This Downtown Tower Sat Empty for 14 Years — Now a Major Hotel Brand Is Bringing It Back
A once-celebrated Arizona high-rise, dark for more than a decade, is being reborn as a brand's first property in the city.
A 13-story tower that has stood abandoned in downtown Tucson for 14 years is getting a second life. Hyatt has announced plans to convert the building into the Hyatt Regency Tucson Convention Center, the brand's first property in the Arizona city, with an opening targeted for late 2027.
The 291-room hotel is undergoing a multimillion-dollar transformation led by Desert Hospitality Management and Tucson-based HSL Properties. Plans call for 22,000 square feet of meeting and event space, including a large ballroom and multiple breakout rooms, along with a fitness center and pool. The property sits steps from the Tucson Convention Center and near venues like the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall and Tucson Arena.
The building carries some history. It originally opened as the Braniff Place hotel under the now-defunct Braniff International Airways and was once considered a local gem before falling vacant. Reviving it, rather than demolishing it, reflects a growing appetite among developers for adaptive reuse of well-located but neglected downtown properties.
For Hyatt, the project deepens its presence in southern Arizona and adds to the Regency brand, a collection of more than 245 hotels and resorts across over 50 countries. The company has leaned on its full-service brands, which also include the all-inclusive Hyatt Inclusive Collection, to drive recent revenue growth.
The bet here is on group business. Tucson's leaders are framing the hotel as a catalyst for conventions and tourism, even as sentiment around corporate travel has softened over the past two years.
