Marty Ley, ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
A $125 million, 16-story hotel that will create new jobs, enrich community life, and bring some of the largest conference space in Tempe broke ground last month at a ceremony with Arizona State University President Michael Crow and Mayor Corey Woods in attendance.
The Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU will be the first four-star hotel and conference center in downtown Tempe, providing more than 330 rooms and 30,000 gross square feet of meeting and event space at 7 East University Drive. The hotel is a public-private partnership with ASU and the City of Tempe. Woods said it would significantly complete the vital intersection at the southeast corner of University and Mill Avenue.
"This hotel is not only a collaborative effort that will have a significant benefit to our community but this prominent corner will ultimately be developed into a thriving and bustling space, accessible to locals and visitors," Woods said at the ceremony. "I look forward to the synergy that is created with the organizations, businesses, teams, and families that will come to enjoy Omni in Tempe.”
Omni will develop the hotel in collaboration with a team of hospitality professionals, including C+TC Design Studio, Inc. (architect), Brasfield & Gorrie (general contractor), and Monogram at BBGM (interior design).
“We are excited that the hotel incorporates many design strategies unique to the program and locale,” C+TC Design Studio architect William Cox said. “One of our design strategies is to incorporate various screening elements and setbacks along the ground plane, which are implemented to establish microclimates of natural cooling for the inhabitation of outdoor spaces. These setbacks enhance the hotel’s location in a pedestrian-heavy area and create an opportunity to provide various accessible circulation paths through a shaded network."
According to Cox, most of the design team is local, and all partners have worked well together and hope to complete more projects in the future.
“Omni Hotels & Resorts enhance the communities they serve, and the Tempe hotel will maintain that legacy,” said Brasfield & Gorrie Vice President and Division Manager Mike Foushee. “The hotel’s location, at the heart of the city and on the campus of Arizona State, will encourage continued growth in Tempe’s revitalized downtown.” Brasfield & Gorrie is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama and is one of the nation's largest construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services.
The project will be completed by April 2023 and is expected to impact ASU's Tempe campus immediately.
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This article originally appeared in the bimonthly Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, Jan/Feb 2022 issue, Vol. 11, No. 1.