Peter Corbett/The Arizona Republic The Sydell Group Ltd. of New York is renaming the Hotel Theodore and remodeling the downtown Scottsdale hotel. It will be called the Drinkwater when in opens in fall 2011.
It was once called the "sexiest resort in the American Southwest," but under its many names over 36 years, it has had its share of financial struggles.
Now, downtown Scottsdale's Hotel Theodore is being recast with a summer makeover of its rooms and an iconic new name - the Drinkwater - a nod to the city's former mayor, the late Herb Drinkwater, known to admirers as Mr. Scottsdale.
"I think it's a good name," said Bill Murney, HREC Investment Advisors senior vice president, who arranged the hotel sale earlier this year. "It certainly has more relevance than the Theodore to Scottsdale."
The previous name was a reference to Teddy Roosevelt, whose connection to Scottsdale was about as thin as worn hotel bedsheets.
The Scottsdale hotel was called the James Hotel from 2004-06 and Mondrian Scottsdale from 2006 to last year.
New York-based Sydell Group Ltd. and its management company, Joie de Vivre Hospitality of San Francisco, announced this week that the Drinkwater would reopen the 195-room hotel this fall with the main entrance moved to the Drinkwater Boulevard side of the property south of Indian School Road.
Sydell bought the hotel in February for $16.25 million after the Bank of America took back the property last year. New York-based Morgans Hotel Group defaulted on its loan for the Mondrian Scottsdale hotel in 2009.
Morgans paid a steep price - $46.5 million - in 2006 when it bought the James Hotel.
That was two years after another group of New York investors did a major remodel of the hotel that featured a contemporary design aimed at younger, style-conscious guests. Sleek lounges and restaurants have been an important part of positioning the hotel within Scottsdale's entertainment district.
The soon-to-be Drinkwater hotel is adjacent to the Scottsdale Civic Center Plaza and Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
"The proximity to all the amenities is the draw," Murney said. "If they improve the room product and improve the public space and add a good restaurant concept in there, it will do fine."
Andrew Zobler, Sydell founder and CEO, said the Drinkwater would feature new restaurant and lounge options and a high-profile chef to be named later.
Sydell, formed in 2006, has hired Stamberg Aferiat Architecture of New York for a new look intended to "showcase the colorful, vibrant spirit of the Southwest."
The Drinkwater name has been absent from the Scottsdale business scene since 2008, when Drinkwater's City Hall Steakhouse was sold and renamed.
Drinkwater's Liquor and Cheese, which Drinkwater ran from 1964-89, was renamed in 2005.
Drinkwater's son, Mark, said he had just learned that the downtown hotel would revive the family name but had not given it much thought.
"There's not much left anymore," he said, in reference to the family name in Scottsdale.
Brent DeRaad, Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau executive vice president, said the Drinkwater name made sense as a way of tying into Scottsdale's culture.
"It's also very appropriate that any hotel bearing Mayor Drinkwater's name would be Western-themed," he said.
Drinkwater, who wore a Stetson, bola tie and boots, was Scottsdale mayor from 1980-96.
He died at age 61, about a year after retiring from office.
by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Jul. 2, 2011 12:00 AM
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