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New City Hall may help boost downtown Chandler

CHANDLER — Local businesses and residents are welcoming Chandler’s future City Hall building as a way to rejuvenate the downtown area, but many are concerned about parking and construction problems.

The estimated cost of the Chandler City Hall building is $75 million for the 120,000-square-foot complex located between Arizona Avenue and Washington Street at Chicago Street. The development will continue despite the current economic downturn.

“Downtown Chandler is starting to walk their talk,” Images at San Marcos Salon and Day Spa co-owner Pete Pastore says. “It should help everyone.”

Downtown Chandler is a unique area because it contains a majority of small businesses and no chains. It has been easy for people to over look the downtown area because it is not appealing to the eye and not well known, Chandler resident Brian Jutting says.

“I would be more attracted to it if I heard these renovations happened,” Jutting says. “I wouldn’t have to drive very far, and it would be worth it.”

Construction of the complex is set for early next year because many of its departments are in leased space, and the leases do not expire until December 2010. It will cover nearly two city blocks, including a five-story stone and glass building, the Chandler Museum, chambers and two parking garages.

Chandler has leased office space since the early 1980s, and with an estimated population of 251,060, city leaders view a new City Hall building as essential for redeveloping downtown Chandler.

The facility will give citizens better access to many of the city’s major departments and divisions including: Mayor and Council, City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney, Community Services, Economic Development, Human Resources, Communications and Public Affairs, Neighborhood Resources and Management Services.

Chandler City Hall building is also going “green,” intending to achieve a gold certification level within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, a program encouraging the design of environmentally-friendly buildings.

The Downtown Chandler Community Partnership (DCCP), a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote and develop the downtown area, is doing everything it can to make downtown Chandler as successful as possible, says Kelly Wandelear, the group’s vice president of district relations and co-owner of Mind Over Splatter.

“The city sees the importance of a healthy downtown, and the City Hall building will play a major role in making downtown a destination,” Wandelear says.

The DCCP also holds events such as the Downtown Chandler Art Walk and Farmer’s Market to bring people to the area.

One of the concerns about the new building for merchants and residents is construction. Parking could become a problem because people will not know where to park due to the construction, Pastore says.

Wandelear says she was more concerned with the work underground and how it will affect the merchant’s utilities.

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>>Email the reporter at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Big-box store fight in Chandler postponed

A rezoning request for a controversial commercial retail center in Chandler has been postponed until November.

The Planning and Zoning committee meeting, originally scheduled for Sept. 17th, will be held Nov. 5th, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chandler Public Library.

The center’s developers have drawn criticism for their ties to Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers.

The Riggs Gateway project, to be located on the northeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Riggs Road, has been a heated topic for many Chandler residents.  If the rezoning request is approved any retail business can be built, including Wal-Mart.

Kirk Sibley is president of Riggs Residents for Retail Diversity, Inc., a group opposed to the building of big-box retailers on the property.

Sibley says the projects developers, Diversified Partners, have close ties with Wal-Mart, and have built for them in the past.

His group is not opposed just to Wal-Mart, he says, but to any retail business of that size. They want what they call “neighborhood shopping” and not “destination shopping,” defining “neighborhood shopping” as smaller businesses and restaurants.

In 2004, Wal-Mart unsuccessfully attempted to build in this same location.

City planner Bill Dermody expects a large turnout at the upcoming meeting, with concerned residents ready to vocalize their opinions.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Mexican food restaurant expands in the East Valley

MESA — Dennis Sirrine was fed up with the vagaries of the housing market. The homebuilder left California 16 years ago and returned to his hometown of Mesa, where the Sirrine family name is part of East Valley history.

Sirrine and his wife, Liz, wanted to open up their own restaurant. She wanted French cuisine; Dennis wanted Mexican. They decided on Mexican and traveled through Mexico, exploring for and experimenting with various recipes.

Today, the couple runs a highly successful operation in El Rancho de Tia Rosas, and East Valley expansion plans are on the way.

“Were branching out to let people have the luxury of having us close to their home,” says Dennis Sirrine’s son, Nick, who helps manage the restaurant. “We have been in the heart of Mesa, we are going to be in the heart of Gilbert and eventually we plan on expanding to Chandler/Tempe area.”

TACOS COME FIRST

It all began when Dennis Sirrine a construction worker building homes in California decided to leave the housing market because it was so “up” and “down.” It ended up leaving Dennis financially unstable; he returned to his hometown Mesa with Liz.

The Sirrines’ dream of a Mexican restaurant made its first mark as a taco shop on Mesa and University drives, where they sold tacos for 59 cents in 1991. They called it Rosas, after Dennis’s aunt.

“It wasn’t until they started serving their food on china and received a liquor license that their business took off,” says Clay Eagar, Tia Rosa’s manager.

The Sirrines eventually sold Rosas in 1999 in the hopes of building their own free-standing Mexican restaurant. They took a year off after selling Rosas and traveled through Mexico again, and purchasing decorations for their new restaurant along the way.

After taking a year off to plan the new venture, the Dennis and Liz Sirrine purchased 4.5 acres of land in Mesa. Dennis Sirrine used his construction background to form a crew and built The Taqueria adjacent take-out restaurant and El Rancho de Tia Rosas.

SIRRINES WANT THE WHOLE ENCHILADA

For the new restaurant, the Sirrines got more of their family members involved. Dennis’s father, Gal Sirrine, a landscape architect, developed and took care of the grounds while his mother, Nola Sirrine, an interior designer, laid out the inside of the restaurant.

Today, El Rancho de Tia Rosas offers an extensive menu – from cheese crisps to their chicken mole that contains 22 spices. Prices ranging from $5 to $14 per plate.

“I think our seafood tacos our one of our most popular items,” Eagar says. “We have four kinds: shrimp, salmon, halibut and crab. Our carne asada platter is also really popular, and our salmon enchiladas with avocado sauce set us apart from other places.”

El Rancho de Tia Rosas is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Sirrines plan on opening their Gilbert location early next year. It will be located on the northeast corner of Higley and Guadalupe roads.

“It will be an identical replica of the current restaurant, but it has more patio seating then our location and we will possibly be open on Mondays,” Eagar says.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.