For a taste of the Old West appreciated by silver-screen starlets, Tucsonans and tourists have long visited Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort.
The boutique hotel in the foothills below Finger Rock is still the kind of place where quail scurry among casitas and flowers sprout from terra-cotta cowboy boots. There’s luxury, but with some desert scruff.
With only 30 rooms and an 85-year history, Hacienda del Sol claims a market niche that’s different from many of the area’s larger resorts, and that helped it weather the Great Recession. Its owners say the resort was turning people away at the height of the last busy season.
Hacienda del Sol is now on the verge of a dramatic expansion, set to double the number of guest rooms and make room for larger parties. It’s set to break ground at 5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road within two weeks.
The challenge posed to designers was how to maintain historical integrity while allowing modernization.
“We want people to enjoy the sense of place here,” said Tom Firth, the resort’s managing partner. Although it’s expanding capacity, “we’re never going to be a conference hotel,” he said.
The vision of the local owners was to extend the property’s architectural quirks and step up the luxury.
That translated to guest rooms to be spread among six differently styled buildings and details borrowed from Josias Joesler, a Tucson architectural giant who helped rebuild the main building after a 1930s fire.
Plans drawn up by local firm Eglin + Bresler Architects reflect the original building’s Santa Fe style.
“It should be a project that attracts a lot of visitors to the unique ambience and the unique lifestyle we have in Tucson,” principal architect Evan Eglin said. “We did that by taking advantage of the topography and different gardens.”
It will be the task of builders W.E. O’Neil to make sure those plans register as authentic, he said.
Interior designers Judy and Rene Tinsley also have a hand, with plans calling for each room to have a unique hand-painted border, Talavera tile and custom-designed furniture that takes inspiration from the Hacienda/Monterey style favored in 1930s Hollywood.
Antigua del Mexico has been hired to build the alder and mesquite furniture in Sonora.
Historical photos and art made by local artists are expected to adorn the walls.
While many visitors come to Hacienda del Sol for a taste of the desert, they still want modern amenities, Firth said.
So in addition to adding guest rooms, the hotel is upgrading its technology infrastructure: new fiber cables, high-speed Wi-Fi, plentiful outlets and the newest, flattest TVs.
The renewed emphasis on luxury should be apparent from the redesigned entrance. While the mission-style gateway with its bell will remain, the traffic circle in front of it will be widened and a valet station added.
Instead of having to park, then walk to the lobby to check in, guests will be whisked from their car to their room in a golf cart, Firth said.
Other changes include a new pool with a round outdoor bar, remodeling of most of the current hotel rooms, an expanded restaurant patio with heating, cooling and retractable walls and roof, and a redone parking lot.
Instead of interrupting the desert quiet and guests’ views of the Catalinas, delivery trucks will be rerouted to a new commissary building that will house business operations on the south end of the property, far away from guest rooms.
Second-phase plans, submitted to the Pima County Planning Department but not yet approved, include a new 7,500-square-foot banquet hall to be built to the east of the current main entrance.
It would allow the resort to seat as many as 230 guests in one room, providing space for larger weddings and other gatherings.
Construction on that phase won’t begin until at least summer 2015, Firth said.
Although it’s expanding, the hotel is not much growing its footprint. The buildings occupy about six acres of its 43-acre property.
Jerry Hawkins, a vice president at commercial real estate brokerage CBRE who specializes in hotel properties, sees Hacienda del Sol’s expansion plans as smart business.
“For years, it has been operating as a 30-unit small boutique hotel,” Hawkins said. “It’s very hard to make money at that number of rooms because of the fixed costs.”
The banquet room will likely also have a positive effect on the bottom line, he said. “They’ve been missing out on opportunities because of the lack of event space.”
