Glendale sells land to VAI Resort for parking garage, ending dispute with Cardinals

A parking garage that VAI Resort wants to build on newly purchased land from Glendale could effectively end the city's dispute with the Arizona Cardinals and will give a needed boost to the mammoth-sized project, slated to become the state's largest resort.

After a judge’s recent decision halted the city from building its own structure as doing so would violate an agreement with the team, Glendale leaders OK’d the $7.5 million sale agreement with VAI last week.

The sale marked a course change for Glendale as it initially planned to build a five-level garage on a portion of city-owned property called the Black Lot. The structure would have sat on the southwest corner of Montebello and 95th avenues.

Councilmembers approved the $72 million project in late February, tapping Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. for the job. Fisher Sand is the North Dakota-based company that’s also developing VAI.

That plan fell apart, however, amid the lawsuit the Cardinals and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, the stadium’s owner, filed against the city in November.

The team and stadium accused the city of violating a longstanding settlement agreement when it planned to construct the garage for VAI on the Black Lot without the team's consent.

Under the agreement, the city must provide 4,001 parking spaces in the lot during home games.

The city argued in court that it didn’t believe it needed the Cardinals’ and Tourism Authority’s permission for the project as Glendale had airspace rights above the lot.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sara Agne found that the city cannot build the structure because doing so, she said, would have breached the 2016 settlement.

Glendale leaders voted in April to allow the city to challenge the ruling.

However, that plan has also changed as the city no longer intends to build the garage now that VAI is constructing its own, City Manager Kevin Phelps said Tuesday.

The city informed the Cardinals' attorney several weeks ago that the city will no longer file an appeal, Phelps said.

A Cardinals spokesperson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

VAI, the 60-acre hotel and entertainment complex, is under construction and anticipated to open next year as Arizona’s largest resort. It’ll have 1,100 rooms, include the Mattel Adventure Park, and neighbor State Farm Stadium and the Westgate Entertainment District.

Using the roughly 8 acres it purchased from the city, VAI will develop its 4,000-space garage near the northwest corner of Montebello and 91st Avenue, on the opposite end of the Black Lot. The structure will provide space for the resort’s guests and district visitors.

Glendale and VAI officials, including VAI Resort President Grant Fisher, have gushed over the deal, noting that the resort’s expanded footprint requires more parking.

Those additional spaces, Phelps said, will support VAI’s planned operations, resulting in an economic boost to the tune of $32 million in new tax revenue.

“It’s going to support development that is 100% privately funded, it will create, we believe, in excess of over 1,000 jobs here in the community,” Phelps told councilmembers.

Asked whether the portion of the Black Lot the city sold to VAI falls under the settlement agreement, Phelps said Tuesday it does “in a narrow way.”

There are already 4,011 parking spaces on the developed portion of the city-owned Black Lot which is bound between 91st and 95th avenues and Montebello and Cardinals Way.

VAI’s 8-acre portion is undeveloped, Phelps noted. The resort, he added, must honor a stipulation in the settlement that prohibits any concessions, merchandising or advertising that competes with the NFL on gamedays.

The land had been on the market for two years. The city hired a broker, Plaza del Rio Corporation, to advertise the site and assist in the sale.

“We looked at a variety of things. Anything from multifamily, hospitality, office space, to food and beverage,” Phelps said of the city’s hopes for the land.

The city, he added, looked for something with a high-intensity use to complement the surrounding sports and entertainment area.

While the broker had numerous conversations with prospective buyers, “We never ever, ever entered an escrow agreement on the site,” he said.

“Once we started to get an indication that additional parking was going to be needed for the VAI Resort, we hit the pause button on marketing the property, and told Plaza Companies that we wanted to wait and see if we needed any of that land,” Phelps continued.

According to Phelps, Plaza is taking home 3% of the proceeds of the sale when it's complete.

When the council approved the Glendale-owned parking garage, Phelps noted that the city would have recouped the cost to construct the garage from parking fees over a decade.

“I know that it would have been a good return on investment over the years,” Phelps said when asked why the city didn’t proceed with that plan on the 8-acre site. “Once VAI decided to build (the garage) it was easy enough for us to back away and let them do it on their own.”

Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale sells land to VAI Resort for parking garage, ending dispute with Cardinals