An Icon Sold

New Owners of Arizona Inn Include Local Investors, NBA Coach Steve Kerr

By Tiffany Kjos

The Arizona Inn, with its signature desert-pink Mediterranean-Spanish Colonial design, antique furnishings and lush gardens, has long been a beloved Tucson landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It’s now entering a new era under owners committed to honoring its 95-year legacy.

The inn, at 2200 E. Elm St., went up for sale this spring after remaining in the same family for generations, beginning with Arizona’s first congresswoman Isabella Greenway. 

Its new stewards will be just as devoted to its legacy. They are Jim and Kerrin Berwick, Greg and Marla Amado, Brian and Shamra Strange, Phil and Mimi Amos, Kirk Saunders, Ann Peterson and Steve and Margot Kerr.

“Four…investors got married here. One had their first date here. So, when the inn came up for sale, it was about preserving its legacy, being custodians of history, other than the tender loving care that it needs in some places,” said Nick Cedergren, VP of S Hotels Management, owned by Strange.

The inn’s thoughtful restoration, expected to last 18 months, has already begun, beginning with the historic 1937 pool, originally built with pumice from “A” Mountain. It now features white-and-yellow striped furniture, umbrellas and matching towels reminiscent of its early-1930s debut.

“It’s much more on brand, and it’s what the original vision for the hotel was, so we are bringing that back” Cedergren said.

“The hotel has so much rich history and heritage,” Strange said of the inn. “We’re very excited about it. And it’s particularly gratifying to work on a project where all the locals love it, because they just appreciate the legacy.”

A Promising Future

“I think what Tucsonans want and what they deserve is a group that respects the history and the legacy of the Greenway family and the hotel itself,” Strange said. “And that’s what we intend to do.”

Each of the 93 rooms will be furnished with original pieces and new bedding. A model room features a four-post bed, new beautiful linens and duvets and soft brown concrete floors. The biggest change will be converting the 5,200-square-foot Greenway House into a world-class spa, Strange said.

“We don’t want to rush into it, we want to do it right, and we want to do it intentionally, and we want to consider the overall feel,” he said. 

Beneath carpeted guest room floors is the original concrete, now being restored to something like its 1930s finish. The lush gardens and lawns will get a refresh and the bar will reopen as Bar 1933 – harkening to the year Prohibition ended and Greenway served her first term in Congress – “but always keeping in mind its origination, when it was built, and making sure that everything is aligned with the history and the heritage,” Strange said.

Many original Greenway items — including a sketch of Isabella — remain in storage. “A lot of these really cool pieces we’re going to slowly over time start to incorporate back into the inn, because that’s where they were to begin with,” Cedergren said.

The restaurant menu likely will see only minimal tweaks. “I personally think the chef has done a great job there. We’re going to make some minor changes, but we’ll go slow on that, too,” Strange said.

Right now, the grounds are strictly for hotel guests, but a new membership program under consideration will offer access to the pool, spa and tennis courts and discounts on food and beverages.

Whether members or overnight guests, visitors can expect not just charm and serenity but the inn’s customary stellar service, Cedergren said: “We like to curate experiences and create memories and experiences that people will remember for a lifetime.”

The inn will remain open throughout the restoration.

Honoring the Greenway Family Legacy

Arizona Inn was founded in 1930 by Greenway. Over the years, it was overseen by Greenway’s son, John (Jack) Selmes Greenway; her granddaughter, Frances (Patty Doar); and Isabella’s great-grandson, Will Conroy, who moved here in 2003 and became president of the inn in 2005.

“So much has happened here, consequential and trivial, funny and sad, happy and unbelievable, that beneath the tranquil surface of things, one feels the past swelling powerfully into the present. I feel it anyway, and I’m reassured by it every time I walk through the inn’s familiar front doors. I’m not sure even my great-grandmother could have predicted that,” Conroy wrote in “Arizona Inn: A History.”

The inn opened the night of Dec. 18, 1930, to great acclaim and has hosted weddings, anniversaries, and countless other celebrations over the decades. Its location, near the University of Arizona, makes it a favorite of visiting parents. The Silver & Turquoise Board of Hostesses, of which Greenway was a member, has held its annual ball there for more than 70 years. Notably, new owners Mimi Amos and Marla Amado are both hostesses.

Built to attract wealthy patrons when Tucson’s population was beginning to boom, the inn’s guests have included statesmen, philanthropists and celebrities, from Isabella’s close friend Eleanor Roosevelt to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Clark Gable.

Strange, who owns two other hotels, remarked on the serendipity that brought the new ownership group the sale. 

“There were a lot of people that wanted it, but in the back page of the ‘Arizona Inn’ book that they give you at check-in, there was a sketch of Isabella Greenway, who of course founded the hotel,” Strange said. “The sketch was by Felix Mattei’s son, of the Mattei family who started another of our hotels The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern. It was just such a coincidence that his son actually drew that picture, and it’s signed by him in the book. So, it seems like it was meant to be.”

Pictured above from left - New Arizona Inn owners Kirk Saunders,  Phil and Mimi Amos, Greg and Marla Amado, Jim and Kerrin Berwick and Brian and Shamra Strange. Inset: Steve Kerr, a new owner. Not pictured: Margot Kerr, Ann Peterson. Photos courtesy The Arizona Inn