A wellness spa, film studio, museum, conference center, arts village, hotel and restaurants — Fitch Industries has big plans for the former Sedona Cultural Park.
Fitch Industries is in the process of buying the 44 acres where the old amphitheater sits weathering away with hopes of rejuvenating its spirit.
Sedona Planning and Zoning, Sedona City Council and city staff have worked with Fitch Industries for nearly two years in the city’s redevelopment process.
By Trista Steers
A wellness spa, film studio, museum, conference center, arts village, hotel and restaurants — Fitch Industries has big plans for the former Sedona Cultural Park.
Fitch Industries is in the process of buying the 44 acres where the old amphitheater sits weathering away with hopes of rejuvenating its spirit.
Sedona Planning and Zoning, Sedona City Council and city staff have worked with Fitch Industries for nearly two years in the city’s redevelopment process.
First, Fitch Industries presented its plan for half of the property, and council granted it a Sedona Community Plan Future Land Use Map major amendment. Plans for the first half included a conference center and resort, arts village and refurbishment of the existing amphitheater, but have now undergone some adjustments.
Fitch Industries’ most recent encounter with the city was at a planning and zoning meeting July 1 where it unveiled the remainder of the project hoping for a minor community plan amendment.
“Now they’re looking at the project as a whole,” Monty Fitch, executive administrator of Fitch Industries, said.
Northern half
On the northern half of the property, Fitch Industries wants to build three things — a wellness center, a film studio and a museum.
A minor community plan amendment is needed for Fitch Industries’ plans, according to city Director of Community Development John O’Brien.
Fitch said the amendment needed for the wellness center will be based on a “four-part, integrated life education center focusing on whole-body and nutritional healing,” according to the project proposal.
The center is proposed as a partial two story building to house patients, and 20 private, luxurious bungalows for guest accommodations with a total square footage around 68,500.
Guests will stay for one to three weeks utilizing the planned student hostel, health clinic, life change training center and research lab, depending on their specific program.
Fitch told the planning and zoning commission at a meeting July 1 the center will be modeled after Hippocrates Health Institute in Palm Beach, Fla., with the help of Dr. Brian Clement from the institute. Clement could not be reached for comment prior to press time.
The film studio consists of seven buildings — five sound stages, a warehouse and administrative building — totaling 69,500 square feet.
The buildings will be used for full production, support offices, post-production and recording. According to the proposal, the studio will be capable of producing feature length films.
The Ancient Artifact Museum is slated as a 10,000-square-foot building nestled between a parking garage and the film studios. According to the proposal, the museum will display pieces from a private collection most archeologists haven’t seen.
Southern half
Council approved a major amendment to the community plan for the southern portion of the property in October 2007.
Uses under the amendment include a conference center and hotel and arts village with limited occupancy and square footage.
Since the approval, Fitch Industries’ plan changed to downsize the arts village’s square footage and remove residential.
Fitch claims condos, which were to be built above studios, aren’t viable in today’s market and removing them added some benefits the city asked for in the beginning.
“No one liked it, no one wanted it. It was met with resistance,” Fitch said of the original plan for the arts village.
Now, the plan calls for single story buildings and a square footage of 70,000, according to a proposal prepared by project coordinator Connie Dedrick of Shephard-Wesnitzer. Under the amendment, council approved a 250,0000-square-foot village.
Fitch said leaving out the residential units allowed the company to lessen the density and move the buildings back from Highway 89A.
Other changes in the village include a name change from Sedona Village to Artisan Village, water features, sculpture garden nature walk and memorial area, an American Indian maze, another small amphitheater and outdoor stage area.
Canyon Moon Theatre is also still included in the project with approximately 10,500 square feet reserved for a new venue.
The conference center and hotel remain unchanged since the major amendment approval.
“The whole energy of the project is driven by the conference center,” Fitch said.
According to Fitch, Fitch Industries will keep the hotel small, only 210 units, to prevent flooding the Sedona lodging market even though the conference center is big.
This, in turn, will create overflow during conferences and events to bring business to other hotels and resorts.
The conference center and resort will also include a restaurant, bar, spa studio and an underground parking garage below the building.
The existing amphitheater is incorporated into the design of the conference center but downsized to fixed seating for 2,000.
Moving forward
Fitch said the planning and zoning commission asked questions in July that Fitch Industries needs to answer before moving forward, particularly regarding the wellness center.
“They don’t fully understand what we want to do there,” Fitch said.
Before returning to the city, Fitch said Fitch Industries plans to work on clarifying the project so it is better able to support its case.
Construction, originally planned to break ground in November, is delayed by at least three months, according to Fitch.
When they do break ground, it will be for the entire project rather than just the southern half of the property. Fitch Industries wants to do all of the ground work at once so it isn’t blasting rock on the northern half while trying to construct the southern half.
“We’ve got a lot of ground work to do there,” Fitch said.
Before ground work can start, Fitch Industries has to close escrow on the property. Fitch attributed the delay to a weak United States economy and difficulty finding investors.
Fitch Industries is currently working with two investment firms to obtain funds to close on the property. One firm is American and the other is foreign, but both will be investing foreign dollars.
Trista Steers can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 124, or e-mail tsteers@larsonnewspapers.com
