Nearly 2½ years after announcing Tucson would be one of five cities where Starwood Hotels and Resorts would launch its newest - "hip, urban attitude" - hotel concept, the deal is moving forward.

To make way for the new hotel, the seven-story, 150-room Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, 1900 E. Speedway near the University of Arizona, will be torn down. Work will begin later this year, though the timetable has not been set, according to those familiar with the plans. Once construction begins, it’s expected to take about 18 months.

An example aloft room. The Four Points Sheraton at 1900 E. Speedway will be torn down and replaced as an aloft hotel. Advertisement

Starwood, which owns the Four Points, is in the process of acquiring the rest of the property it doesn’t already own on the southeast corner of East Speedway and Campbell Avenue. Most of the remaining property is owned by the Sundt Trust. A small portion of it is owned by the University of Arizona. Starwood already owns the land under the hotel’s conference center, a separate building which was a former post office.

It’s anticipated that escrow will close by the end of April.

The Four Points opened as the Plaza Hotel in 1972. It was renovated in 1997.

The new hotel concept is named aloft (the company doesn’t capitalize the "a"). It fits into a category called limited service hotels, similar to brands such as Courtyard by Marriott. But aloft will "bring this tired, stagnant travel segment to new heights," the company says.

The aloft hotels are run by Starwood’s W Hotel’s division, which is known for its urban clutter-free designs. Each room in aloft is designed with nine-foot ceilings and bedroom lofts.

Despite being behind schedule in Tucson, Starwood has opened five aloft hotels: in Bentonville, Ark.; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Lexington, Mass.; Philadelphia; and Charleston, S.C. It also has eight hotels under construction and due to open before the end of this year.

The company says it intends to have 500 aloft hotels open by 2012. In Arizona, it’s plans include aloft hotels in Chandler, Glendale, Tempe and near Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

In October 2005, when it initially announced its intention to build an aloft hotel in Tucson, Starwood said the hotel would be near the UA on property it already owned, which immediately led to speculation the company had its eye on the Four Points site since it already owned the hotel and part of the property.

At the time, the company said it intended to have the hotel open by early 2007.

When Starwood couldn’t do a deal for the remainder of the property at Speedway and Campbell Avenue it started looking around at other potential sites, including downtown.

Officials at Starwood would not comment on how or why the decision was made to return to its original plan.

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237.