By BEX Staff for AZBEX
Controversy continues to swirl around a planned $71M parking garage for the VAI Resort in Glendale.
Local media reports say the Glendale City Council approved an agreement with Fisher Sand & Gravel to build the 3,864-space parking structure in its Feb. 27 meeting. Fisher is also developing the VAI Resort and Mattel Adventure Park through VAI Global Development.
Glendale had previously posted a request for qualifications and received four responses. However, officials said in November Fisher would receive $71M to build the garage and that Glendale would be repaid via parking fees. Before that, the City said the resort could lease and operate the garage for 25 years with two 10-year renewal options and that Glendale would be paid $58M so the owner could keep 77.5% of the garage revenue.
The RFQ was issued in December, identifying the project as a parking facility with a $70M-$80M budget. City records show 24 firms attended a pre-submittal conference and four firms submitted proposals. The selection committee scored Fisher’s highest.
The most recent project note in the DATABEX project database references the irregularities and says, “There is something unusual going on with the procurement award as it was announced in November 2023 that Fisher Industries would be the design-builder on the project, then in December 2023 a solicitation for design-build was issued due 1/10/24. However, we were told in response to a public records request back on 12/1/23 that Baker Barrios was the design firm.”
A Glendale resident spoke at the Feb. 27 meeting and said Fisher had been named as the contractor before the RFQ was issued and that it did not appear the design-build procurement process was fair and open.
The final vote in favor of the construction agreement was 4-2, with Councilmembers Jaime Aldama and Laura Tolmachoff voting against it. Aldama said he did not see the need for the garage and that the agreement appeared to show favor to Fisher. Tolmachoff said she had “a number of concerns” about the agreement.
Members voting in favor said the garage will address much-needed parking availability in the greater Westgate area and will help ensure VAI’s success.
The garage is also the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority. The two parties filed the suit against the City and alleged the garage would violate existing parking agreements and interfere with upcoming events.
The Cardinals requested a temporary restraining order and a hearing was held in January. The judge in the case has not issued a ruling.
