Peter Corbett
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 30, 2007 12:35 PM
The W Scottsdale Hotel, which will anchor a redeveloped nightclub district, is three months from becoming one of the flashiest players in downtown’s amped up urban scene.The W is likely to make a splash when it opens in February with its edgy room designs, lobby-bar scene and a pool that tantalizes arriving guests. Built right to the front edge of the building, the second-level pool includes four large portholes that will cast an undulating blue light under the hotel’s porte-cochere and allow visitors to look up at the swimmers in the water.
It is a playful feature that adds to the W’s “wow” factor for arriving guests, as well as those dining or having a drink on the vast pool deck.“This is an urban resort right in the middle of the action,” said Michael Mahoney, chief executive of Triyar Hospitality LLC, which is developing the hotel.
More ‘Wow’ factor designed
The W Scottsdale’s experience continues as visitors enter the lobby with its two-story wall of Jerusalem stone and a bar along the bottom of a dramatic metal staircase.“We want this art wall to look like it’s been here a thousand years,” Mahoney said. “It has an Arizona feel to it without being stereotypical.” Triyar is spending $110 million on the hotel, southeast of Scottsdale and Camelback roads. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide will manage the W.
Starwood opened its first W in New York in 1998 and now has 21 of the designer hotels, primarily in top North American cities, including Montreal, Mexico City, Honolulu, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Triyar, based in Los Angeles, plans to open the 224-room W Scottsdale Hotel just after Super Bowl XLII, which will be played Feb. 3 in Glendale.
$390 million redevelopment, too
Triyar also has proposed a $390 million redevelopment over the next five years of a 10-acre area southeast of the hotel that is home to some of Scottsdale’s hottest nightclubs and older commercial buildings. The clubs – Axis/Radius, Myst and Suede – would be rebuilt in an unnamed project featuring restaurants, shops, offices, condos, a bowling lounge and another hotel. John Berry, a zoning attorney for Triyar, said the company’s principals, Shawn and Steven Yari, want to take downtown’s entertainment district to the next level.
“With all the other developments, Westgate, Kierland and City North, Scottsdale has to be out front and do it better and do it downtown,” Berry said.
Now hotel elicits sexy urban chic
The W will be a big step toward upping the entertainment ante with its sleek, contemporary design and sexy urban chic. Time will tell if the W becomes a hub of downtown entertainment, said Bill Murney, a managing director of Molinaro Koger, a firm with expertise in hotel real estate.“They tend to be the chic spot when they open, and they maintain a loyal following,” he said, adding that the W will “put Scottsdale on the map.”
The W follows in a progression of trendy urban hotels downtown that started with the retro Hotel Valley Ho and James Hotel, now the Mondrian.
It now includes properties like the Hotel Indigo and Hyatt Place with stylish rooms at rates below that of the W.
The W Scottsdale expects to charge about $350 per night in the prime winter season for a standard room, said General Manager Leon Young.
There are no ordinary moments
But then a standard room in a W is anything but standard. The W Scottsdale will feature a “floating” bed that is in the middle of the room facing the windows and a Juliette balcony with sliding metal shutters.A desk is attached to the back of the bed’s low-profile headboard, which has swiveling lights attached to it.
Japanese-style shoji doors screen off the bathroom sink, a walk-in shower and the water closet.
The shower and water closet doors mirror each other with a translucent aqua-colored glass.
Translucent glass is used in other public areas of the hotel in a kind of peek-a-boo effect that ties in with the see-and-be-seen ethos of the W. The idea is to create a place where guests can engage each other in the public areas of the hotel rather than cloistering themselves in their rooms.
Bathrooms near the second-floor dining deck have shared sinks and vanities where men and women can wash up, check their hair in the mirror or even strike up a conversation.
The staircase above the W’s lobby bar seems fraught with risks for modest women.
Triyar chief executive Mahoney said anyone braving the stairs in a short skirt will be well aware of how revealing they will be.
The hotel will also include:
• Sushi Roku, a stylish Japanese restaurant with locations in Hollywood and Las Vegas.
• A 4,000-square-foot Bliss Spa and a fitness center.
• 18 condominiums on the top two floors of the seven-story building.
Mahoney, Triyar’s CEO, said the company has not set prices for the condos but expects to set a record price per square foot for the penthouses.
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www.theholmgroupaz.com
