The Rio Nuevo Board advanced a $38 million plan by Opwest Partners to revitalize the 23-story tower at 1 S. Church Ave. into a hotel and offices.
Opwest Partners’ project would convert eight lower floors into a hotel with about 150 rooms, 1,500 square feet of meeting space, a 4,000-square-foot restaurant and a fitness center. Floors 11 through 23 would remain office space.
Tyler Kent with Opwest said the development is expected to bring in $1.6 million in annual tax revenue in years 4 through 9 and reach $1.9 million in year 10. After year 10, that revenue is projected to reach $2 million per year.
Developers are asking the Board for eight years of insulation from property taxes using the vehicle of a Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) lease and for site-specific sales tax revenue sharing of up to $1 million.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the Rio Nuevo Board subject to the executive officers’ approval of the pending financial analysis.
Opwest Partners is an investment and development firm with expertise in mixed-use, hospitality, resort, residential, entertainment, office, retail and recreational properties. The principals of Opwest have invested in and developed more than $4.5 billion of real estate throughout the United States, including the Curio Hotel in Scottsdale; Montage Beverly Hills; Montage Deer Valley in Park City, Utah; Pendry Hotel in San Diego; and the Everly Hotel in Hollywood.
G.S. Jaggi, a founder, managing principal and major shareholder of Opwest, started a two-person firm based in Tucson and grew it into one of the largest privately held mortgage banks in the United States with 6,500 employees.