Low Impact Living – Community Gardens

Iron Horse Community Garden

Living a low impact lifestyle with a small carbon footprint is a good idea for many reasons other than the headline-making issues.  Low impact living helps to unify communities and creates good will between neighbors.  Low impact living is good for your Tucson Real Estate also.  There are many ways to have a low impact lifestyle.  One way is to organize a community garden.  I recently posted about the historic Iron Horse neighborhood in central Tucson.  Located adjacent to Iron Horse Park is the Iron Horse Community Garden.  The land for this garden is provided by the city and this small community space brings a pleasant oasis of green where a barren sandy lot could add to blowing dust.

Some community gardens rely on a property owner setting aside a portion of their land where neighbors can share resources like tools, water, information, expertise, and above all fresh organically grown vegetables.

You can explore www.communitygardensoftucson.org to learn more about community gardening.

Remember to consider low impact living when considering your Tucson Real Estate choices.

Iron Horse Community Garden

Tucson Neighborhoods – Iron Horse

Iron Horse Neighborhood House

The Iron Horse Neighborhood is located between Euclid Avenue on the East, Fourth Avenue on the West, Eighth Street on the North, and Broadway Boulevard on the South.  This neighborhood is surrounded on three sides (West, North, and East) by Pie Allen and by Iron Horse Park to the South.  This neighborhood consist of a mixture of cottages, bungalows, adobe, duplexes/triplexes/etc., and a more.

Iron Horse Park on the South side of the Iron Horse Neighborhood enters onto one of the Tucson Bikeways with the Rattlesnake Bridge as a centerpiece.  Many have seen the Rattlesnake Bridge as they travel on Broadway Boulevard entering and leaving Downtown Tucson on the East, but few have seen it as viewed from Iron Horse Park.  If you like biking, this may be the neighborhood for you.

Iron Horse also has a community garden for growing organic food.  If you like fresh vegetables and if you like gardening, this may be the neighborhood for you.

With the Fourth Avenue shops, restaurants, and bars along the West side of this neighborhood and Tucson High School to the North, there is not much you will need that is not within walking distance.  Walkscore.com gives Iron Horse an 86 or “Very Walkable” score.  If you like walking, this may be the neighborhood for you.

The next time you are looking at Tucson Real Estate, have a look at the Iron Horse Neighborhood.  You’ll be glad you did.

Rattlesnake Bridge Entrance in Iron Horse Park

New Hotel and Movie Theaters for Main Gate Square in the Works

If you have been looking for Tucson Real Estate in the West University Historic Neighborhood, this new project could sweeten the deal for you. The Marshall Foundation with J.L. Investments is developing a project just west of the University of Arizona at the Main Gate Square, which will include a six to eight screen movie theater, hotel, and retail shops. This location is great because it is already very commercial and the adjoining West University Neighborhood would be able to enjoy movies within walking distance. The building could open as early as 2012 and would fill a much-needed void for the neighborhood. For more information regarding this project, go to http://azstarnet.com/real-estate/99eb84d6-cb5c-500b-8318-01de710ee54c.html

Tucson Neighborhoods – West University Neighborhood

West University Neighborhood House

The West University Neighborhood is located roughly between Park on the East, Stone on the West, Speedway on the North, and 6th Street on the South.  The neighborhood was one of the first areas to develop to the North of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The residential areas in this neighborhood consist mostly of cottages, bungalows, adobe, duplexes/triplexes/etc., and a many great surprises.  There are also two major shopping areas located in this neighborhood, 4th Avenue and Main Gate Square.

History is brimming in this neighborhood with the Arizona Historical Society‘s Arizona History Museum, the Postal History Foundation, the Old Pueblo Trolley, and the Dillinger House (a house on Second Avenue where the John Dillinger was apprehended in January of 1934).

In addition to history, art is an integral part of this neighborhood, so much can be said about art in the West University Neighborhood that I will save it for another post.  If you are an artist, this is probably the neighborhood for you.

If you like urban living and enjoy walking to stores, restaurants, etc., then West University Neighborhood is an ideal location for you.  WalkScore.com gives this neighborhood an 82 out of 100 for walk ability.

This Neighborhood is vibrant and alive with students.  To the East is the University of Arizona, to the South is Tucson High School, and to the Northwest is Pima Community College.  Within the boundaries of this neighborhood are several elementary and middle schools including Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle and Elementary School, Al-Huda School (K-11), and Paulo Freire Freedom School.

The next time you are looking at Tucson Real Estate, have a look at West University Neighborhood.  You’ll be glad you did.

West University Neighborhood Landscaping

Welcome to Tucson!

Welcome to Tucson!

Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona and although everyone has different viewpoints on this subject, to me Tucson is a great Arizona city!  Tucson has great hiking, it is very bicycle-friendly, dog-friendly, and environmentally-friendly.  The history of Tucson is compelling, dating back to 1775, and Tucson celebrates that history.  Tucson feels like a small town in many ways, yet has all of the things a person would look for in a big city.

The purpose of this blog is mainly to focus on Tucson Real Estate.  All of the things that make a city livable go into making its real estate more valuable.  This blog will focus on all of those things.