Tempe lands luxury hotel at Town Lake

The first Arizona Le Meridien, a renowned, upscale European hotel brand, has landed on the banks of Tempe Town Lake.

The $105 million, 4.5-star luxury level hotel, topped by the requisite privately owned condos, is expected to break ground in spring and start welcoming guests by fall 2008, said Tod Decker, president of Valhalla Development Group.

Phoenix-based Valhalla is building the 14-story hotel smack in the center of Hayden Ferry Lakeside, local developer SunCor’s 17-acre, live-work-play project that sprawls along the north side of Rio Salado Parkway between Mill Avenue and Rural Road.

Tempe will rank with San Francisco, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Calif., Miami, Fla., and New York as the only U.S. locations for Le Meridien. But the Paris-born brand has more than 120 uniquely fashioned properties in 52 countries around the world.

The Tempe version, which will sport a Scandinavian look that fits with the rest of the project’s contemporary building designs, will include 183 rooms on nine floors, topped by five floors of luxury condos — 44 of them in all, said Randy Levin, SunCor vice president.

Attached will be a threestory building housing shops and salons on the ground level, conference facilities on the second level and a full-day spa on the third level.

The condos, not yet priced, will be sold as permanent residences or they can be added to the hotel’s rental pool, Levin said.

All will have access to hotel amenities and services, Levin said. Most unusual among the amenities is the invisible-edge, glass-sided pool that will give Lakeside Drive motorists a glimpse of the swimmers.

Like all the Hayden Ferry Lakeside buildings — three office towers and four residential condo towers — the hotel will have the “blue sapphire windows” that mute airplane noise without marring the view of the lake and Hayden Butte on its south shore, Levin said.

Le Meridien is relatively unknown to Americans but highly respected in other continents, and it will give Tempe, the Valley and the whole state worldwide recognition, said Margie Emmermann, director of the Arizona Office of Tourism.

“Le Meridien gives us enhanced bragging rights,” Emmermann said. “It will allow us to position Arizona as a premier travel destination to the international market.”

It also is expected to generate about $14 million in annual revenue from the hotel rooms alone, said Stephanie Nowack, president of the Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureau.

And it will provide the type of upscale, urban hotel property not available now in Tempe, said Mayor Hugh Hallman.

“Tempe and this region can compete on a global scale now,” Hallman said. “Our region is truly cosmopolitan.”

For Le Meridien, a brand bought in 2005 by Westin and Sheraton parent Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the Tempe Town Lake version will be a flagship for growing the name in North America, said Eva Ziegler, senior vice president for Le Meridien.

Le Meridien was born in Paris in 1972, and while each hotel sports its own design, all feature “French chic, subtle, sophisticated, elegant European style, culture, fashion, art, architecture, and food and beverage for the creative guest, who is open-minded, forward looking and enjoys life,” Ziegler said.

SunCor president Steve Betts said he turned down a couple dozen hotel companies interested in space in Hayden Ferry Lakeside, but opted for Le Meridien because it will bring “an international flavor” to the project. It’s perfect for the international companies moving into his office towers and the business travelers they will attract, he said.