By Shelly Rodgers
Special to the Arizona Daily Wildcat
With the opening of the University Plaza Hotel, parents, alumni and University of Arizona visitors won't have a problem finding a nearby, first-class hotel at an affordable rate.
The nine-story hotel will contain 255 large and small suites, and is located at University Street and Tyndall Avenue.
"This is a good location for people who come for football games and other campus events," said Derek C. McSween, assistant project manager.
Its unique structure Ÿ a triangular-shaped atrium, with three adjoining wings Ÿ should be completed by August, 1996.
"The hotel is being built with the needs of visitors in mind," said Thomas W. Warne, project consultant.
A pool, work out room, restaurant and lounge are just some of the amenities that guests will find.
Patrons of the hotel will also find convenient parking at the new parking structure, located at Euclid Avenue and First Street.
Although the price of the rooms has not been determined, guests should expect to pay somewhere between a budget and luxury hotel rate.
"Our rate will be competitive with other hotels in the area," Warne said.
Unlike its prices, the hotel will be extravagant.
"It will be very nice, with an atrium, sky lights, water falls and balconies," said Archie L. Smith, construction superintendent.
Visiting the construction site, onlookers will have to imagine all of the niceties, since all that exists right now is huge pit of dirt with steel posts and wires jutting out of the ground.
Once the construction crew has poured the foundation and has finished the ground work, concrete walls will be installed.
At this rate, the 1996 projected deadline should be met, Smith said.
"We had a short set-back with moving power poles and lines," Smith said, "but we're only about a week off schedule."
In keeping with the historic design seen in other buildings on campus, the hotel will have a brick and oak exterior, Smith said.
"The Historic Design Review Board was very helpful and cooperative with this design," Warne said. "Despite the closed streets on Tyndall and Second, people have been real understanding."