JCJ Architecture of San Diego, known for designing large-scale casino hotel complexes, has been selected to plan the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ 22-acre (9-hectare) downtown site in Palm Springs, US – to transform it into the tribe’s next hotel entertainment district.

It is not yet known how many rooms the new hotel will have or if any expansion to the current spa casino is envisioned, however tribal chair Jeff Grubbe commented: “[JCJ will] create a masterplan that will centre around the Agua Caliente hot mineral spring and will define a renewed area around it – transforming the site into a dynamic destination.”

In Q3 2014, the tribe announced plans to raze the former Spa Resort hotel, built in the 1960s, to make way for a new development as part of the tribe’s ‘vision’ for the future. During this time, tribe officials dismissed a 2007 plan that would have seen a 10-storey hotel complex built on the site.

Later that quarter, the tribe began dismantling the 229-bedroom hotel, despite the city preservation committee’s protests. The committee had pushed for an approach that might preserve or reuse some of the building.

The demolition of the old hotel is expected to be complete in Q3 2015, according to Agua Caliente officials and the hotel’s contents have already been sold off.

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