Event organizers are preparing for a busy weekend at the Annex. First on Friday night, the first Night Market of the Summer is being held. It’s free to walk around, then you can pick and choose which of the 60 local vendors you want to support at the night market.

In 1997, Travis Evans sold everything he owned, packed up a big truck and moved to the Big Apple. After working at Tucson’s now-closed City Grill for three months, the executive chef moved to New York City, telling Evans that he would have a job for him on the east coast if he wanted it. So, Evans made the trip to the lower east side to work as a chef.

The Bautista, a new development in the historic Mercado District near downtown Tucson, will add apartments, retail space and a restaurant to a neighborhood in the midst of urban revitalization. The $110 million project was approved by Tucson in 2022, and construction started in March. The development is slated to be completed by late 2024.

The popular Mercado District, west of downtown, is being built out with a new apartment complex, river walk and plaza with a large food and beverage hall and a parking facility. The $110 million Bautista project, by local developers The Gadsden Co., recently broke ground and is expected to be complete in 2025.

Over the past couple of years, the Mercado District, that’s just west of Downtown Tucson, has grown and developers are planning to expand the area even more. Now equipped with a streetcar, restaurants and shopping, the Mercado District didn’t always look like this.

A Tucson developer is close to clearing the last hurdle to construct a $100 million office tower downtown. Across Interstate 10, another local developer is moving forward with plans to build a $72 million mixed-use apartment project in the Mercado District along the Santa Cruz River.

The hum of construction equipment serves as background noise most afternoons as people visit Mercado San Agustin or the MSA Annex. The sound of a construction project in the works is nothing new for people who have lived just west of Interstate 10 near Congress Street or who frequent the area for shopping and dining. Since 2008, the Gadsden Company has been developing the Mercado District on what was once barren land on the growing west end of downtown Tucson. 

A $35 million mixed-use development is gaining traction on the west side. With help from Rio Nuevo, construction could begin as early as October. The Monier Project, launched by Gadsden Company, is a development in the Mercado district, west of I-10 near Congress Street. The project includes 13,000 square feet in retail space, a parking garage and 122 market-rate apartments.

It is National Small Business week and downtown Tucson is getting a new retail space for local, small businesses.  Starting this weekend, the MSA Annex opens. It is an expansion of the Mercado San Agustin  The space is like nothing in Tucson. Each shop is made out of shipping containers. It is creating a new market district for residents. 

Thirteen is proving to be a lucky number for everyone connected with Mercado San Agustín—with 13 vendors in the initial site and another 13 in the Annex, a new (and unique-for-Tucson) shopping center that will hold an official grand opening the weekend of May 4.