Sleepless in Tucson — renter worries about Solar Culture
By Coley Ward
CWARD@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.05.2009
Solar Culture owner Steven Eye will learn this week whether the warehouse that houses the popular music venue and art gallery is destined for public auction.
The building at 31 E. Toole Ave. is one of several state-owned properties the Arizona Department of Transportation plans to sell.
Potential buyers had to put down 10 percent of the property's appraised value and provide a letter of intent to purchase. That would trigger a 30-day clock, during which time other bidders could also put down 10 percent. If that happened, the property would go to auction. If no one else came forward, the sale would go to the original bidder.
Eye, who rents the warehouse from ADOT on a month-to-month basis, says he doesn't have the money to buy the building, which he has adorned with many brightly colored ceramic sculptures and mirror mosaics over the past 22 years. The appraised value is $95,000.
The state had received only one bid as of Tuesday, according to Teresa Welborn, an ADOT spokeswoman. She declined to identify the bidder.
Marvin Shaver, president of the Warehouse Arts Management Organization, a group that works to preserve downtown warehouses and keep them affordable for artists, says his group plans to make an offer.
Shaver said the nonprofit also intends to bid on other downtown properties, including Zee's Warehouse at 1 E. Toole Ave., which will be auctioned off Friday.
"Our goal with anything we're doing in the district is to secure the buildings and keep them out of private hands for the time being, and establish protections and restrictions that will keep them as public arts spaces," Shaver said.
If WAMO submits a bid, Solar Culture would be auctioned Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the ADOT Tucson District Office, 1221 S. Second Avenue.
The likely auction is a source of great stress to Eye.
"The prospect of a bidding war makes it hard for me to sleep," he says. "All I want to do is sculpt the building for the rest of my life and keep it for the community."
Solar Culture started hosting concerts 1999, and has drawn high-profile bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Fleet Foxes, Cat Power, Calexico and Arcade Fire.
Solar Culture was one of six state-owned warehouses found to have major safety violations during a May 5 inspection. Eye and other tenants were given 60 days to bring the downtown buildings up to code or face eviction.
Eye spent weeks bringing the building up to code, replacing spongy floor boards and patching cracks in the walls.
In August, Eye got a thumbs-up from the Tucson Fire Department to resume hosting concerts.
But the venue's occupancy is capped at 49 people until Eye can erect a fence between Solar Culture and the railroad tracks at the back of the building.
Eye met with a railroad representative last week. A railroad spokeswoman told Caliente on Friday that she hoped a fence will be in place by the end of the year.
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