Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate Blog

 by Peter Corbett – Nov. 2, 2009 04:24 PM
The Arizona Republic

The Valley’s largest casino-hotel is scheduled to open by early April, said Ramon Martinez, Talking Stick Resort’s public-relations director.

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is building a $400 million hotel and casino northeast of Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road.

It will include 497 rooms, a spa, 50,000 square feet of conference space, restaurants, lounges and a 750-seat entertainment showroom.

Talking Stick’s casino will feature 800 slot machines, 50 poker tables, keno and off-track betting in 240,000 square feet of space.

Chanen Construction Co. started building the casino hotel in January 2008. The tribe held a topping-off ceremony for the 15-story structure in October 2008.

Tribal officials said then that Talking Stick could be finished as early as December of this year. “We’re not going to make that date,” Martinez said. But the hotel is booking business meetings, he said.

Talking Stick’s restaurants will include Orange Sky Restaurant, a fine-dining room on the 15th floor with fresh seafood, aged beef and an extensive wine list.

Blue Coyote Cafe will be a 24-hour restaurant serving sandwiches, soups and salads.

The Wandering Horse Buffet will be an indoor-outdoor eatery with seating for 350 and offer Mexican, Asian and Mediterranean food prepared at live cooking stations.

Black Fig Bistro will offer casual dining and express takeout service on sandwiches, pizzas, salads and soups.

Ocean Trail will serve raw oysters, steamers, Cajun-style boils and Louisiana jambalaya.

Tom Freimuth is the executive chef. He has 30 years of experience including stints at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Utah, the Boulders Resort in Carefree and Tarbell’s in Phoenix.

Jon Jenkins, president of Casino Arizona, the tribe’s gaming enterprise, said the goal is to provide “the optimal dining experience for everyone no matter what their tastes.”

Jenkins said Freimuth “truly understands that objective.”

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Nov. 2, 2009 08:20 AM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The volume of signed contracts to buy previously occupied homes rose for the eighth straight month in September as buyers scrambled to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time owners that expires at the end of this month.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements rose 6.1 percent from August to 110.1. It was the highest reading since December 2006 and more than 21 percent above a year ago. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the index would be level at 103.8.

Typically there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer of future sales.

The housing market has been rebounding from the worst downturn in decades, aided by an aggressive federal intervention to lower mortgage rates and bring more buyers into the market.

Completed home resales rose in September to the highest level in more than two years as buyers scrambled to complete their purchases before the tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time owners expires on Nov. 30.

Congress is moving to extend the credit to buyers who sign sales agreements by April 30. Lawmakers also want to add a $6,500 credit for buyers moving into other homes as long as they have been living in their current residence at least five years.

With foreclosures continuing to surge, “an extended and expanded tax credit would help absorb this incoming inventory,” Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, said in a statement.

Pending sales were up 10 percent in the West and 8 percent in the Midwest. They were up 5 percent in the South and were down 2 percent in the Northeast.

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