Salt River Tribe to add Courtyard Marriott
The development arm of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community announced plans this week to build a 156-room Marriott hotel, the first ever for the company on U.S. tribal land.
Salt River Devco is developing a hotel site southeast of Pima Road and McDonald Drive adjacent to the Chaparral Business Center.
Marriott International will operate the hotel under its Courtyard by Marriott brand. It is scheduled for completion in 2012.
“This is another important first for our community,” said Diane Enos, Salt River president.
Contractors are building a $100 million spring training complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies less than two miles north of the hotel site. It will be the first Major League Baseball stadium on tribal land.
Salt River officials also boast of having the first corporate headquarters on tribal land. That includes Fender Musical Instruments Corp., Cold Stone Creamery and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. All three are in office parks along the Loop 101 corridor.
The planned Courtyard by Marriott hotel will serve corporate business travelers and spring training visitors, Enos said.
Salt River also is opening the 497-room Talking Stick Resort in April northeast of Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road. That $400 million project will include a 240,000-square-foot casino with 800 slot machines, 50 poker tables and off-track betting.
The Courtyard hotel will include 3,000 square feet of meeting space.
Courtyard by Marriott is Marriott International’s largest brand with 860 locations in 30 countries and 150 more hotels planned.
Salt River Devco is a 10-year-old asset management and development enterprise of the Salt River tribe. Devco manages 108 acres of land and six commercial buildings with 370,000 square feet of office space at its Chaparral Business Center.
Original article written by Peter Corbett, AZ Central.com
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/26/20100226salt-river-tribe-plans-marriott.html
