Renovations include fixing historic fountain in courtyard

Owners completed the most recent major renovations on the building in the early 2000s, Bentz said.

This time, crews renovated aging plumbing, windows and elevator electrical systems. Top-floor residents who used to have to wait for hot water now receive it an instant, Bentz said.

A new lightning-suppression system aims to better protect a building with an antenna prominent in the Phoenix skyline. The site was safe before, but the addition will divert lightning if it’s ever hit, Bentz said.

And for the first time in decades, the historic fountain in the building’s courtyard is operable.

The reopening offered a rare chance to see a building normally closed to the public. “It just gives that visual pop to the whole thing,” Bentz said.

Part of the budget also went to accommodating residents, who were either displaced during daytime hours or temporarily moved during construction, to make the transition “as seamless as possible,” Bentz said.

Resident DeLores Callahan, who turns 73 this month, said she moved into the building in January and wasn’t disrupted by the construction. She said she appreciates the history of the Westward Ho — particularly the ornate lobby and courtyard.

“The tile, especially, is mouthwatering,” Callahan said.

ASU programs for residents a ‘godsend,’ one tenant says

The changes follow historical guidelines for the building. In its heyday, the hotel hosted some of Phoenix’s most elite visitors.

Both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan paid visits before their presidencies. Paul Newman once threw a TV off a balcony there in a film. Jackie Gleason, Liberace and Wayne Newton were among hotel performers, according to the owner.

Now, it’s home to income-qualified tenants, with preference given to seniors. Arizona State University recently moved into the ground floor of the building to offer them health and social services.

In September, the university opened a clinic, office and event space called Collaboratory on Central. ASU is renting roughly 15,000 square feet of space that previously was vacant.

Callahan called the students a “godsend.” She said she participates in programs, including a group for women focusing on personal security, as often as possible.

The Westward Ho is a vast improvement from the unsafe places she was living before, Callahan said.

“It’s very nice living downtown,” she said.