http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=82268
Urban inn planned for Scottsdale canal banks
By Donna Hogan, Tribune
January 13, 2007
Developers are planning a 200-room, six-story, luxury hotel on 10-plus acres along the Arizona Canal banks in downtown Scottsdale. The five-star urban inn would stretch for a halfmile along the diagonal canal alignment, on the south bank, northeast of the intersection of Scottsdale and Camelback roads, said Scottsdale zoning attorney John Berry.
The hotel doesn’t have a name yet, Berry said, but it will be a posh brand not yet in the Valley.
“A half-dozen five-star flags are actively looking to be in downtown Scottsdale,” he said. “We are in active negotiations and have letters of intent from three of them. We have not yet selected a brand.”
Berry, who represents the Scottsdale Canal Development, said the developers expect to file plans with the city next week.
The plans include requests for Scottsdale to up the building height limit for the site and to help financially in the relocation of a Salt River Project substation that currently occupies a prime chunk of the property, Berry said.
The proposed height of the hotel and 200 luxury residential condos that also are part of the project’s plans are within the allowable limits for neighboring properties, Berry said.
“We’re not asking for any height or density not allowed under the downtown zoning,” he said.
The big bonus is the removal of old and rundown apartments and the relocation of an ugly mishmash of electrical wires and poles that currently dominate the landscape, Berry said.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to relocate the substation and remove an eyesore at the gateway to downtown Scottsdale,” he said.
SRP has already signed on to move the substation if the developers pay the tab, said Dick Hayslip, SRP assistant general manager.
The utility is studying the situation now to determine what would be involved and how much it would cost, he said.
“We understand it is a premier intersection, and the city has asked us to be open about it,” Hayslip said.
“We‘re willing to do it, but we will need to be compensated by the developers. They don’t expect us to get out of their way at the expense of our customers,” Hayslip added.
If the city OKs the project, work on clearing the site could begin as soon as first quarter 2008, and the hotel could be welcoming guests within two to two and a half years from then, Berry said.
It would be built across the street from the under-construction “W” and less than a block from the planned “1,” both Starwood hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht’s pet projects.
The three new hotels would add hundreds of new rooms to the already bustling boutique hotel cluster in downtown Scottsdale.
The Hotel Indigo, Mondrian, Hotel Valley Ho and Caleo all are aimed at attracting the hip, trendy travelers who prefer downtown stays to getaways at north Scottsdale’s sprawling resorts.
But having one more urban hotel isn’t worrying Scottsdale economic vitality general manager David Roderique.
“The downtown Scottsdale market is very strong,” Roderique said. “And typically there is a great synergy with this type of property.”