Study calls Maricopa a good fit for hotels, but when?

For decades a no-hotel town, Maricopa is now a one-hotel town. And that is not enough for those trying to build the economy.

A new feasibility study due out this month concurs with earlier economic studies, developers and elected officials: Maricopa is a good market for hotels.

The much-delayed Holiday Inn Express has not yet been the answer to the need, but it remains on the horizon – at least that is the hope of the developer.

The sign that read “Opening Fall 2011” and later “Opening Spring 2014” told the story of a hotel plan in hiatus. Initially promoted as the first new lodging establishment in Maricopa in more than 50 years, it was dragged to a standstill during the permitting process.

The inertia has distanced the city and the corporation from the project.

In December, Maricopa’s departing Economic Development Director Micah Miranda said there was no new activity on the proposal.

“I checked our records, and we do not have a project in the pipeline in Maricopa,” said Caroline Huston, corporate communications manager for InterContinental Hotels Group, the parent company of Holiday Inn.

According to developer Larry Miller of Matrixx Management, the proposed hotel’s fate was most recently impeded by plans for an overpass on State Route 347.

“The overpass put the kibosh on our plans,” Miller said, adding Matrixx learned of the direction of ADOT’s overpass designs about three months ago. “It will take about a third of the front of our property. It won’t affect the hotel location but it does affect ingress and egress.”

Meanwhile, the City of Maricopa began another hotel feasibility study. City Manager Gregory Rose said the previous study pre-dated his arrival and was from a different company. He said the full report on the new feasibility study may be presented to the council at its Jan. 20 session.

“It is providing good information on the types of hotels that would be the best fit for Maricopa,” he said.

Early evidence points to extended-stay hotels, Rose said. The company hired to do the study indicated Maricopa continues to be a good market for a hotel, whatever may happen with the Holiday Inn Express.

That saga began Feb. 9, 2010, when then-Mayor Anthony Smith announced an imminent Holiday Inn Express during his State of the City address. A groundbreaking was expected as early as that spring.

Almost immediately, however, the project had an issue over access with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the neighboring property. That caused some redesign and another round of approvals, moving back the projected finish date to the summer of 2011.

As planned, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites was to be an 80-room, three-story hotel on six acres on John Wayne Parkway south of Maricopa Self Storage. The proposal included a restaurant, conference room, swimming pool and fitness center.

The first construction drawings were submitted to the city in June 2011. Architects for the project, Architects and Planners International of Phoenix, completed revisions for first review from the city and from ADOT.

With no apparent activity by December, the council began to interrogate developer Miller. He said at the time he was only waiting on access approval from ADOT.

By the spring of 2012, contractor ETW Group was still in discussions with ADOT over access. In October 2013, ADOT withdrew the permit application because of inactivity. Agreements with the city and the neighbor also expired.

By April 2014, the general contractor was Why Hospitality LLC and the project allegedly was being prepared for utilities and other infrastructure. However, ADOT did not receive a new permit application or revised plans.