During last week’s Arizona Board of Regents meeting, the board made the decision to approve the UA’s request to enter into a lease with a new Tucson hotel for the purpose of establishing a University Club.

The agreement is with a hotel that will be built in the empty parking lot between the UA’s Louise F. Marshall building and the current Marriott Hotel. The new hotel is set to be 13 floors, with the top floor being designated for the University Club.

According to the Executive Summary from the Arizona Board of Regents meeting from Nov. 20-21, there has not been a UA faculty club in over 25 years, and UA faculty and administration have wanted an exclusive place for faculty.

Lynn Nadel, the regents’ professor of psychology at the UA, is acting as coordinator for the project. He explained that this new club will be for more than just faculty members. The club, which will require memberships, will most likely have memberships available on various levels.

According to the plan, memberships will be available to faculty members, alumni, retirees and general community members as well as to entire departments and local businesses. Memberships will not likely be available to undergraduate students but may be available to graduate students and others, Nadel said. Nadel added that membership drives are set to begin soon and will continue for approximately the next year-and-a-half.

Although membership rates are not set, it is estimated that for a full professor, the membership cost will be a one-time fee of about $300 and a monthly fee of $25-$30. Nadel said he expects there will be a sliding scale for the various membership prices.

“The community has been clamoring for something like this,” Nadel said. “Most universities already have something like this, and we don’t. This club will be a great improvement.”

The club will have restaurant services, including alcoholic beverages and a coffee bar. It will also have lounge areas and meeting rooms, as it is meant to be a multipurpose space for faculty and others.

Now that the proper permission has been received, plans can begin to move forward. Construction on the hotel is expected to break ground in the spring, and is expected to be finished with the hotel opening sometime in the summer of 2016.

According to the meeting notes, the board of regents hopes that the creation of the club as well as the planned offering of memberships to those outside the immediate university community “will strengthen the relationships with those constituencies, provide them with additional access to and connectivity with the UA campus and its faculty, staff and administration, and increase the opportunities for new partnerships and collaborations.”

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