Flagstaff Pulliam Airport is getting a hotel in the future.
This past week, the Flagstaff City Council unanimously voted to move forward with a sale of 32 acres of city-owned land near the airport. The land will be sold to GreenTree Hospitality, a company headquartered in Shanghai, China with 2,500 hotel properties throughout Asia and five in the United States, including GreenTree Inn in Flagstaff.
The company wants to build a hotel, conference center, restaurant and corporate headquarters on the land, which would aid in their expansion into the United States.
The land is located on the east side of Interstate 17, east of Pulliam Drive and north of J.W. Powell Boulevard. GreenTree has made a commitment to have at least ninety jobs on the site, including fifty at corporate headquarters and forty at the hotel within six years after the completion date.
The sale was originally on the agenda last summer, and it was removed several times before being addressed at the meeting.
GreenTree will partner with Northern Arizona University to offer internships to current students and hire recent graduates in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management.
Speakers at the meeting cited the possibility of new jobs, tax revenue, and community partnerships as benefits of the sale. In addition, the presence of a hotel and restaurant in the vicinity of the airport could encourage an additional airline to provide service to Flagstaff customers, as currently, American Airlines is the only carrier offering commercial flights at the airport, servicing Phoenix Sky Harbor.
At their June 6 meeting, the council will vote on the second reading of the ordinance of the property sale.