New hotel open for business in downtown Tucson
The hotel hosts its first guests Thursday, Sept. 21, at the property on Broadway near Fifth Avenue.
The eight-story building includes 136 hotel rooms, a sixth-floor pool deck with downtown views, a lobby bar, fitness center, and 1,500 square feet of meeting space that accommodates up to 100 people. The lobby also has a spa operated locally by Kaelen Johnson.
Construction began in December of 2015 with many local partners, including Rio Nuevo, the city of Tucson, Lloyd Construction, the Bank of Tucson, FORS Architecture + Interiors, Swaim Associates and Cima Enterprises.
Developer Scott Stiteler spent the past few nights at the hotel as 55 employees went through Marriott’s training program.
“I kept waking up, thinking, am I really here?” he said. “It’s still sinking in.”
Stiteler and his partners Rudy Dabdoub and Paul Chellgren were impressed with the level of support they received as the development was underway.
“There are so many hurdles, surprises and roadblocks along the way, but there was always someone who was able to get us to the next step,” Stiteler said. “It was like we had a guardian angel.”
The AC Hotel is one of Marriott’s fastest-growing brands. It began as a line of independent boutique hotels in Spain before expanding to the United States. Tucson was selected as one of the first U.S. cities for the brand, along with Miami, New Orleans and Chicago.