Glendale approves $72 million parking garage for VAI Resort, despite legal cloud

Glendale leaders advanced plans this week to construct a parking garage for nearly $72 million that city officials have said will support mega-events around the Westgate Entertainment District, including the soon-to-open VAI Resort.

The City Council’s 5-2 vote approving the contract agreement with Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. to construct the five-level garage comes as Glendale still faces a lawsuit the Arizona Cardinals filed over its lack of consent to develop the site, which the team uses for parking during games at State Farm Stadium.

Councilmembers Lauren Tolmachoff and Jamie Aldama opposed the project Tuesday night, with the latter questioning the structure’s need and expressing concerns over the city’s procurement process that awarded the contract to Fisher, the North Dakota-based company also developing VAI.

“I have yet to see any data that demonstrates the need for a parking garage for the VAI Resort,” Aldama said. “Absent the VAI Resort, Glendale does not require a parking garage.”

The structure will be built on the southwest portion of the city-owned property, referred to as the Black Lot, near Montebello and 95th avenues. When complete, the ground level is expected to have 4,047 spaces, while the four upper levels will offer 3,063 spaces, city officials said.

The maximum cost of $71.86 million to construct the garage will be recovered through the collection of parking fees. That should take about a decade, Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps said.

“We think we’re getting a really good value for our city, and the revenue stream, we believe, will repay our entire investment, (somewhere) between eight and 10 years,” Phelps said. “So, we see this as a long-term, as a significant revenue stream.”

Soliciting contractors

The project was first brought to the City Council during a workshop meeting in November.

At that time, the city had already lined up Fisher as the contractor, which was tasked with completing most of the work by early September, around the time the Cardinals would kick off their season.

However, the next month, the city changed course, launching a solicitation process for the contract by putting out a request for qualifications. Four companies, one of them being Fisher, submitted bids.

As part of the process, the city formed a selection committee to review and score each firms’ bids, according to the city.

“The panel scored Fisher the highest scoring firm and agreed that Fisher demonstrated the capabilities to deliver this project according to the schedule and budget outlined in the RFQ,” the city said in its report to the council on Tuesday.

One Cholla District resident who spoke on the matter during the meeting raised a concern about the solicitation process.

He asserted that Glendale’s initial selection of Fisher in November, only to eventually award the contract to the company this week, created the appearance that the city had “pre-selected Fisher and that the design-build procurement process was not fair and open.”

While casting his vote against the project, Aldama echoed the resident’s sentiment, stating it had “favor written all over it.”

“There was not a competitive process, there was not a selection process,” Aldama said. “We spent more time on (requests for proposals) for lower dollar amounts than $71.5 million dollars.”

Phelps on Thursday pointed to a 2016 settlement agreement that stemmed from parking issues between Glendale and the Cardinals. The settlement required the city to construct 4,001 parking spaces in the Black Lot.

Citing an emergency procurement statute in state law, the city contracted with Fisher in November so it could get the project done in time for the 2024 season, therefore maintaining the city’s obligation to provide those spaces.

“We have to provide them 4,001 parking spaces for every home game, and every mega-event,” said Phelps, adding, “We knew that whatever construction was going to be taking place, it had to be completed by Sept. 1 of 2024.”

Ongoing litigation

The project came about, Phelps said, when VAI officials approached the city roughly a year ago to discuss the need for a parking garage on the nearby Black Lot, as the overall footprint was expanding, including its performance venue.

The development, which will sit near State Farm Stadium, is set to become Arizona’s largest resort when it opens later this year. The venue space, according to Phelps, is anticipated to accommodate 10,000 to 12,000 people.

“So, for concert nights, they’re looking for additional parking,” he said of VAI’s parking garage proposal that it brought to the city.

Initially, there were talks of leasing out the parking lot, Phelps said, but the city decided it was in its best interest to construct the building, keeping it as city-owned property, with Fisher as the contractor for the project.

That was the plan that was presented to the council on Nov. 21.

The next day, the Cardinals and the Arizona Tourism and Sports Authority, the owners of the stadium, filed a complaint in Maricopa Superior Court. It alleged that the city needs their consent before moving forward with adjustment to the Black Lot based on the 2016 settlement agreement.

“They were going to be pushing for trying to get the project stopped,” Phelps said of the lawsuit that seeks a restraining order from moving the project forward. “So no longer was the timing critical.”

As a result, the city moved to initiate the competitive bid process, Phelps said.

While State Farm Stadium was being built, Glendale and the team agreed that the city would provide 11,000 parking spaces for games, 6,000 of which were to be in Westgate.

In 2012, the team and stadium owners filed a $66.7 million claim against the city over a lack of parking spaces as Glendale had transferred much of the available land it owned to developers.

They eventually reached the 2016 settlement, with the city agreeing to a $17 million payment and construction of new lots.

Now, the team and stadium are asking the court for an injunction that would prohibit the city from making any changes to the Black Lot before getting their approval. A court hearing was held in January, but a judge has not yet issued a ruling.

Despite the ongoing lawsuit, the city, Phelps said, is not precluded from moving forward with the project.

A representative from the Cardinals was not available to provide comment as of this posting.

An attorney representing the Cardinals declined to provide a comment late Thursday afternoon, referring questions to the team’s public relations team.

What’s next?

The city anticipates Fisher to get construction going in March before temporarily pausing work during the Final Four weekend, starting April 5. Fisher, Phelps said, is expected to have enough of the project completed by the Cardinal’s home opener to provide 4,001 spaces required.

Down the field, Phelps also said, the city will consider a lease or a public-private partnership with VAI for the garage.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale OKs controversial $72M parking garage near State Farm Stadium