TUCSON, ARIZ. - There are big changes coming to the area around Ina and LaCholla.
There's a new country music nightclub opening soon near there.
How club owners chose the site says a lot about the area's potential for growth.
On Ina near La Cholla, what had been a Macaroni Grill will be re-born as Whiskey Roads, a nightclub with a country theme.
Club manager Fernando Gomez says, “What we saw here was having the possibility of having a country dance floor. So that's gonna be our stage with our DJ booth."
Gomez is adapting his expertise from managing Putney's Pitstop Sports Bar on Oracle. Opening a successful country nightclub requires more than the feeling people want a countryfied place to go. It takes an understanding of your clientele---where they'll come from---and how they'll come.
Gomez says: "It's easy access for I-10, Oracle Road, people from Catalina, Oro Valley, Casas Adobes, Northwest side of Tucson, pretty much."
Other changes in the area pump up the opportunity for Whiskey Roads. The owner of Foothills Mall is transforming it from pure retail, to a complex with retail, entertainment, office space and living space.
New homes are going up along La Cholla.
LaCholla's becoming wider and smoother, and after about two years of work a new overpass and ramps at I-10 and Ina offers a quick, convenient way on and off the fastest road in the region.
For club owner and real estate developer Greg Wexler all that reinforces Ina and LaCholla as a great place to do business.
"Your market area really enlarges with the freeway because there's no other freeways in town so that's important. We also have a lot of people that live in Picture Rocks on the west side of the Tucson Mountains; north in north Marana. South--it's just all over."
And those customers can drive up and starting dancing when the club opens in late July or early August.
