Without a doubt, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. is definitely possibly, maybe going to build a luxury resort in Marana.
Maybe.
OK, OK. Chalk this up as one of those "confirmed rumors" that everybody knows about. Is it true? Well, no deal has been signed.
But like those delicious little twisty chocolate shavings that resorts put on top of fancy desserts, rumors have been swirling for months that the Ritz-Carlton will build in Dove Mountain.
Maybe "concept" is a better word than "rumor." Marana officials say the company, essentially owned by Marriott International, is in talks with David Mehl's Cottonwood Properties.
And there has been some thought put into that concept: a 250-room hotel, located approximately northwest of West Tangerine Road and North Dove Mountain Boulevard near the mouth of the Wild Burro Wash, that will feature an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, a 35,000-square-foot golf clubhouse and fitness facility, and about 300 Ritz-branded homes that would receive hotel services. Those details are listed in minutes of a Sept. 21 meeting between Cottonwood Properties and Marana officials.
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The possible removal of the pygmy owl from the federal endangered-species list may have a hand in the development, according to the minutes. Four of the holes of golf lie "within an area where additional consultation with (the U.S. Forest Service) is required."
"With the proposed delisting, it is possible that the consultation process could proceed fairly quickly," according to the minutes.
The hotel operators "would like their entire residential and hotel product to be behind one guard gate and have this gate located along Secret Springs Drive." Dove Mountain Boulevard would extend west and end in residential streets. The trail still would be accessible to the public, and parking would be available for horse trailers.
Development of the hotel site would require a "significant water main extension" from Tucson Water, a booster station and a 200,000-gallon storage tank. Developers asked Marana officials to let Tucson Water handle review plans.
The details, of course, are still on paper. Neither developer nor hotelier has submitted any formal proposal to zoning officials, said Jack Holden, Marana's building official.
"I really expect to see plans within about two to three months," Holden said.
Until then, the official word:
"We are working on a hotel development, but we are not in any position to make any announcement," said Mehl, Cottonwood Properties' president. "I know the rumors are out there."
Mehl said he hoped to be able to make an announcement in March or April.
And from the hotel:
"The best I can tell you is what I've told people," said Vivian Deuschl, corporate vice president of public relations for Ritz-Carlton in Maryland. "We have a lot of discussions with developers in a lot of locations. Tucson would certainly be a beautiful place for a hotel. But at this time, there is no signed contract, so there is nothing to announce.
"While I don't have anything to tell you, that doesn't mean in the future it might not happen," Deuschl said.
Before Ritz-Carlton's eye wandered west into Marana, it appeared to have a good thing going with the town of Oro Valley. So good that the Town Council increased the bed tax in 2000 to 3 percent from 1 percent. The increase was planned to provide some funding for a Ritz-Carlton resort proposed near Stone Canyon. It was envisioned as an $85 million, 75-foot-high five-star resort.
But then developers and Ritz-Carlton officials "came to an agreement that that was not the site" on which to build, said Jeff Weir, economic development administrator. "I guess that's the most politically correct way of saying it," he said.
Even all those years ago, Ritz-Carlton expressed interest in building in Dove Mountain. And since he developed the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, Ritz officials are likely to feel comfortable with Mehl, Weir said.
"He knows what needs to be done," Weir said. "It wouldn't surprise me that once they decided not to build in Stone Canyon, since they said they wanted to stay in the Northwest, they probably would be over there."
Although the resort there was never built, Weir said a new developer is considering building a $100 million, 220-unit, 440-room resort-style development just off of Rancho Vistoso Boulevard, near where the Ritz-Carlton considered building.
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