Tucson's New Ice Rinks Will Be Made From Rainwater
Phase 1 civil work was due to wrap this month at Mosaic Quarter, the 90-acre privately financed sports complex rising beside I-10 in south Tucson.
Pima County owns the ground, collects 55 percent of the revenue and put no public money into the buildings. Private lenders are carrying all $425 million of the construction risk.
Three sheets of ice are going up on Tucson's south side, and the water that freezes into them will largely have fallen out of the sky onto the parking lot. Mosaic Quarter — a 90-acre sports and entertainment complex at Kino Sports Complex South, on the south side of Interstate 10 — is designed to capture all of the stormwater the site generates, filter it, and turn it into ice. That is one detail out of a $425 million first phase whose civil scope was scheduled to finish this month.
- 90 acres
- Size of the Mosaic Quarter site at Kino Sports Complex South
- $425M
- Construction-to-permanent loan financing Phase 1 — privately funded
- 3 rinks
- NHL-regulation sheets in the 175,000-square-foot MQ Iceplex
- 55%
- Share of complex revenue Pima County collects under the 40-year master lease
What Phase 1 Actually Contains
Two buildings and the plant that runs them. MQ Iceplex is 175,000 square feet holding three NHL-regulation rinks — two community sheets plus an arena rink seating roughly 3,000 — along with 15 locker rooms, party rooms, a pro shop, a team store and a restaurant called The Quarter House. Beside it, MQ Field House is 131,000 square feet across two levels, and the comparison the project keeps using is the useful one: each floor is about 25 percent larger than the floor of Arizona Stadium. Interchangeable wood and turf systems let the same space run basketball, volleyball, pickleball, badminton or indoor soccer. A central utility plant and on-site solar power the complex. The arena rink is the exclusive home of University of Arizona Wildcats hockey — the men's and women's ACHA Division I teams, a future men's Division II team, and an adaptive sled hockey program.
The Ice Starts as Rain
The water design is not landscaping garnish. The site is built to collect 100 percent of the stormwater it generates and filter it into the ice-making system, and every time a Zamboni resurfaces a sheet it runs on that stormwater or on reclaimed water from the city and county. Three sheets of year-round ice in the Sonoran Desert sounds like a water argument waiting to happen. The design answers it before anyone gets to make it — which is also why a rink here can run through July, when almost every outdoor venue in the metro is effectively closed by heat.
- MQ Iceplex (175,000 sq ft, Three NHL-size rinks, Opens spring 2027): Two community rinks and a roughly 3,000-seat arena rink, 15 locker rooms, a pro shop, a team store and a restaurant. The arena sheet is the exclusive home of University of Arizona Wildcats hockey.
- MQ Field House (131,000 sq ft, Two levels, Opens summer 2027): Two floors of athletic space, each about 25 percent larger than the floor of Arizona Stadium, with interchangeable wood and turf flooring for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, badminton and indoor soccer.
- What Comes After Phase 1 (Stadium, Three hotels, Up to 10 restaurants): Later phases are planned to add a multisport sportsplex, a stadium, an entertainment pavilion, an event plaza, splash pads, three hotels, as many as ten restaurants and a parking structure. None of that is under construction yet.
Who Paid for It, and Who Collects
Pima County owns the ground. In March 2024 the Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve the Phase 1 leases: a 40-year master lease under which the developer pays $675,000 a year in land rent and the county takes 55 percent of the revenue — an estimated $6 million a year, which the county said would go into a reserve fund projected to exceed $199 million over the term. That is the whole county position. It put no cash into the buildings.
The buildings are private money. CTL Capital closed a $425 million construction-to-permanent loan arranged by BWE, and the developer, Knott Development, has been blunt that the stack carries no public dollars, no public incentives and no tax breaks. Hensel Phelps is the general contractor and JLG Architects designed the two buildings; Granite Construction held the roughly $27 million civil subcontract that began in November 2024 on a schedule running to August 2026. The county's projection for Phase 1 is $8.3 billion in new local spending and $917.7 million in tax revenue for the state, the city and the Regional Transportation Authority — figures worth reading as a projection across the life of the lease rather than a forecast for any single year.
What It Changes at the Kino Interchange
The complex sits at 2500 E. Ajo Way, off I-10 between Benson Highway and Country Club Road — the same stretch ADOT is rebuilding under its $600 million Kino Parkway-to-Country Club project, which includes an undercrossing linking the north and south halves of Kino Sports Complex so the freeway no longer splits the venue. For anyone touring homes off Ajo Way, that means the construction fencing on both sides of the interstate resolves into a year-round regional draw rather than a seasonal one — at a fixed address, on a published schedule, which is more than most pending neighborhood changes can offer while they are still pending. Whether it moves a price is not something anyone can honestly put a number on yet. For general context, Redfin reported a Tucson median sale price near $325,000 in its most recent reported month, down under one percent year over year. None of this is investment advice.
Quick reference (August 14, 2026): Mosaic Quarter is a 90-acre sports and entertainment complex at Kino Sports Complex South, 2500 E. Ajo Way, on the south side of Interstate 10 between Benson Highway and Country Club Road in Tucson. Phase 1 is privately financed by a $425 million construction-to-permanent loan closed by CTL Capital and arranged by BWE, and comprises the 175,000-square-foot MQ Iceplex (three NHL-regulation rinks, including an arena rink seating about 3,000 that will be the exclusive home of University of Arizona Wildcats hockey), the 131,000-square-foot two-level MQ Field House, a central utility plant and on-site solar. The developer is Knott Development, the general contractor Hensel Phelps, the architect JLG Architects; Granite Construction's roughly $27 million civil subcontract began in November 2024 and was scheduled to finish in August 2026. Pima County owns the land and approved the Phase 1 leases on a 4-0 Board of Supervisors vote in March 2024 — a 40-year master lease at $675,000 a year in land rent plus 55 percent of revenue. The Iceplex topped out on December 17, 2025 and is expected to open in spring 2027; the Field House is expected to open in summer 2027. Dates, costs and opening timelines change — confirm current information with Pima County and Mosaic Quarter before planning around any single detail.
The Lease Is the Story
A building that freezes its own runoff is the memorable detail; the deal underneath it is the durable one. A county leased its land instead of selling it, kept a majority revenue share, and let private lenders carry $425 million of construction risk. If the complex performs, Pima County ends up with a reserve fund and, eventually, the improvements. If it does not, the county still owns the dirt. The Iceplex topped out in December with the traditional pine tree lifted to the roof, and the rinks are due to open in spring 2027 with the Field House that summer. Between now and then the most visible change from the freeway will be paint: at least ten murals by six local artists, several of them sized to be read at freeway speed.
Sources
Granite Construction — "Granite Announces Phase 1 of the $425 Million Mosaic Quarter Development in Tucson, Arizona" — graniteconstruction.com/newsroom/granite-announces-phase-1-425-million-mosaic-quarter-development-tucson-arizona — accessed August 14, 2026
Real Estate Daily News — "Phase 1 of the $425 Million Mosaic Quarter Development in Tucson Begins Construction" — realestatedaily-news.com/phase-1-of-the-425-million-mosaic-quarter-development-in-tucson-begins-construction/ — accessed August 14, 2026
Pima County — "Board approves leases for Mosaic Quarter sports/entertainment complex; billion-dollar economic impact for region" — content.govdelivery.com/accounts/AZPIMA/bulletins/38ef1a6 — accessed August 14, 2026
KVOA News 4 — "Board approves leases for Mosaic Quarter sports/entertainment complex" — kvoa.com/news/local/board-approves-leases-for-mosaic-quarter-sports-entertainment-complex/article_0f8a7b60-db46-11ee-a827-63afcc54e157.html — accessed August 14, 2026
KOLD News 13 — "New multi-billion dollar sports complex approved for Tucson's southside" — kold.com/2024/03/05/pima-county-leaders-approve-lease-billion-dollar-sports-complex/ — accessed August 14, 2026
TucsonSentinel.com — "Groundbreaking development: Mosaic Quarter set to transform Tucson sports scene with 2027 opening" — tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/121324_mosaic_corner/ — accessed August 14, 2026
Cronkite News / Arizona PBS — "Mosaic Quarter set to transform Tucson sports scene by 2027" — cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2024/12/11/mosiac-quarter-transform-tucson-sports-scene/ — accessed August 14, 2026
Arizona Public Media (AZPM) — "Construction Progresses on New Iceplex and Sports Complex at Tucson's Mosaic Quarter" — azpm.org/p/headlines/2025/7/4/225443-construction-progresses-on-new-iceplex-and-sports-complex-at-tucsons-mosaic-quarter/ — accessed August 14, 2026
KOLD News 13 — "Construction milestone for Mosaic Quarter iceplex" — kold.com/2025/12/18/construction-milestone-mosaic-quarter-iceplex/ — accessed August 14, 2026
KOLD News 13 — "Mosaic Quarter development continues with addition of murals" — kold.com/2026/04/23/mosaic-quarter-development-continues-with-addition-murals/ — accessed August 14, 2026
REBusinessOnline — "BWE Secures $425M in Construction Financing for Mosaic Quarter Sports Complex in Tucson" — rebusinessonline.com/bwe-secures-425m-in-construction-financing-for-mosaic-quarter-sports-complex-in-tucson/ — accessed August 14, 2026
Mosaic Quarter — "MQ Iceplex" and "MQ Field House" — mosaicquarter.com/mq-iceplex/; mosaicquarter.com/mq-field-house/ — accessed August 14, 2026
JLG Architects — "Mosaic Quarter Iceplex & Field House" — jlgarchitects.com/projects/mosaic-quarter-iceplex-field-house/ — accessed August 14, 2026
Arizona Department of Transportation — "ADOT begins project to widen I-10 between Kino, Country Club" — azdot.gov/news/adot-begins-project-widen-i-10-between-kino-country-club — accessed August 14, 2026
Redfin — "Tucson, AZ Housing Market" — redfin.com/city/19459/AZ/Tucson/housing-market — accessed August 14, 2026
All figures are current as of August 14, 2026; construction schedules, opening dates, project costs and home values change, so readers should confirm current information before relying on any single figure. This post is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase real estate. Kyle Berglund and Tierra Antigua Realty fully support and comply with the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.
Topics
- New Development
- Mosaic Quarter
- Kino Sports Complex
- MQ Iceplex
- MQ Field House
- Pima County
- South Tucson
- Infrastructure
- Tucson
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