Vacant Phoenix Office Tower to Become 340-Room JW Marriott in $200M Adaptive Reuse

How 400 East Van Buren Goes From Empty Office Tower to JW Marriott

A vacant 19-story office tower at 400 East Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix is being converted into a 340-room JW Marriott. Las Vegas-based LaPour Partners is leading the $200 million adaptive reuse project inside the Arizona Center, with plans for restaurants, a pool, fitness center, ballroom, meeting space and an upper-level club lounge. The hotel will sit across from the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and about half a block from the Phoenix Convention Center.

LaPour describes the project as its fourth hotel development in the area since the early 2020s. The firm already owns the AC Hotel Phoenix Downtown, which is also located at the Arizona Center. Founder and president Jeff LaPour said downtown Phoenix has been growing while the hotel market has not kept up, creating an opportunity for an upper-scale luxury business hotel. The building's relatively modern structure is central to the reuse: completed in 1990, it has 13-foot floor-to-floor heights and floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The conversion is also part of a revival at the Arizona Center, a mixed-use complex that declined over the previous decade before Reliance Management acquired it for $27 million in 2023. Since then, retail space on the second and third floors has reached full occupancy with new food anchors. The hotel is expected to add roughly 15,000 square feet of indoor meeting and ballroom space plus 2,542 square feet outdoors, positioning it to capture convention business. It will be the third JW Marriott-branded property in the Phoenix area.

Why LaPour and Reliance See a $200 Million Hospitality Opening in Downtown Phoenix

A demand bet, not just a hotel conversion

LaPour's project is aimed at Phoenix's convention and group-travel economy rather than generic hotel supply growth. The site is directly across from the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and half a block from the Phoenix Convention Center, yet LaPour describes an unmet need for an upper-scale luxury business hotel. The planned 15,000 square feet of indoor meeting and ballroom space strengthens that positioning. The factual location and size are clear; the demand gap itself is partly LaPour's interpretation, and the report does not provide independent downtown occupancy or room-rate data.

The economics of 1990s office stock

The building's age is not presented as a drawback. Its 1990 completion date, 13-foot floor-to-floor heights and floor-to-ceiling glass are treated as features that make hotel conversion viable by allowing practical room layouts and natural light. This is a meaningful point for owners of similar vintage office buildings: buildings with hotel-friendly dimensions may attract reuse capital even when their office leasing prospects have weakened. The report does not disclose the conversion's construction budget, timeline or how costs compare with new construction.

Where Reliance Management and the Arizona Center fit

The hotel should reinforce the broader turnaround of the Arizona Center. Reliance Management bought the distressed complex for $27 million in 2023, and the second and third floors have since reached full retail occupancy with new food anchors. For Reliance, a branded 340-room hotel adds an occupancy and foot-traffic anchor. For LaPour, the site offers direct convention adjacency and an existing mixed-use environment. Their incentives align: the hotel brings guests to the complex, while the retail and dining make the hotel more attractive to visitors.

Competitive and valuation signals for Phoenix hospitality

The project will become the third JW Marriott in the Phoenix area, joining properties in north Phoenix and Paradise Valley. The 950-room JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge traded for $865 million last year, indicating strong investor appetite for large branded Phoenix hospitality assets. The new downtown property will compete for group and transient demand, including with the adjacent Sheraton, but it targets a different brand tier and adds meeting capacity. If convention demand continues to grow, the project could expand the district's appeal; if demand weakens, the additional inventory could pressure downtown rates.

What the Arizona Center Hotel Conversion Signals for Developers, Owners and Operators

The project offers specific signals for commercial real estate investors, hotel operators and mixed-use owners based on the details disclosed.

• Owners of vacant 1990s-era office buildings: Conversion feasibility should be assessed against floor-to-floor height and glazing before accepting distressed office pricing. The Phoenix tower's 13-foot floor-to-floor heights and floor-to-ceiling glass are presented as the physical basis for hotel reuse.
• Developers targeting convention districts: The supply argument here is location-specific: the site sits across from the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown and half a block from the Phoenix Convention Center, yet LaPour identified a gap for an upper-scale luxury business hotel. The 15,000-square-foot indoor meeting and ballroom addition is aimed directly at group demand.
• Mixed-use turnaround owners: The Arizona Center shows how a hotel conversion can anchor a struggling complex. After Reliance Management acquired the property for $27 million in 2023, second- and third-floor retail reached full occupancy with new food anchors.
• Hospitality investors underwriting Phoenix assets: The metro has an active branded-hotel market, with the 950-room JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge trading for $865 million last year. Underwriting for this project still requires assumptions about current downtown occupancy, average daily rate and construction timeline, none of which are disclosed in the report.