“We are leaving Granada on Tuesday, and I cannot fight the feeling of flowing like a river” sings Ryan Gabrinetti in the little-known tune “Leaving Granada.” You may not be familiar with his group, Reflective Detectives. But we were drawn to the song as we contemplate, well, leaving Granada.
Fleming & Curti, PLC, has operated in the same offices since Tom Curti and Robert Fleming re-started a prior partnership in 1994. That’s a quarter century on Granada Avenue in Tucson, Arizona. Now we’re getting ready to move.
We have loved our downtown house-turned-office. It has helped us develop a practice focused on some of the core principles of the American Arts and Crafts movement. What principles? Opposition to mass production, emphasis on craftsmanship, and desire to include beauty in everyday design.
Why move?
You might well wonder why we would even consider moving out of our current digs. We wondered, too. But it’s time for us to grow, and it’s hard to see how we could do that in our present location.
We actually outgrew the offices at 330 N. Granada Ave. about fifteen years ago. Even after we moved part of our operation into the carriage house behind the main office, we still were strapped for space.
That’s when we purchased a nearby house. We connected the three buildings with buried cable. We moved half of our staff into the “annex”. Clients have mostly been unaware that the office they visit doesn’t house most of our lawyers and staff. But we loved the property too much to consider moving into a more efficient space.
But why are we leaving Granada now?
We’ve gone through some changes recently, as you might know. Original partner Tom Curti retired last year. Months before that, we brought on two new partners: Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman and Jacquelyne J. Mingle. Our staff has grown by about 10% to help us handle growth in our fiduciary and trust management business.
On top of all that, we have checked our current client list and professional connections. Most are centered north of downtown. We maintained a small northside office for some time, and clients really enjoyed meeting us there.
Several of our lawyers and staff are dedicated downtown devotees. Limited choices, challenging parking and aging infrastructure make it harder to find good, accessible office space in the city core. Once we began to look farther afield, the decision became easier to make.
Where and when are we moving?
Though we’re leaving Granada Ave., we’re not leaving Tucson. Nor are we leaving any of our clients or connections behind. We’re actually pretty excited about our new offices, on River Road. That makes the Reflective Detectives line about “flowing like a river” seem even more appropriate.
Our new office is now under construction in the Joesler Village on River Road and Campbell Avenue. We’ll be steps away from Seis Kitchen, Villa Peru and other great Tucson restaurants, and close to brokers, banks, title companies, real estate agents and other related businesses.
We plan to move on February 1, 2020. Of course, things get delayed, and even sometimes accelerated; stay tuned for a more precise date as we get closer.
Our new address? We’re reluctant to share it now, as we don’t want mail and office visits rerouted before we’re ready. But if you ask any of us, we’ll be happy to give you the address while we caution you not to make the change just yet.
Are we excited? Yes. And exhausted. We’ve been through endless sessions of selecting flooring, paint colors, countertop material, bathroom tile, kitchen appliances. It’s tiring just to list some of the topics we’ve been dealing with. But we’ll tell you more about the new space later.
[All photographs courtesy of the delightful and talented Martha Lochert, of Martha Lochert Photography. Thanks, Martha.]
