which will include visitor and revenue projections for the museums, Tucson Origins Heritage Park and the Science Center, along with their projected development costs — is expected to be brought to various Rio Nuevo committees and the City Council in November.

The project could also include the Tucson Children's Museum, said city planning director Albert Elias, who said the museum has "raised the issue" with the city about moving to the cultural campus on the West Side.

City Manager Mike Hein said there could also be a new library on the site.

Neighbors have requested a library and the Arizona Historical Society has approached county officials about combining library services with its historical archives, Shelko said.

In all, including the four cultural projects, the potential Tucson Children's Museum and new library, along with streets, utilities and parking, the city's commitment of Rio Nuevo money will be in the neighborhood of $200 million, Hein said.

The entire project will be more than double that, said Shelko. "It could be close to $500 million," he said.

After the plan is approved for the cultural campus, the city will go out to bid for the remaining 15 or 16 acres north of it and east of the Mercado at Menlo Park, a housing and commercial project now under development.

Shelko said this West Side site of Tucson's birthplace has been considered a cornerstone of Rio Nuevo going back to the 1999 ballot proposition that passed the Downtown redevelopment project. Many of its features were included in the 1999 proposition, along with an aquarium and Imax theater which were later dropped from the plan. A potential new arena for Downtown was never on the ballot.

The West Side cultural campus will stimulate other businesses, said Donovan Durband, executive director of the Tucson Downtown Alliance. He said visitors will eat in Downtown restaurants and stay in nearby hotels.

For resident Margaret Hardy, the West Side plan holds real promise. "That represents the heart and soul of what Rio Nuevo is about," Hardy said.