Historic Menlo Park Cafe & Mercantile

The Café re-envisions the old Jeff’s Market in the Historic Menlo Park Neighborhood. Menlo Park, recognized as Tucson’s Birthplace, is home to the original settlements and farmlands for over 4,000 yrs. The historic structures are rehabilitated and developed by Meteor Café. The original market structure was built by a Chinese merchant family in the 1950s, extending the long tradition since Tucson was colonized of Chinese markets in mixed culture neighborhoods of predominantly Mexican American and Chinese American families.

The historic bungalow next door is re-envisioned as a bike shop, but the design considers its future use and versatility, expressing the brick and vaulted roof structure of the original building. The site’s master plan was developed for maximum water harvesting, through porous paving surfaces to catch basins and vegetation on site to provide shade, greenery, and reduced concrete to minimize the heat island effect. Pedestrian-centered design encourages the use of bicycles, pedestrian traffic, and transit-oriented development.