Wednesday, December 23, 2009

More on the Coronado Hotel

Posted By on Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 2:15 PM

News that downtown's Coronado Hotel won't be sold to Pima County to retain as affordable housing raises two immediate questions.

First, will county officials consider using eminent domain to acquire the property? This prospect could be considered if the eventual buyer proposes converting the Coronado into another use.

The second question is: Could the Downtown Development Corporation, which owns the building, and the Downtown Tucson Partnership, which manages the DDC, have possibly done a worse public-relations job handling this issue? The latest boo-boo of announcing on Dec. 22 that the county would not be the buyer was a hell of an early Christmas present to elected officials.

Word is they are none too happy about the present.

Note: An earlier version of this post said that the Industrial Development Authority co-owned the Coronado Hotel rather than the DDC. (Thanks for the heads up, Downtowner.)