Fairmont Scottsdale Princess eyes expansion of guest rooms, restaurants, event spaces and more
By Ron Davis
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is eyeing a big expansion on-site.
VRX STUDIOS/JUSTIN KRIEL
An iconic Scottsdale resort is looking to up its game.
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess filed a request to the city of Scottsdale to update its master plan. The request, which will be considered by the Scottsdale Planning Commission on Feb. 28, seeks to amend development standards and increase the number of hotel guest rooms.
The Princess, located at 7575 E. Princess Drive in north Scottsdale on roughly 66 acres, is looking to build a 155-unit guest wing with underground parking; 43 Sunset Villas/bungalows; a high-end Michael Mina Italian restaurant; an indoor/outdoor coffee roasterie; a conference center and a new ballroom on-site.
The new guest wing would rise four stories on the southeast corner of Cottage Terrace Lane and Hacienda Way.
The 43 bungalows that the Princess looks to build at the resort have been previously approved, but never constructed, by a past zoning case. The resort currently consists of 751 hotel guest rooms, with 61,577 square feet of conference rooms, ballroom and meeting spaces.
With 750 rooms, the Princess currently ranks third on the Phoenix Business Journal's List of Largest Phoenix-area Hotels & Resorts, only trailing the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa.
The Princess envisions the concept for the new restaurant to be an Italian farmhouse "re-envisioned in a modern way for the Arizona desert landscape." It would be located in the northwest corner of the resort property at the intersection of Cottage Terrace Lane and Princess Boulevard and situated in an "orchard of trees." It will be roughly 10,000 square feet with another 6,500 square feet of patio space.
The indoor/outdoor coffee shop be roughly 10,500 square feet, with the bulk of the space eyed for a patio.
“While nothing has been finalized, we look forward to working with Mayor Ortega and city leaders to explore new ways to evolve the Princess to make it a destination for tourists and city residents for years to come,” said Jack Miller, regional vice president and general manager of the Princess, in a statement to the Phoenix Business Journal.
The Princess is working with Scottsdale-based attorney Jordan Rose of Rose Law Group on its application with the city. The resort tasked three architecture firms: Allen+Phillip Architects, Nunzio Marc Desantis Architects and Kolin Altomare Architects for the design of the new guest wing, restaurant and ballroom and conference center, respectively.
In 2022, the Princess opened Privado Villas, a new ultra-luxe boutique hotel that brought 119 residential-style suites with a private entrance and reception. The new offering came from a rise in demand for luxury suites and villas, the Princess said at the time.
Arizona’s hospitality industry regularly receives national and international praise. Last year, Arizona had the third-most hotel projects under construction in the U.S. Several highly anticipated hotels opened in late 2023, including Sam Fox’s The Global Ambassador, and more are expected to open in 2024 and beyond.