By Murphy Woodhouse | Arizona Daily
Balloons taking tourists into the stratosphere would launch from this site south of Tucson. The Goldwater Institute is suing over the deal the county made with the company.
As a tax-increment financing district, Rio Nuevo is able to offer economic incentives and pursue deals with companies looking to expand or relocate to Tucson in ways that cities and counties can’t.
That’s a big part of why Pima County is interested in leasing several of its downtown properties to Rio Nuevo. In December, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved giving the state sales-tax-funded body options to lease a parking lot at 72 E. Broadway, between South Scott and Sixth avenues across from the new Tucson Electric Power building, and a vacant lot just north of the Arizona Riverpark Inn at 335 S. Freeway, near the Cushing Street underpass at Interstate 10.