"The development of an executive class hotel is essential in meeting the needs of our tenant companies," said Bruce Wright, COO for the 1,345-acre park, the sixth largest university research park in the US. To coordinate that effort, park officials in Tucson have picked Grubb & Ellis Co. to assist in the selection of a development team to build the hotel along with about 50,000 sf of flexible conference center space.

Wright said the 30 companies and organizations within the park currently need about 70 rooms weekly. More rooms will be needed as the park, near Interstate 10 in the city's southeast quadrant, continues to expand, he said. Presently, the plan calls for the construction of 150 rooms with the capability to expand the hotel to 300 rooms in the future.

Currently, a 72,000-sf, multi-tenant office building is under construction at the site with an aggressive expansion plan expected to add close to two million sf in the next five to eight years. The park has 345 developed acres that contain 12 major buildings along with supporting structures, representing more than two million sf of office, laboratory, testing, assembly and research and development space. Among its tenants are Fortune 100 firms such as IBM and Raytheon.