Sam Hauert and his sons, David and Steve closed the Grant Road Lumber business last August after 66 years and held a last lighting ceremony with family and friends of the iconic Grant Road Lumber sign at 2543 E Gran Road in Tucson before the sale of property closed on September 1st.
Sam Fox, through affiliate company, Common Bond Development Group (Brian Frakes, manager) purchased the property for $1.325 million ($14.50 PSF) for land value of the 2.1-acre parcel located at Grant Road and Tucson Blvd.
Fox plans to transform the former Grant Road Lumber facility into The Yard in Tucson. “We have a vision that that whole area gets repurposed, and we hope we can be the genesis to jump-start that,” said Fox, who will incorporate the salvaged bricks and boards from the original structures into the new construction. “We like to find old buildings that have soul and character and repurpose them.”
Dean Cotlow of Cotlow Company represented the Hauerts in the transaction. “This will be one of the biggest and most significant redevelopment projects underway in Tucson,” said Cotlow. “The Grant Road Lumber Sign and some of the building walls are to stay in place.”
It will certainly be Fox’s biggest and most ambitious Tucson venture in the 18 years since he launched his restaurant career with upscale Wildflower on North Oracle Road in 1998. This will also be his first new concept here since 2007, when he opened Blanco Tacos and ZinBurger.
The restaurant at the center of the sprawling 19,000-square-foot Yard in Tucson complex will include a covered “yard” with couches, fireplaces, corn hole games, foosball tables and other backyard-style activities. A 150-seat dining room called The Coop, where Fox said they will hold private parties, weddings and corporate events, rounds out the project.
The concept is to be similar to The Yard in Tempe at the Farmer Arts District that opened in 2014. The Arizona Republic at the time called that the biggest project Fox had ever done. The Tucson concept will cost less than the $11 million Fox spent building the second Yard in Tempe.
Fox anticipates starting construction immediately for a September 2017 opening of The Yard in Tucson.
Trevor Cohen represented the buyer, Common Bond Development Group, also doing the work, an affiliate company with Fox and fellow Tucson native Brian Frakes.
For more information, Cotlow can be reached at 520.881.8180 and Cohen can be contacted at 602.803.1160.
