Owner of Foothills Mall unveils future plan for new "Uptown"

TUCSON (KVOA) - It's been quite a while since the Foothills Mall was considered a popular destination.

The mall's glory days are long behind us as crews now work to demolish the once ambitious jewel of the Northwest side.

Bourn Companies, which previously owned the site in the 90's, has reacquired it and now looking towards a brighter future for the location nestled comfortably between Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley.

Don Bourn tells News 4 Tucson they always felt confident about the property and feel now is the time it can be successful once again with a lot of changes.

The first a full rebranding, the new complex will be called Uptown. Bourn said it will feature around 1,000 apartment units and hotel space as well as a lot of restaurant and retail space.

So far, they plan to retain Barnes and Noble and the AMC Theater as well as Whiskey Roads which only recently called the Foothills Mall home.

“All together we’ll build about 1.2 million square feet over this initial build out over the next five years," Bourn said.

News 4 Tucson spoke with Scott Autenreith who remembers spending a lot of his childhood at the Foothills Mall.

“This is where me and my friends would go to hang out, we’d watch movies here, go to Barnes and Noble, so a lot of childhood memories," he said.

But he said he knows the mall hasn't done well over the past few decades.

“I’m not surprised but it’s sad overall.”

He feels excited for what is planned and who knows maybe he will create new memories at Uptown.

“I’m excited, I think there’s a lot of people like myself, maybe young in the business world, that want to be able to have that opportunity to live and work. It brings a lot of the larger city feel," he explained.

Bourn said that's the goal and he hopes people will welcome the changes, he believes the project will be a hit.

“With all the growth in Marana and Oro Valley to the North and accessibility the site has, we’re extremely confident it will be successful," Bourn said.

The project is expected to cost around $500 million and will be completed in phases. The first phase set to be finished as early as 2025, the full project will likely not be done until 2029.