Rio Nuevo Board Advances New Hotels for Downtown

The Rio Nuevo board approved the next steps for five downtown hotels, including two new ones near the Rialto Theatre.

In the newest project, Scott Stiteler and Rudy Dabdoub are teaming up for an $88 million complex at East Broadway Boulevard and South Fifth Avenue that will build two Marriott-brand hotels, and provide massive upgrades to the historic Rialto Theatre. The two partnered on the downtown AC Marriott, 151 E. Broadway Blvd., which opened last year.

The new 16-story building will include the 109-room Moxy, a millennial-focused brand, and Element, a 140-room, extended-stay hotel.

The Board unanimously agreed to proceed with the financing of the project, which includes a 25-year Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET), and a rebate on site-specific sales tax, with a cap not to exceed 12 percent of the total cost of the project.

The Board also voted to support a dual-brand hotel complex planned by the Fayth Hospitality Group for property just to the east of the Cathedral Square.

Fayth Hospitalities’ Greg Fay said that his group hopes to begin construction in June of 2019 on a six-story complex that will include two Hilton-brand hotels, a 75-room Hampton Inn and a 123-room extended-stay Home2. They hope to open the hotels by the end of 2020.

The Board unanimously voted to proceed with a 25-year GPLET lease and a rebate of incremental site-specific sales taxes, with a not-to-exceed cap of $7.5 million.

Advancement also continued on the Caliber hotel at the Tucson Convention Center after developers asked to increase their project to 170 rooms.

The increased size of the hotel will require additional parking. As a result, the board discussed planning for a four-floor parking structure at the southeast corner of the TCC complex. The board unanimously agreed to continue negotiations on the parking situation and other still-unresolved topics with the developer.

In other news, the board received a signed sublease for the 75 Broadway project with developers J.E. Dunn. The 150,000-square-foot project will be 12 stories with two stories of retail, five parking levels with about 350 spots and five floors of office space.