Indians to develop resort and tech park

PALM SPRINGS - Ernest Noia has announced plans to create a $200 million mixed use development on the fringes of the Midvalley Parkway at the edge of Palm Springs. A local attorney and civic activist, project manager Noia has been facilitator for the project, to be called the Midvalley Center and El

"There are five Indian landowners whose properties are involved in the project. All are members of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and the land is a part of their reservation. The Indians are excited that their ancestral lands will be developed into a 21st century technology park," explained Noia.

The project will consist of 313 acres surrounding the new Mesquite Avenue extension, beginning of the Midvalley Parkway, and will include an upscale resort hotel with a tournament quality 7,000-yard-plus golf course. There are three commercial/business parcels, one of which will be the site of a 40,000 square foot high-tech office tower to be built in phase one; of the other two parcels, each 12 acres, one will be reserved for future use. Developers are investigating the feasibility of building a natural gas-powered co-generation electrical power plant on the site.

"This will be the first self-sufficient industrial park in the Coachella Valley. It will be an integrated space, with hotel, offices and the surrounding commercial property all feeding each other.

"Corporate pads designed to house high-tech companies will be enhanced by the future, expansion of the Foreign Trade Zone. Once activated, the zone will be a tremendous asset to the Palm Springs area. The MidValley Center is targeted for inclusion in that expansion and will provide benefits to potential corporate users," explained Noia.

"The coporate pads are available on long-term lease, in keeping with the Bureau of Indian Affairs' regulations for leasing of Indian land," said Noia. In addition, because the development is located on Indian land, there are tax benefits available to developers of commercial space.

Noia explained that this is a 15-year development. Phase one will include the hotel and golf course. Martin Burke, managing partner of El Mirador Hotel and Resort, developers of the hotel and golf course, said architects for the hotel and golf course have not yet been selected. Project developers are meeting this week with such architectural bright lights as John Jerde to help create the master plan.