Phoenix-based developer Lou Cassise got the go-ahead this week to build two more hotels, a Radisson and a new hotel brand called Aloft.
Both will be six stories high and offer 120 rooms.
The latest additions mark nine hotels racing to open near University of Phoenix Stadium before Super Bowl XLII storms into Glendale next year.
The NFL showcase is eating up open land near the $455 million football dome on the city’s west side. And it’s transforming the city’s meager hotel industry, tripling the 400 current rooms to more than 1,400 rooms.
Now is the crunch time if developers want to cater to the more than 150,000 visitors who are estimated to pour into the Valley in the week leading up to the big game.
City Planning Director Jon Froke said more hotels are on the table but will need to come forward in June to meet the looming deadline: Feb. 3, 2008, is game day.
The latest two hotels will be part of a 13.5-acre development just west of Loop 101 on the northwest corner of 99th and Glendale avenues.
Councilwoman Joyce Clark, who represents the Yucca District in this part of the city, praised the development as the first “in the ground” project west of Loop 101.
The development, called Gateway Center, will also feature a four-story upscale office building and seven single-story office condos. Three restaurants also are planned as part of the mixed-use development.
The restaurants could be named as early as next month. For now, Cassise said, they would be of the caliber of a Chili’s or T.G.I. Friday’s.
Cassise, undaunted by less than nine months of construction time, said the site is prepped and design is already under way. The two hotels should open in mid- to late January, he said.
Carrie Watters
The Arizona Republic
May. 23, 2007 02:41 PM
Article can be found at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0523gl-hotels0524-ON.html
