By J. Graber
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A nine-story mixed use development earmarked for Old Town cleared its final hurdle during the Dec. 12 Development Review Board before construction can begin.

The board voted 6-0 in support of the aesthetics of the Winfield Hotel and Residences near the intersection of North Scottsdale Road and Third Avenue. Board member Ali Fakih was not present at the meeting.
The majority of the building’s facade will be cut stone with some concrete banding.

While one person from the public urged the board to not approve the project based on its height and the views it will block, City Council member Tammy Caputi, who chaired the meeting, noted that the speakers concerns were out of the scope of the board’s purview.

The rezoning for the land to make way for the project was actually approved by the Scottsdale City Council in April 2018.

“This project is now seven or eight years old,” Caputi said. “We hear a lot about pipelines on our council dais, and this is a perfect example of a great project that got stalled for so long. It is finally moving forward. Again, to remind everyone in the room, including the speaker ... this is not going to come back before council or the planning commission, this is just about design today. Heights are already approved and we really are just focusing on design.”

The development review board initially approved the aesthetics of the project in December 2018, but the project was then put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing construction prices so the developer needed to reapply for development review board approval.

“This is substantially the same project that appeared before this board a few years ago,” Thomas Galvin, an attorney for the project, said. “In fact, I believe several members of this board were on that board when this was originally approved.”

Galvin is also a Maricopa County supervisor.

The project is 154,619 square feet with 230 hotel rooms and 24 condominiums. It will also include a 5,800-square-foot restaurant and 4,000 square feet of conference room space. It will contain 254 parking spaces in an underground garage and 10-foot sidewalks around it.

J. Graber can be reached at jgraber@iniusa.org. We invite our readers to submit their civil comments pro or con on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.