Another proposed landmark of the Rio Nuevo project downtown has been shelved with the decision that the so-called “Tortoise” arena will not be built. However a smaller, cheaper venue is still probable. Previously other Rio Nuevo proposals like an aquarium and the rainbow bridge were also scrapped because they were too expensive for the city’s budget.

In April of 2007, City Council approved plans to build a multi-million dollar arena between the current Tucson Convention Center and the freeway. Now the city hopes to move the arena to the east and have a smaller capacity and a less extravagant design.

The city has been talking about building a new arena downtown for at least three years. Michael Crawford, the chair of the Tucson Convention Center Commission has waited and listened patiently. “It just seems like things move a lot slower here than they do in the rest of the world,” he says. “Enough is enough. We have to move forward.”

Councilmember Nina Trasofff says, “We’re now at the point where we need to put shovels in the ground to create our convention center and our arena and our hotels." Added councilmember Shirley Scott, "I think it’s very difficult for all of us to receive the calls of frustration from the public at large, and I certainly am sympathetic.”

However things may not, and apparently can not move much faster. “As fast as I would like, absolutely not, but there is so much involved in putting these things together,” says Trasoff.

One of the biggest factors is money, because council doesn’t want to go beyond $130 million to build an arena. Councilmember Steve Leal says, “This is a project in Rio Nuevo and we have to be careful because we could spend all the money we have on the arena and nothing else would get done downtown.”

The proposed Tortoise arena would have cost close to $200 million, so that idea was discarded at the May 6 meeting, but the city still plans to build an arena. “I believe it’s pretty safe to say yes, there’s going to be an arena and it’s going to be terrific,” says Trasoff.

Rather than having a seating capacity of 13,000 like the Tortoise arena would have had, this smaller, cheaper arena will probably seat about the same number of people as the current Tucson Convention Center arena.

The problem is the longer the city waits, the more expensive it gets. “Every month we delay in starting construction is approximately a quarter million dollars added to the cost of this facility,” says Crawford.