Glendale’s Crystal Lagoons gets new owner and plans to double hotel rooms to become Arizona’s largest hotel

The significant vacation resort less than construction around the NFL stadium in Glendale has a new proprietor, a new identify and will be larger than originally prepared.

The resort and beach resort, originally dubbed Crystal Lagoons, will develop from 48 to 60 acres and be identified as VAI Vacation resort. The progress, acquired by VAI Vacation resort LLC from the company Crystal Lagoons, is south of State Farm Stadium between Loop 101 and 95th Avenue.

The task will be the very first for the Arizona-primarily based VAI Resort that fashioned at the commence of this 12 months and is led by president Grant Fisher.

A 7-acre body of h2o will anchor the undertaking with sandy white beach locations. Organization officers say it can be not a h2o park, given that it will not contain drinking water slides.

The metropolis touts the job as Arizona’s largest lodge, at much more than 1,200 rooms on 8 tales. That is practically double the 630 rooms at first prepared. By comparison, the 31-story downtown Phoenix Sheraton lodge has 1,000 rooms. In Glendale, the nearby Renaissance resort at Westgate has 320 rooms.

The job will include things like a 360-degree concert stage where resort attendees can watch demonstrates from their balconies, a 52,000-sq.-foot, guy-designed island in the center of its beach and 13 dining establishments.

“From the vibes of Mykonos and Tulum, to the shorelines of Miami, to the concerts and events of Las Vegas, to the ultra-fashionable sights of Dubai, we’re bringing the ideal of the finest to VAI Vacation resort ideal listed here in the heart of Glendale,” Fisher claimed in a news launch about Tuesday’s announcement.

The challenge is established to open up in late spring 2023, after the Tremendous Bowl in Glendale. It is predicted to provide 1,800 employment, according to the city.

Glendale City Council users cheered the updates at a community assembly on Tuesday.

“The fact that this challenge has taken on a everyday living of its personal, I hope this council (and) everyone is as enthusiastic as I am,” Mayor Jerry Weiers stated. “Numerous metropolitan areas really don’t get this prospect ever, in their complete existence.”

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What is VAI Vacation resort?

The City Council approved “Crystal Lagoons” in 2020, casting the challenge as a way to entice people to Glendale in the summertime, when tourism lulls.

The vacation resort is predicted to host 100 events yearly, such as “A-list performers, comedians and top rated of the line DJs,” according to 1 of the builders.

VAI Vacation resort, which purchased the improvement from Crystal Lagoon, was fashioned this year by Grant and Tommy Fisher of Fisher Industries, a “weighty civil design” firm, according to the company’s web site.

The Fishers were being originally contracted to function on constructing Crystal Lagoon but extra time “felt it was in the finest fascination of all the parties to do a change in ownership,” Metropolis Supervisor Kevin Phelps advised The Arizona Republic.

Phelps has previously mentioned the vacation resort would support develop Glendale’s standing as a place for mega situations. The town will host its third Tremendous Bowl next calendar year and the NCAA Final 4 in 2024.

VAI Resort will consist of:

• A 7-acre h2o way with sandy white beaches.

• A 52,000-sq. foot male-designed island.

• A 360-degree concert stage.

• More than 1,200 hotel rooms.

• 170 phase-struggling with hotel rooms.

• A 20,000-square foot spa and wellness center.

• A marriage chapel.

• A huge helium balloon that will take readers just about 400 toes into the air for an aerial look at of the Phoenix area.

• Aerophile’s Aerobar, a room that will give foods and beverages at 130 ft in the air, offering consumers a higher-up check out of the Valley.

• A 4D theater and a “fly theater,” related to the “Soarin’ Close to the Globe” journey in Disney’s California Journey theme park.

• Luxury retail outlets.

The resort also will include things like a Mattel-branded topic park with Incredibly hot Wheels and Thomas the Tank Motor points of interest.

It will be “designed as a actually immersive playground for all ages,” the announcement claims.

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How substantially h2o will it use?

Questions in excess of incoming developments’ water utilization in Arizona have loomed large amid the historic 2022 Colorado River scarcity.

The city past year approximated Crystal Lagoons would use considerably less drinking water than the farm fields it is changing. The Republic reported at the time that the progress prepared to fill the 11-acre park with 19.6 million gallons of drinking water, furthermore a further 17 million annually to protect evaporation.

It is unclear how Tuesday’s announcement alterations the anticipated drinking water use.

City waived $1M in expenses for developer

Glendale earlier agreed to waive $1 million in permitting costs and give the theater, resort, retail areas and concession vendors a “partial” 25-yr Federal government Home Lease Excise Tax, acknowledged as a GPLET, which lessens the quantity a developer would or else pay back in property tax.

Town leaders at the time pointed to the profits and lodge taxes that people will deliver, projecting its share would be $240.5 million around the 25-year arrangement.

Undertaking will have to have council’s ‘OK’

The Metropolis Council finally will have to approve an amended growth arrangement and modified zoning designation that incorporates additional land on the western and jap edges of the undertaking.

VAI Resort also desires to erect five large video screen panels all through the location. The screens could possibly display screen dwell footage of the concerts that could be found by resort attendees or motorists passing by on Loop 101.

Phelps explained council also may perhaps have to think about how the project’s gentle, seem and traffic will have an effect on the surrounding places, even though he did not specify what the thing to consider would entail.

The council customers signaled unanimous assistance for future votes when talking about the job Tuesday.

The zoning request will first be listened to by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The date has not been identified yet, city officials reported.

Councilmember Joyce Clark praised the challenge but stated the city should really admit the effect to people just east of the venture.

The householders there stay on unincorporated Maricopa County land ruled by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors but could be afflicted if the project’s new house owners seek out to adjust the easternmost land from parking lots to a distinct use.

“Who’s heading to have a difficulty with parking? But if it turns into a thing which is going to deliver an extreme quantity of sound, I believe we have to have to be pretty sensitive about that,” Clark said.

Reporter Joshua Bowling contributed to this report.

Attain reporter Taylor Seely at [email protected] or 480-476-6116. Follow her on Twitter @taylorseely95 or Instagram @taylor.azc. If this story mattered to you, be sure to guidance our do the job. Subscribe to azcentral.com these days.

This post originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Crystal Lagoons will get new operator, new name and options to double lodge rooms