Proposed hotel to resume plans near airport after legal battle

The landscape around the El Paso International Airport will soon change with the construction of a new hotel, Acequia Park, a Westin Hotel.

ABC-7 first reported the new development in 2014, but plans to build the hotel came to a hault that same year after a nearby hotel filed a lawsuit.

EP Vida is the company behind the construction of Acequia Park that will also offer retail, dining and entertainment.

The hotel will hold more than 200 rooms and will be located on Airway Boulevard and Boeing, just north of Montana Avenue.

EP Vida president Bill Correa and a UTEP graduate told ABC-7 Tuesday plans are underway to get the hotel built.

Correa said the involved parties, contractors and investors did not want to move forward with the project until litigation was over.

The Wyndham Hotel along with two other hotels, the Radisson and Marriott filed the 2014 lawsuit against EP Vida and the city of El Paso. The lawsuit claimed the city gave EP Vida too much in incentives.

The Radisson and Marriott eventually dropped out of the lawsuit.

The city’s incentive package from 2013 included a 100% property tax rebate, a 100% rebate of the city’s 1% sales and use tax and mixed beverage tax, and a 50% hotel occupancy tax rebate for a ten-year period.

Correa said the lawsuit went to an appeals court where the judge ruled in favor of EP Vida late 2017.

“I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made,” Correa told ABC-7. He said all the investors and contractors are still interested and they are moving forward with plans.

Jeff Schultes, assistant director of El Paso International said the airport area is in need of another hotel.

“This project was minimum of 100 jobs for the hotel and and the retail center with a minimum of 200 jobs. It’s a $75 million dollar project,” Schultes said.

Correa said the project will remain in the $75 million range considering it took a few years before planning could continue.

Acequia Park could be complete as soon as 2020.

Correa, who also has a home in El Paso and graduated from UTEP with a degree in engineering said he has been wanting to build this hotel for a long time.

He said he traveled to many cities to get ideas for Acequia Park.