Dec. 5--Unexpected rain showers on Tuesday kept the $180 million Westin Kierland Resort & Spa at the Scottsdale-Phoenix border from hoisting a tennis court-sized chunk of its roof into place atop the massive steel skeleton. 

The symbolic "topping off" ceremony, rescheduled for today, marks a major milestone for the 750-room luxury hotel, one of two slated to open in just about a year. The 950-room Desert Ridge Marriott Resort, under construction a few miles northwest of the Westin, is aiming for a November 2002 opening. The Westin is taking room reservations for January 2003, said John Scovell, president of Woodbine Development Co., Kierland's owner and developer. But Scovell hinted Tuesday that he expects the hotel to open sooner. 

The national travel slowdown, the result of a weak economy and the Sept. 11 attacks, is "a concern to all of us," he said. 

"But we're a long-term owner," Scovell said. "We still own the Hyatt Regency Dallas that we've owned since 1978. When you have that perspective about real estate ownership, you don't get worried about all the peaks and valleys. I'd be more concerned if we were opening in January 2002, but 13 months allows things to get back to normal." 

Scovell also said that having a bunch of luxury properties clustered in the Scottsdale-Phoenix area creates an image that attracts more business to the destination. It means that even if tourism is temporarily on a downturn, the Valley will snag a bigger slice of the smaller pie, he said. 

The Westin, surrounded by a 27-hole golf course, is pegged to feature 60,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, eight bars and restaurants, tennis courts, outdoor courtyards with fountains, several swimming pools and lush landscaping, and a full-service spa and fitness center. 

The resort will have a distinctly Arizona theme, Scovell said, with architecture, art and accessories designed to reflect the state. Woodbine enlisted Marshall Trimble, official state historian and Scottsdale Community College teacher, storyteller and entertainer, to develop tributes to the state's famous and not-so-famous characters. Woodbine plans to dedicate rooms and resort features to those shapers of the state, Trimble said, including erecting plaques detailing their contributions. The honorees will range from unsung builders who crafted the structures of past centuries to famous sports figures such as golfer Heather Farr, who died of breast cancer in 1993. 

The Westin is the long-awaited centerpiece of the Kierland development, a 730-acre residential-retail-office-resort complex that stretches along the west side of Scottsdale Road from Acoma Drive north nearly to Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. 

Kierland includes more than 1,700 homes and apartments, a massive office complex and a retail center that has attracted such tenants as Crate & Barrel, Robb & Stucky, Cheesecake Factory and the corporate headquarters for P.F. Chang's and Troon Golf. The homes and apartments are nearly completed and mostly all sold, said Buzz Gosnell, Woodbine vice president. More than 1 million square feet of office space has been built, and Gosnell estimates that it is about 90 percent leased. Another 700,000-plus office space is planned but on hold until the economy turns around, he said. Not so Kierland Commons, the Main Street-inspired retail core, which is steaming ahead at full speed, Gosnell said. The first two segments of the four-phase development are completed and nearly entirely leased. A third phase, which will include a two-story Barnes & Noble and Mastro's steak house, among other coveted retailers, is under construction, Gosnell said. A fourth phase includes a two-story underground garage topped by street-level shops. Gosnell said national retailers are signing up for space as fast as the company can build it. 

"We're in the right space at the right time," Gosnell said. "As long as people are here, they'll need a place to shop." 

Among Kierland Commons' first retailers is upscale national clothing chain Chico's. 

"I've had a great year in this location," said Chico's Kierland store manager Janie Blake. 

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(c) 2001, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. BKS,