http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ind...dest=STY-76900
Scottsdale Waterfront to get ecofriendly hotel
By Donna Hogan, Tribune
October 19, 2006
Hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht said Wednesday he has created a brand of ecofriendly, luxury hotels and will build one of the first versions at the Scottsdale Waterfront.
Sternlicht unveiled plans for 1 Hotels and Residences, a hip, five-star, boutique hotel brand that will be built on ecologically focused principles and operated to conform to environmentally sensitive consumption of natural resources.
The first five 1 hotel sites will be in Scottsdale, Paris, Seattle, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he said.
The Scottsdale 1 is slotted for 4 acres at Marshall Way and Via Soleri and should break ground in about six months. It will be welcoming rich, ecoconscious guests in about two years, Sternlicht said.
“Scottsdale is a great city for what we are trying to do,” he said. “And because of the climate, we can do things in Scottsdale we can’t do in other cities.”
He expects the Scottsdale version of the brand to be like “staying in a living garden.”
Sternlicht is chairman and CEO of privately owned Starwood Capital Group, not to be confused with publicly traded Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the company he grew from an advantageous financial structure and a handful of hotels into the largest hotel company in the world.
Sternlicht passed on the day-to-day leadership of Starwood Hotels & Resorts a year ago to concentrate on his own company’s developments. Among them, is the Scottsdale Waterfront, now a bustling, burgeoning, live-work-play complex in downtown Scottsdale and an obvious choice for his new hotel brand.
As chairman of Scottsdale Hotels & Resorts, Sternlicht created the W, the first of the trendy, urban, minimalist brands. Arizona’s first W is under construction less than a mile from the 1 site. Sternlicht, who said he was involved in the site and design of the Scottsdale W, said his new hotel brand will be “a different product, a different experience.”
It will be a luxury level above the four-star W, he said, “and it will be lighter, brighter, more glass.” And, of course, it will be “green,” built to standards of the LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, and monitored by the NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“While some hotel brands pay lip service to the environment by asking guests to reuse towels, and adding plants to a lobby, 1 is not using ecofriendly jargon simply as a marketing tool,” Sternlicht said. “Our intention with 1 is to build hotels and residences that are truly green and minimize their impact on their environment.”
Each property also will donate 1 percent of its revenue to local environmental organizations guided by a steering committee with NRDC representation, he said. The 1 won’t compete directly with the W, he said, since it will be pricier and more luxurious, attracting “independent, sophisticated travelers who care about the environment and will pay a premium for a product that is good ecologically.”
Another W alum, New York restaurateur Stephen Hanson who designed the W’s original eateries and later founded the James Hotel chain in Scottsdale, is on board with 1. Hanson is pegged to design the dining and banquet aspect of the new brand.
Rachel Sacco, president of the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the choice of Scottsdale for one of the brand’s debut sites will enhance the city’s reputation as a key travel destination and one committed to preservation values.
“I think this is a wonderful business decision,” she said. “Scottsdale is a target market for boutique, cutting-edge brands, And with this, we will have just about every one.” Sternlicht said he is committed to proving properties can be luxurious and environmentally sensitive. “You don’t have to sleep in a burlap bag,” he said