El Corredor Rises From the Ashes of Abandoned Hotel Site, Oro Valley

Boulder Oro Valley, LLC (Ross Rulney and Malcolm Berman) in a non-arms length transaction, paid $1.15 million for 11.29 acres to Holualoa Oracle Linda Vista, (Michael Kasser, CEO) Scotia Group Limited (Peter Aranoff, CEO) Ashland Group Millenium (Duff Hearon, manager) and The Lenihan Company (Stephen Lenihan, President) to restructure the investment group and make whole again the abandoned hotel site at the northeast corner of Oracle Road and Linda Vista Blvd in Oro Valley.

The Sunway Hotel Group, based in Overland Park, KS, purchased the site in two transactions in 2007 and 2009, for an aggregate price of $6.57 million. Sunway began construction of a 123-room, 95,000 sq. ft., 2-story hotel, but abandoned the project, partially completed, in May 2011. Leaving a slab, with incomplete buildings and exposed wooden framing that lacked roofs, when it was repurchased out of foreclosure by Boulder Hotel Oro Valley, managed by Ross Rulney. The slab and partial construction was razed by Boulder Hotel Oro Valley.

“The parcel is now back to its original size of 20 acres,” said Rulney, who first began to assemble this site in 2003 for development. “The new plan is to construct a 228-unit multi-family apartment complex on the back 13 acres and 47,200 sq. ft of commercial retail / office in five buildings on the 6.6 acres along Oracle,” added Rulney.

According to the new conceptual site plan labeled “El Corredor” the actual gross acreage of the site is 22.80 acres with 19.58 net; 6.6 acres are reserved for commercial use along Oracle and 12.9 acres in back, for construction of a 228-unit multi-family complex with 40% one-bedrooms, 48% two-bedrooms, and 12% three-bedroom units. The back 12.9 acres was rezoned recently to high density PAD for the multi-family development.

According to Rulney, “The multi-family project is timely, there has been positive apartment absorption since 2010 in the Tucson market. This one should be easy.” Perpetual optimism coming from the guy who has been waiting more than a decade to see something come out of the ground at Oracle and Linda Vista. General Contractors are being interviewed.

For more information on El Corredor contact Ross Rulney at (520) 850-9300.