Surrounded by the eerie beauty of the Sonoran Desert, the Phoenix metro area carpets the “Valley of the Sun” with emerald fairways, lavish resorts and sparkling pools. Steep mountains and boulder-strewn hills glow golden in 325 days of sunshine each year, and
the air kisses the skin with soft breezes hovering around 72 degrees. Three million residents thrive in the valley’s warm embrace in 20-plus incorporated cities spread over nearly 2,000 square miles.
Greater Phoenix
At the center of it all, Phoenix rises like the mythical bird for which it was named. Modern, urbane and casually cosmopolitan, Phoenix, with 1.4 million residents, has grown rapidly into the nation’s fifth-largest city. Its boundaries give way to Mesa, Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale and several other desirable destinations.
Downtown Phoenix is undergoing a dramatic transformation, with $2.3 billion being poured into a vibrant urban center.
“Our downtown is the epicenter of the meetings focus,” says Doug MacKenzie, director of communications for the Greater Phoenix CVB.
The $600 million expansion of the Phoenix Convention Center will reach completion in January 2009 and offer 900,000 square feet of meeting space. Thanks to a $50 million expansion, the nearby Phoenix Art Museum offers a variety of spaces amid its galleries and gardens. The Bud Light Paseo, a key feature of the $67 million expansion at US Airways Center (home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns), includes state-of-the-art audio and video technology for exciting sound and light shows to enhance outdoor gatherings.
“By January 2009 we will have completed a revitalization effort that everyone will be able to see,” MacKenzie says. “Restaurants with good local flavor and good regional cuisine are opening up. There is a wonderful selection for dine-arounds and receptions.”
On the hotel scene, the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel is slated to open in October one block north of the convention center and will contain 80,000 square feet of function space, complementing existing properties such as the Wyndham Phoenix and the Hyatt Regency Phoenix. In the surrounding area, Phoenix offers luxurious resorts like the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, with its outstanding Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design and more than 100,000 square feet of indoor meeting space.
Meanwhile, a new mass transportation system, METRO, is scheduled to come on-line in December, connecting several destinations, including Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, where the Chicago Cubs have held spring training since 1952.
The multiple communities surrounding Phoenix offer an endless array of attractions, resorts and golf courses, as well as meeting and event venues.
West of downtown Phoenix, Glendale has long attracted treasure hunters with its old-fashioned antique shops and garnered worldwide fame as the host of the 2008 Super Bowl. With accommodations that include the 320-room Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa, featuring 95,000 square feet of meeting space, the city offers a low-key gathering point with access to Greater Phoenix’s many lures.
To the east, Mesa has emerged as a revitalized destination. Its stunning $100 million Mesa Arts Center, the largest such facility in Arizona, features four theaters showcasing a variety of performing arts. Serving as the anchor for the Mesa Arts and Cultural District, the center offers galleries, theaters and gardens as meeting and event venues. The nearby Mesa Convention Center has 38,000 square feet of exhibit and meeting space, and the 187-room Arizona Golf Resort Hotel and Conference Center, scheduled for a renovation and expansion next year, features 12,000 square feet of meeting space.
Tempe is getting into the cultural scene with the recently opened Tempe Center for the Arts, featuring meeting space overlooking Tempe Town Lake. Several resorts and hotels offer conference and meeting space, and the list is expanding; Le Meridien–Tempe Town Lake is slated to open in September 2009, and the Tempe Westin is scheduled to debut in 2010. Off-site venues range from the 430-seat IMAX Theatre to Tempe Diablo Stadium, which seats 9,000 and is available for trade shows and conferences.
Fountain Hills and Chandler present groups with even more venues, and the 640-suite Arizona Grand Resort, which will unveil 50 new villas in December, is located on 164 acres by the South Mountain Preserve and boasts 117,000 square feet of function space and a seven-acre waterpark.
“With over 55,000 hotel rooms, this whole area is really a wonderful and convenient space for meetings,” MacKenzie says.
Scottsdale
Famous for its world-class golf courses, spas, gourmet restaurants and public art, Scottsdale never ceases to offer something new and amazing. The current buzz is all about downtown, where developments worth more than $3 billion are nearing completion.
The Scottsdale Waterfront, a $250 million residential and commercial center, features restaurants, boutiques and an outdoor amphitheater. A pedestrian-only bridge across the Arizona Canal links the Scottsdale Waterfront to Scottsdale Fashion Square mall and SouthBridge, a $41 million urban development along the canal’s south bank. Phase one of the three-acre retail, dining and cultural center, scheduled for completion this spring, brings together elite, high-fashion boutiques and seven gourmet restaurants from some of the region’s most celebrated restaurateurs. Given Scottsdale’s thriving art scene, it’s only natural that a series of public art works will soon form a necklace along the canal banks in downtown, and construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 on a bridge spanning the canal by famed Italian designer Paolo Soleri.
Downtown’s hotel scene is booming as well. Starwood is slated to open one of its first luxury, eco-friendly “1” Hotels in 2009. Add the W Scottsdale Hotel and Residences (opening May 27), the hip Mondrian (a favorite with celebrities), Kimpton’s FireSky Resort & Spa, InterContinental’s art-filled Indigo and the newly renovated Chaparral Suites Resort Scottsdale and you have a dynamic downtown with what Dan Tavrytzky, vice president of sales and services at the Scottsdale CVB, calls a “European flair” conducive to dine-arounds and evening excursions.
“Scottsdale’s come on the map in the past couple of years for dining and nightlife,” Tavrytzky says.
Lavish resorts continue to multiply in the 31-mile-long city, and in addition to the new offerings, existing properties are undergoing renovations. Beneath Camelback Mountain, the Andalusian-style InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa (formerly La Posada Resort) is opening in August with 27,000 square feet of indoor meeting space. In Carefree, the 465-room Carefree Resort and Villas plans to finish a renovation of its main lodge rooms this fall, and The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa is undergoing its transformation into an all-organic resort.
Comprehensive resorts like The Phoenician and the recently renovated Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North and The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess are complemented by offerings like the Resort Suites Scottsdale, featuring spacious guest units and six meeting rooms within minutes of the area’s finest golf courses.
“The customer has some fabulous choices,” Tavrytzky says. “The time they spend here gets the attendees excited. Meetings are productive and downtime is fun.”
