$111 million Scottsdale hotel changes design to prevent birds from moving in
By Chase Golightly for 12News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A new luxury hotel opening in Scottsdale is excited to welcome guests in the next few months.
However, there are some high-flying ones they would like to keep off the property.
“The birds are a real problem,” said attorney John Berry, who is representing Caesars Republic Scottsdale.
In November, during a Scottsdale Design Review Board meeting, Berry and the hotel’s owner, Richard Huffman, asked the board to approve a significant design change to keep pigeons and other birds from perching and pooping on the $111 million hotel.
The hotel sits at 11 stories tall and will have 233 rooms, which will cost anywhere from $600 to $3,000 a night, so they don’t want guests to see what gets left behind by the birds.
“Some of you may think this issue is for the birds, but this is a serious issue,” Berry said.
The request asked to reduce the hotel’s ledges from 17 inches to 3 inches to prevent birds from congregating on the hotel. Berry said this change wasn’t done just to save money, which he said comes out to about $158,000, or to deceive the city. It was about keeping the pesky birds away and the hotel property safe.
“Birds waste, which is caustic enough to destroy concrete and steel over time, it can spread diseases like histoplasmosis and salmonella as it dries,” Berry said, quoting a report published in 2020.
Some of the board members expressed a sense of frustration with the late change in design.
“I’m going to call this case, ‘The Comedy of Errors Bird Poop Case,’” board member Michal Ann Joyner said.
About an hour into the meeting, the board unanimously voted to approve the design changes to bring in the ledges and keep the birds away.
Caesars Republic Scottsdale is set to open in March, just north of Scottsdale Fashion Square.