TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Teen Challenge is transforming the old Tiki Motel on Oracle into a new shelter and addiction treatment center.
The motel had a rough reputation on Miracle Mile with prostitution, homelessness, and drug use. With homelessness becoming a crisis in the city, the nonprofit is turning the property into a new rehabilitation center as a part of the Redeem the Corner initiative.
The new building will provide 56 beds for men 18 and older in the residential program. The center opens in May to help fight addiction and homelessness through hope and faith.
Teen Challenge Center Director Klayton Kirkwood said the Tiki Motel has a rough past, but the new center will help the historic Miracle Mile turn a new corner.
"It's not only going to be a glimmer of hope for people that are walking by, but for the entire city of Tucson," Kirkwood said.
"It's going to give an answer to the drug epidemic. It's going to be an answer to the homelessness problem that we have here," Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood knows addiction and having no place to turn.
"11 years ago, I was at my rock bottom. I didn't have a place to go. I spent the nights in the streets, and I checked into Teen Challenge," Kirkwood said.
He said centers like the one Teen Challenge is building saved him.
"And it gave me a new life. It gave me the foundation that I needed," Kirkwood said.
Marcus Hughes is currently in the program and says it reconnected him to his faith.
"I was broken, I was lost, almost lost my life to addiction. This ministry has allowed me to be healed from the inside out. There's professional counseling there. There's love there," Hughes said.
Program members George Nahorski and Edgar Trinidad said these centers build hope.
"We're going to have the new center where all those people that we see struggling, they'll see us building that hope again," Nahorski and Trinidad said.
The new center will officially open in May, ready to fight addiction and homelessness through hope and faith.
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JJ McKinney joined KGUN 9 in July of 2025 as a multimedia journalist. He graduated from Colorado State University in May of 2025 with a degree in journalism and media communications and a minor in law. With a background in investigative reporting and documentary filmmaking, JJ is dedicated to giving a platform to the voices of his community. Share your story ideas and important issues with JJ by emailing jj.mckinney@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
