By BEX Staff for AZBEX
Following a national and regional trend to increase residential inventories supplies and services, two projects that will convert aging hotels into residential and service management spaces have recently been announced in Metro Phoenix.
Grand Hotel – Mesa
Mesa City Council has approved a plan to buy the 72-room Grand Hotel on Main Street for $7.4M using pandemic recovery monies.
Approximately $4M will come from Maricopa County’s American Rescue Plan Act funds, with the remainder coming from Mesa’s ARPA allocation.
While final conversion plans have not yet been finalized, when renovated, the facility will serve as home to the City’s Off the Streets program for transitional housing, which is currently located at the 85-room Windemere Hotel near Main Street and Recker Road.
Mesa launched Off the Streets in 2020 and rented the Windemere with Community Bridges Inc. in an attempt to address the city’s homelessness problem. The City pays Community Bridges roughly $1.4M annually to operate the program using ARPA funds. When those expire, Mesa will look to other federal and local funds to continue operations.
The Grand Hotel purchase will create a permanent home for the program.
Mesa and Maricopa County are currently in negotiations for an intergovernmental agreement for the $4M funding, with a key issue being how many years Mesa will have to maintain the facility.
Mesa has the option to transfer ownership of the hotel to a non-profit that would use it for the same services. If the City decides it eventually no longer needs the property, it could sell it and repay the County and the federal government.
A Council Use Permit will be required for Mesa to operate the housing program from the hotel. Nearby residents would have to be notified, and several neighborhood meetings would be required.
City staff will now begin due diligence, including inspections of the building’s infrastructure and utilities. The sale is expected to close in October, and improvements and renovations are expected to take approximately two years.
Maricopa County Gives Tempe $7.3M for Hotel Conversion
Separately, The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has approved an agreement that will provide $7.3M in ARPA funds to the City of Tempe to expand homeless shelter options.
The money will be used to rehabilitate a motel. Tempe will contribute another $3M to the total and ultimately provide up to 60 residential shelter units. The location and timing of the project have not yet been disclosed.
According to the County announcement, “In addition to providing a safe, indoor place to sleep, people staying at the housing complex will receive case management services. The City of Tempe’s Community Health and Human Services will provide connections to city and community resources such as employment through the city’s Tempe Works jobs program and longer-term shelter and housing to improve housing stability.”
Under the agreement, Tempe will run the homeless shelter for 10 years. At the end of the term Tempe will have the option to convert the property to other uses, including an affordable housing development.
