(Photo via Omni Hotels & Resorts)
By Paulina Pineda | Arizona Republic
A ceremonial groundbreaking for an Omni hotel and conference center in Tempe was held Friday just as the Arizona Supreme Court said it would hear arguments in the long-running lawsuit surrounding the deal.
The hotel is slated to open in spring 2023 on five acres of land at the southeast corner of University Drive and Mill Avenue.
City officials gave a $21 million tax break to the developer, who will not pay property taxes because the hotel is going up on Arizona State University-owned land, which is tax exempt. The latter is a perk that Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has argued is unlawful.
Brnovich sought to undo the deal but two lower courts struck down a lawsuit he brought against the Arizona Board of Regents in 2019. The Arizona Supreme Court on Sept. 14 said that he could try again to bring the case forward.
