A combination of private sector investment, better land use planning, and the potential of the modern streetcar has created “horrendous interest” in economic development in Tucson’s urban core.

To date, the Rio Nuevo downtown redevelopment project has had primarily a public funding emphasis. The focus is on the brink of shifting into a private investment mode as well with last week’s decision by the Tucson City Council to award a development contract to the Gadsden Company for 14 acres west of downtown.