PHOENIX — A $2 billion Ritz-Carlton resort and luxury residential community is scheduled to break ground in Paradise Valley this spring, setting the stage for the high-end hotel brand to re-enter the Phoenix-area market by the end of 2018.
Combined with a retail development and an underground parking garage, the total cost of the project is estimated at $2 billion. That includes the property plus construction and sales, according to the developer.
The Ritz-Carlton Paradise Valley will feature 200 “casita style” hotel rooms, separate pools for adults and families, a spa, a garden and a citrus orchard, according to Scottsdale-based Five Star Development, which will build the hotel.
The hotel will cover about 20 acres near the northwestern corner of Scottsdale Road and Lincoln Drive, with a lawn offering views of Camelback Mountain.
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Surrounding the resort, Five Star plans to build 139 homes, ranging from 1,700-square-foot villas to 6,000-square-foot houses.
The property stretches into Scottsdale. The developer plans to build a mixed-use center, called the Palmeraie, adjacent to the Ritz but primarily on the Scottsdale side. That project is in the final planning stages and could include high-end shops, restaurants, luxury residences and a boutique hotel, according to the developer.
Five Star Development President Jerry Ayoub first proposed a Ritz-Carlton resort in Paradise Valley in the mid-2000s, earning support from the Town Council in 2008.
A group of residents called Preserve Our Paradise rallied against the plan and collected enough signatures to force a referendum. While the group supported the idea of a Ritz-Carlton resort, it opposed the density of the project’s residential units. Many of Paradise Valley’s residential lots are an acre or more, and critics argued the smaller lot sizes around the resort would be a bad fit for the town.
The referendum vote swung heavily in Five Star’s favor, with Paradise Valley residents approving the measure by a 2-1 ratio in November 2008. Before construction could begin, however, the economic recession had gained hold, and Ayoub tabled the plans indefinitely.
Talk of a revived resort project surfaced in early 2015. In the end, Five Star committed to opening the hotel as a Ritz-Carlton and paying $3 million for public street improvements associated with the project, $2 million of which can be refunded if the resort is built within five years. The town also agreed to waive $200,000 in building-permit fees.