Amara Creekside Resort Cited As Best New Building Project In AZ

LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ— Sedona’s Amara Creekside Resort was selected as the Arizona Main Street Best New Building Project, an award presented by Governor Janet Napolitano’s Rural Development Conference here. Amara was one of 75 submissions in 12 categories covering the entire state. The Arizona Main Street Awards recognize achievement in the face of challenges in revitalizing commercial business districts, namely downtown areas of small towns throughout the state. The 100-room resort was developed by Scottsdale real estate attorney Al Spector who also developed the Scottsdale Princess Resort; Jack Gechman, a real-estate investor; and Michael Leclere, a world-class architect who has done work for Donald Trump and the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, CA. “We designed a pedestrian-accessible walkway from Uptown Sedona to Creekside throughout Amara and our properties— making the experience that much more enjoyable for visitors and reinforcing Main Street’s mission of creating a pedestrian-friendly environment,” said Kevin Johnson, general manager of the resort. Amara Creekside Resort is situated on the banks of Oak Creek, a five-minute walk from Uptown Sedona’s galleries, shops and restaurants. Amara was constructed to blend with the Sedona environment— all guestrooms and suites boast red rock views or patios overlooking Oak Creek. The resort offers more than 14,000 square feet of space to host indoor and outdoor meetings, weddings and events. There’s high-speed Internet access in every room, and Amara was the first resort in Sedona designated as a WiFi hot spot, where guests can connect their laptops to the Internet on their patios, at the pool, in all of the meeting facilities, or even along the banks of Oak Creek In addition to the immediate creation of more than 80 jobs when the resort opened in October 2003, Amara will pay sales and bed taxes to the city of more than $400,000 per year. Amara this month also officially opens a portion of the Oak Creek-front— known as “Creekwalk”— to the public. Working in partnership with the Institute of Ecotourism, Amara will invest significant funds to label rocks, plants and wildlife along this half-mile walk