Loft-style units coming to town

By Karen Mracek
ARIZONA DAILY STAR Ice plant's redo a hot idea with future residents

An artist's rendering of what the Ice House Lofts will look like after the Arizona Ice and Cold Storage building at 1000 E. 17th St. is renovated.
© 2003 Arizona Daily Star

Renovation of the former Arizona Ice and Cold Storage Co. could begin as early as next week to make room for the appropriately named Ice House Lofts, a 51-unit residence.

Forty-one of the 51 units at 1000 E. 17th St. have already been reserved by people interested in buying loft space. Most of the reservations were made before advertising had really begun.

"Judging from the fact that they have presold so many, it's obvious that there is a demand for high-quality market rate housing," said Ann Lawrence, a longtime Downtown resident who has reserved a unit by putting down a deposit.

The building encompasses 36,000 square feet. The loft spaces range from 620 to 2,300 square feet. The national average for loft spaces is 1,200 square feet.

Some are one-floor studio units, while others are two-story lofts with almost half the first floor open to the high ceiling. Most of them have tall windows and doors that face either the north or the south.

"We are going to great lengths to make it a great place to live," said Rob Paulus, architect of the project and partner in Deep Freeze Development LLC.

Paulus says the project combines the authenticity of the old industrial building with modern amenities. Each unit will feature original triple-layer brick or concrete walls, and each will be built with a Tucson Electric Power guarantee, which ensures that specific standards are met to guarantee the owner the lowest electric rate available.

The loft spaces range from the low $100,000s to high $400,000s. Even though renovating the building costs 20 percent to 30 percent more than building new, many people are attracted to it because of its authenticity, Paulus said.

"It has a textural, genuine character to it."

Developers are reusing lots of parts and pieces that show the building's past as home to Arizona Ice and Cold Storage Co.

"There are hundreds of round valves that we are going to reuse as gate handles," Paulus said.

They also will reuse reclaimed refrigerator piping as fencing around the pool area. Some units will have decorative thick metal doors from freezers, and an old compressor will adorn the workout room.

The ice company, which quit making ice there in the early 1980s, continued using the cold storage space until the new owners bought it in May 2002. It was rezoned for housing in January.

"It was very eerie," said Paulus about the first time he walked through it.

It was about 45 degrees inside, even thought the refrigeration had been turned off for months. "The building was pretty dilapidated," Paulus said.

The area is all industrial and when Euclid Avenue was tunneled under the railroad tracks, 17th Street became an island, accessible only from 16th or 18th Street.

"It's a funky area," Paulus said.

The lofts are attracting people who want to live Downtown for convenience and a sense of community that is missing from other places in the area, Deep Freeze partner Phil Lipman said.

"They are looking for the urban experience," he said.

"Scarcity might also have something to do with it."

People move to Tucson from other cities or have visited other cities that have lofts, but there was no opportunity to live like that in Tucson.

"This was a giant leap since there was no precedent," Lipman said.

Deep Freeze Development is also developing nine free-standing units - some of which are already reserved - across 17th Street from the Ice House Lofts. Barrio Metalico will have the same open-air loft style and will feature a metal exterior finish. Both residences are expected to open next fall.

The development company is also working with the city to install street lights and sidewalks.

"We want to make the whole block look good," Lipman said.