City of Tucson Celebrates Amazon Flats Groundbreaking
Published on February 11, 2025
The City of Tucson’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) held a groundbreaking ceremony at Amazon Flats, transforming the former Amazon Motel into permanent supportive housing units for very low-income households. When the City operated the motel as a shelter for 15 months, 140 people found temporary housing and 86 of those individuals moved into permanent housing. Permanent supportive housing bridges the gap between meeting people’s immediate needs and fostering long-term well-being.
Located at 1135 W. Miracle Mile, the Amazon Flats includes adaptive reuse of the Amazon Motel in Phase 1, creating 30 studio apartments for permanent supportive housing. Phase 2, currently in pre-development includes construction of a new building with over 50 units of permanent supportive housing and is part of the Housing Plan in the City’s Thrive in the ’05 HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant.
“The success of the Amazon Motel and the Amazon Flats shows that our Housing First program is working and how the City of Tucson is investing millions in the future of housing stability,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. “The Amazon Flats will help us create more permanent supportive housing to help families find stability and change lives. Bringing projects like these to life is what we had in mind when this Mayor and Council passed the Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson,” said the Mayor. “Thank you to Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Housing for securing the resources to give cities like Tucson help people in our community impacted by the housing affordability crisis.”
The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) awarded the City of Tucson a $6.1 million Hotels to Housing grant using American Recovery Plan Act funds allocated for state fiscal recovery. These grants were awarded to government and non-profit applicants able to meet rigorous project readiness criteria. The City of Tucson purchased the Amazon motel in April 2023 with these grant funds, and the remaining funds support Phase 1 property rehabilitation and construction. Pima County has also awarded the City of Tucson close to $750,000 in gap funding to support this project critical to our community.
Following purchase of the former motel, the City’s Housing First program operated it as a low-barrier shelter from June 2023 to September 2024 when site preparation for Amazon Flats Phase 1 began. Using the site as a low-barrier shelter during pre-development is a strategy that the City is using across multiple development projects; helping to meet the immediate need for shelter, while also planning for much-needed permanent supportive and affordable housing.
Amazon Flats will be the second project developed by HCD’s non-profit development arm, El Pueblo Housing Development (EPHD). EPHD and the City of Tucson have 9 projects in planning and development. Over 1,100 units of affordable housing are in planning or under construction, and 63 units have been completed with the recently opened Milagro on Oracle development north of Grant.
HCD is partnering with Old Pueblo Community Services, a highly experienced non-profit agency which provides long-term support for persons who have experienced homelessness, including wrap-around services and case management, while the City’s Housing First team will manage the property.
This new housing will be across the street from the soon-to-be completed Pima County Northwest Service Center, which was previously the old Golden Pin Lanes bowling alley. This service center will include a public health clinic and adult education services.
The development of Amazon Flats is a critical component of the City’s Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) plan. One of the 10 points in the plan calls for enhanced efforts aimed at providing housing for Tucson’s most vulnerable individuals.
The opening of Amazon Flats also demonstrates HCD’s continuing focus on meeting Tucson’s growing housing needs, said HCD Director Ann Chanecka. “With the creation of the City’s non-profit El Pueblo Housing Development, HCD and the City of Tucson have more creative tools to address our housing crisis by constructing safe, affordable, and attractive residential units in powerful collaboration with the Arizona Department of Housing and our valuable private and non-profit partners,” Chanecka said.