The full Monti: Tempe mainstay selling site, staying open
The Business Journal of Phoenix - March 23, 2007
by Jan Buchholz
The Business Journal
The owners of one of Tempe's oldest businesses, Monti's La Casa Vieja Steakhouse, have struck a deal with a local developer to sell the restaurant's 2.5-acre site at the corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway.
Steak lovers can rest easy: The restaurant will continue to operate.
After entertaining dozens of bids and proposals during the past year, owners Michael Monti and Eddie Goitia will work with Phoenix-based 3W Cos., a partner in the nearby University Square project.
"We did not set out to market this property," Monti said. "Eddie and I were just looking forward to more people living down here."
Monti said, "The sense of urgency (to sell) was created by US Airways."
About a year ago, Monti said, US Airways Group Inc. approached him about selling the 24,000-square-foot restaurant and adjacent parking lot. The company was trying to honor development promises America West Airlines had made to the city of Tempe in exchange for land the city had given the airline to establish its headquarters there, he said. (US Airways and America West merged last year.)
Monti said he asked the carrier what its plans were for the property, and US Airways responded with a proposal to turn the site into a parking garage. Given the restaurant's premium location in downtown Tempe, and just a skip away from one of Tempe's future light rail stations, Monti was not impressed.
"We decided to go it alone," he said.
Morgan Durrant, a spokesperson for US Airways, said he couldn't comment about the airline approaching Monti, but noted that the company is working with Opus West Corp. to build the Tempe Gateway project, an eight-story retail and office complex that will be constructed on other land it owns near the restaurant.
The plans, which Durrant said will meet the airline's development obligations, were submitted to the city the first week of March and are under consideration.
US Airways' pursuit of the Monti's property created a demand for the site that Monti never expected.
"It set off a bizarre land rush ... every time Eddie and I turned around, someone would approach us about selling," Monti said.
Essential components of any deal, he said, were to preserve the original 11,000-square-foot adobe structure -- built in 1871 by Arizona's prominent Charles Hayden family and listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- and to provide future accommodations for the restaurant and Monti's growing catering business.
Tony Wall, president of the privately held 3W, did not disclose a purchase price but said he expects to close on the property this summer. He said it probably will be a mixed-use project, but specifics had not yet been worked out.
"Our company really believes in Tempe," Wall said. "This is sort of a three-W kind of thing: a win for preservation, a win for redevelopment and a win for Tempe. It's a special piece of ground."
Chris Salomone, manager of the city of Tempe's Community Development Department, said he was unaware of any plans to sell the Monti's property and therefore was unable to comment.
"The issue was, who am I confident (going forward with) who respects the traditions and heritage of the Hayden family and my family," Monti said. "So many developers were uninformed about its historic character."
The property is situated kitty-corner from the new Hayden Ferry Lakeside commercial development and across the street from the Hayden Flour Mill, another historic site scheduled for preservation and multiuse redevelopment.
"Both of these great structures are being preserved," Monti said. "I wish my dad was here so he could see it."
His father, Leonard Monti Sr., purchased La Casa Vieja (Spanish for "the old house") in 1954. By then it already was a historic structure. Charles Trumbull Hayden originally built it as his home and business: the Hayden Ferry service, which transported people across what at the time was the free-flowing Salt River.
Arizona's famous Sen. Carl Hayden, son of Charles and Sallie, was born in the original adobe home. Eventually, the Haydens moved to another part of town and converted the house into a bar and restaurant. They lost the property during the financial turbulence of the Depression, but other proprietors carried on the dining tradition until Leonard Monti bought it.
For many years, it was the premier local restaurant, attracting locals and celebrities alike. Monti remembers James Garner and Dick Van Dyke dining there. Carmen Miranda and Elvis Presley also were guests. Former Arizona State University football coach Frank Kush took players and colleagues in for drinks and dinner. Phoenix Suns basketball player Steve Nash is one of today's more famous regular customers.
"We don't so much cater to celebrities these days ... but in that day, we had it all," Monti said.
When the original adobe is redeveloped, most likely within two to three years, Monti hopes to cater heavily to businesspeople working at the upscale commercial developments surrounding Tempe Town Lake, as well as affluent condominium buyers who are paying more than $1 million for waterside high-rise living.
Toward that end, Monti is planning to expand the restaurant's alfresco dining experience with more sophisticated patio seating on two levels, with views and misting systems.
"I want the guys in those offices to look down on our patio and say, 'I can't wait to have a margarita there after work,'" Monti said.
