Picking Winers and...yes, Losers

The Republic Editorial writers are saddened that the "Hotel Monroe" isn't going to make it. 

The door that would open downtown Phoenix to a new, exciting era - private capital - swings both ways. In difficult economic times, the door can shut as quickly as it opened.

That would seem to be the case now regarding the much-anticipated Hotel Monroe, a privately financed boutique hotel project that its developers say was within four months of opening for business.

It was - and, despite the sudden wealth of financial nightmares, continues to be - one of the jewels of central-city development.

Don't be fooled.  This privately funded boutique hotel isn't just a victim of the local economy, the hotel was forced to compete with the 1,000 Sheraton colossus that was built with public money and is owned by the city of Phoenix.

Sure, when the economy was booming it looked like there was room for both.  Even the owners don't blame the Sheraton for their demise.  It looks like the problem is merely a liquidity issue with Mortgages ltd out of the picture.  But the fundamental problem is that puting 1,000 government funded rooms in the downtown core leaves little room for private sector boutiques. 

Perhaps the Republic should have thought of the unintended consequences before they advocated for the City to build its own hotel. 

Here's what the paper said in 2004.

The urban core of Phoenix is on a big-time roll.

A number of major construction projects under way, approved or on the drawing board promises to turn downtown into a vibrant mecca during the day and after dark.

The City Council's approval Wednesday of a $350 million, 1,000-room hotel -- the elusive third major hotel that has stymied Phoenix for more than two decades -- could be the single most important piece of the downtown puzzle.

It's especially sweet that the 8-1 vote came in the same week that construction workers began ripping out the concrete plaza in front of Symphony Hall to make way for a new and expanded Civic Plaza.

So the 70 year old Art Deco Monroe building is going to sink in to ruin while the beige plaster 1,000 room Government owned big box dominates downtown.  The Sheraton has all the charm of, well, a government owned hotel. 

You can see both buildings from the Republic's offices...in fact, the Sheraton towers over the Republic building.  I hope the editorial writers will look out their window at the vacant Monroe and the vacuous Sheraton, contrast the two, and think...there's my legacy. 

Comments

[todd]

How could be competition with the Sheraton be the problem when neither hotel has even opened yet? The fact the Mortgages Ltd. has stopped paying on the loan that was financing the restoration is probably the reason. I am not sure what you possibly based your claim on. By the way, boutique hotels attract a completely different crowd than these giant hotels which attract conventions.

[ron]

How many thousands of construction workers have left the state the past year? Not buying food, not paying sales taxes, not contributing to the $1.9 billion debt...

And, oh, how many will leave about December 15 when the light rail wraps up????

[Bill]

You've got it pretty much backwards, Greg. The investment of the state and city in the Convention Center and Sheraton provided much of the confidence for private investors in projects such as the Summit and 44 Monroe condo towers, not to mention all the little condo projects sprouting up around the edges of downtown (all done with no subsidies whatsoever). It is unfortunate that the problems of the underlying economy (high gas prices and the housing meltdown)are now dragging other quality projects down as well.