While Glendale City Hall has undergone years of renovations, City Manager Kevin Phelps has worked in a temporary office near Westgate Entertainment District with a view of VAI Resort.
“Well, the first thing you notice is the large main tower, which anchors the north end of the project,” he said
The site spans about 60 acres on the undeveloped southern edge of the district. Phelps views VAI Resort as the chef’s kiss on an idea ventured long before he came to Glendale.
“So since this project got started, it's gone from a $350 million project to, we think now, close to $1.3 billion project. Since we've started the project, they've gone from 600 rooms to 1,100 rooms. Since we started the project, they've added on a 2,000-plus seat theater,” he said.
Phelps and the city have not wilted from court battles over VAI Resort.
Labor activists filed claims to block tax incentives for the project, and the city ultimately withdrew them.
The state authority that owns the stadium — along with the Arizona Cardinals — sued the city over parking, a case that is ongoing.
Phelps has endured, because when he looks out that office window, “I think this is a transformational project for Glendale and for the West Valley,” he said.
'Absolutely and unquestionably' confident
But plans have been scrapped for a 2025 opening of the massive resort and theme park project under construction next to the stadium in Glendale. And critics have questioned the likelihood it will ever open.
Phelps said he’s still “absolutely and unquestionably” confident that VAI Resort will be finished. Even though a court battle launched in May could further slow the transformation he foresees.
The Fisher family, led by Tommy and Grant, has owned VAI Resort since 2022. Court records say their company loaned the original owner money to buy the land. But they had no financing to build a project called Crystal Lagoons.
Now VAI Resort is accusing a contractor of falsely claiming to be part owner.
The Fishers did not give interviews for this story. A request sent to their lawyer led to a call from a public relations firm, which declined comment.
According to court records filed by VAI Resort in May, the goal is for VAI to become a destination like those in Las Vegas.
Phelps disputes any analogy to Sin City. He calls VAI a unique property with energy and thought put in. Phelps said the Fishers are mostly self-financed, and he talks with them almost every day.
“The Fishers are so visionary and what they want to create (is) so special that the budget isn't constraining them. It's really their vision for this project. It's the possibilities of what this project can be. And they're willing to put more and more of their family resources behind it to make it come a reality,” Phelps said.
The Fishers’ vision is the subject of its own YouTube video, and it’s promoted on Vegas-like video boards attached to the side of buildings already built on the VAI Resort campus, where construction has been ongoing for years.
Construction worker dies at VAI
State safety regulators fined a subcontractor more than $26,000 after a worker fell roughly 60 feet to their death last year.
State records identify the subcontractor as E&E Companies, hired to install and remove concrete forms used in pouring projects at VAI Resort.
Last December, the firm was doing removals on the sixth story when a scissor lift could not reach high enough for the job. One worker held a ladder on top of the lift, and another reportedly fell while climbing toward where he planned to strap himself for safety.
Tyrone Wilson, 22, died on scene.
VAI Resort’s lawsuit is against a separate contractor, not E&E Companies.
Case defendant Scott Hillig has since filed a counterclaim, alleging that Tommy Fisher deceived him into giving up the value of procurement and design work for a small ownership stake Hillig never got.
A lawyer for Hillig declined to comment on pending litigation.
VAI Resort will open in 2026, Glendale official says
Back inside his temporary office, Phelps said he was unaware of the lawsuit. He does not think the case was a factor in the Fishers not opening VAI Resort this year.
“They have been committed since day one of elevating the experience, and in doing that, they've been willing to actually throw out designs and start from scratch,” Phelps said.
And he’s not concerned the latest lawsuit will delay the project even longer.
“My experience has been that those things will get themselves worked out," Phelps said.
Phelps said VAI Resort is now tentatively set to open in two phases at the end of 2026.
He also said there is another major addition to the development that will be unveiled in the coming months.
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