City of Yuma hosts Hotel Del Sol redevelopment ceremony
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - The Hotel Del Sol has been a historic landmark for nearly a century.
It has hosted multiple Hollywood films, but has sat vacant since 1970, and now, after decades of vacancy, the hotel is beginning its next chapter.
The Hotel Del Sol redevelopment is expected to 18 months, with the City of Yuma hosting a redevelopment ceremony Thursday to mark the start of a major transformation for the Hotel Del Sol.
When asked if he was excited for the project, Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said, "Very excited...this is a great investment for our future and looking forward to getting it done."
The project will turn the historic site into a transportation hub, bringing rail, bus, and other transportation services together in Downtown Yuma.
"For 27 years, we have been working on this project. Today, we begin in earnest the Del Sol Multimodal Center redevelopment project, and so we are celebrating the demolition phase, which is the first thing that has to happen," Mayor Nicholls expressed.
The city will preserve the building's north and east façades, along with its historic signage and iconic wrought-iron balconies. The project is expected to be completed in 18 months.
"It's a bit of time. It's a complicated project. They have to keep the east and the north façades, that's the historic piece, but then, they've got to be able to rebuild a whole new building right behind it," Nicholls said. "So it's not your average build-it-from-the-ground-up type of project. It's going to take some time to get it done and get it done right."
The project's total estimated cost is just over $19 million.
"That sounds like a lot of money, but $16 million of that is coming from the federal government, state government, and a series of grants, from an FRA grant to the RAISE grant to state matching funds. Those are the things that make this project possible," the mayor explained. "That's how we can do a project like this and have someone else pay for the majority of it."
The City of Yuma said the renovated Hotel Del Sol could create new opportunities for growth.
The next chapter for the Hotel Del Sol is underway. For more information about the iconic Yuma landmark, click here.
