Coyotes Boulevard could get new name ahead of Super Bowl
Goodbye, Coyotes Boulevard. Hello, Entertainment Boulevard?
The Glendale City Council is taking the first steps to remove the last reference to the Arizona Coyotes on city property, after the professional hockey team opted to leave Glendale in favor of playing in Tempe.
The new name was suggested by YAM Properties, the owner of the Westgate Entertainment District, and Atrium Hospitality, owner of the Renaissance Glendale Hotel and Spa, which are the only entities that have addresses on Coyotes Boulevard.
The road is only about a half-mile long, running from 91st Avenue to 95th Avenue, but runs through pieces of the Westgate Entertainment District and in front of Desert Diamond Arena, formerly Gila River Arena, which was the home of the Coyotes.
At a City Council workshop, Deputy City Manager Brent Stoddard said YAM Properties and the Renaissance hotel suggested the name Entertainment Boulevard to keep on theme with the existing sports and entertainment district and fuel more entertainment-oriented businesses and activities there.
However, the City Council could choose to rename the street anything it would like.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers said at the workshop that Entertainment Boulevard wasn’t “the sexiest name they could have come up with,” but said it does reinforce the goals of the area.
Name change desired ahead of the Super Bowl
The hotel and Westgate ownership would like to see the name changed before Glendale hosts the Super Bowl in February, which Stoddard said would be a reasonable time frame if the council opts to definitively choose a new name at its meeting in December.
The change will not cost the city anything extra, a city spokesman said,
because the city had budgeted to replace the street signs around the sports and entertainment district ahead of the Super Bowl anyway, to make sure the area looks new and refreshed ahead of the game.
The timing of the change will allow the city to order signs with the new name to be used when all the signage in the area is changed.
Changing the name of the street has been anticipated since Glendale decided against renewing the Coyotes’ lease for the arena, city spokesman Derek Diesner said.
The street is the last remaining reference to the Coyotes on public property.
The council voting on a resolution for a new name is the next step in the process. Once the name is selected, the city will notify the U.S. Postal Service to make sure mail to affected addresses will be delivered.
The city also must notify other government agencies, like Maricopa County agencies, utility companies, and private companies like FedEx and UPS, and private mapping services like Google Maps.
The affected addresses, which are only Westgate-affiliated properties and the Renaissance Hotel, will bear the cost of any of their changes, like new business cards or updating their own documents.
Tension between the city, hockey team was ongoing
The city chose not to renew the Coyotes’ lease in mid-2021, ending the team’s 19-year residence in Glendale. Tension between the city and the team had been ongoing, and the team had already been looking at land in Tempe for a new arena and entertainment district. The team is playing at Arizona State University’s new arena, Mullett Arena, for the next few years.
A nearly $2 billion plan for a new arena and mixed-use development proposed by the Coyotes in Tempe will likely be in the hands of city voters to decide.
The project would include more than 1,600 apartment units, the hockey arena and an entertainment district on a city-owned site that was formerly a dump.
Glendale has since gotten a new naming sponsor for the arena, Desert Diamond Casinos and Entertainment, and has moved forward with plans to renovate the arena from a hockey venue to host more concerts and other events there.
This month, the Tempe City Council voted to reserve a place on the May 2023 ballot for a special election regarding the development, but the council can still decide on whether the measure will officially go to a vote.