In early February, the Ambiente Sedona resort opened in Sedona, Ariz., as the final step of a family’s 50-year hospitality journey. Michael Stevenson and his wife Kathleen moved to Sedona in 1970 to work at his father’s restaurant, The Dutchman’s Cove. Three years later, the couple invested in opening a motel by Oak Creek Canyon, but had to declare bankruptcy in 1974 and return the property to its original owners.
Decades later, the couple invested in land in the area and leased some space to a restaurateur who opened Mariposa, a fine-dining restaurant that Michael Stevenson helped design. When a family friend was looking to open a small hotel on an adjacent plot of land that overlooked the area’s red rocks, he asked for Stevenson’s help on the project. Stevenson and his daughter Jennifer May went over to the parcel of land to see what it could be. “We walked over the whole piece and just decided [to] do something,” May recalled. But rather than develop a traditional hotel, the family decided to purchase the land themselves and create something that would fit better with the parcel’s hilly topography.
The family decided on having each room—which they call an atrium—on stilts with large windows to emphasize the view. Since the guestrooms are not connected, each could be individually placed to take advantage of the views and to maximize privacy.
Putting It Together
Over the following eight years, the family began creating their dream hotel. May and her sister, Colleen TeBrake, co-founded a development company for the business: Two Sister Bosses. They hired local builder Phil Morris to develop the project, but he died in late 2021 at the age of 84. “He would have been here with us till the end,” May said. “In fact, we have a monument on site in honor of him.” The sisters then hired Tierra Verde Builders to complete the project, working with Phoenix-based architecture company Asul, San Diego-based Krizan Associates for the landscape design and Scottsdale-based architect Stephen Thompson for the lobby. “We've utilized different people for different talents that they had to help us create this,” May said, describing the decision-making process as “hands-on” from everyone involved.
The 40 cube-shaped atriums cover 576 square feet and are positioned on steel piers with floor-to-ceiling bronze-tinted windows. Each private guestroom has a kitchen with on-demand wine dispensers and private rooftop decks with lounge seating, a fire pit and a daybed. May said that she and her father were, essentially, the design team for the first six years of the eight-year development process before TeBrake came onboard two years ago.
In creating the property, May and TeBrake—both new to the hospitality industry—looked for precedents that they could use as a guide. “We actually came across a small little hotel project in Spain called Vivood, and they called themselves Vivood Landscape Hotel,” May said. A Norwegian property, Juvet, also used the Landscape Hotel moniker. “Both of those designs were kind of similar in the fact that they were boxes on stilts with one front wall of glass. We wanted to Americanize it and take it into the luxury sector.” Creating a landscape hotel, May explained, emphasizes respect for the nature of the real estate. “You're not ripping up the landscape. … We wanted to try to [keep] everything as natural as possible.” Putting each unit on stilts meant that only four posts went into the ground rather than an excavated foundation, protecting as much of the plant life as possible.
Ambiente Sedona
LOCATION
As its name suggests, Ambiente Sedona is located in Sedona, Ariz., close to the Mariposa Grill and with a number of hiking trails nearby. One trail goes right through the property, making it easy for guests to hike without driving to another destination.
OPENING
February 2023
NUMBER OF ROOMS
40
GENERAL MANAGER
Brent Graef
WEBSITE
OWNER
Two Sister Bosses
MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Two Sister Bosses
OPENING OBSTACLE
The development team had a positive experience working with the city of Sedona, but the nature of the project made formal planning a little difficult. “Usually, when you're going to build something, they want you to have a map of how you're going to build it,” May said. “They want pictures and drawings and structural drawings and all of that stuff—which we had—but they also want placement marked down. And then you're not supposed to deviate away from that placement.” The team explained to the authorities that they knew, more or less, where each atrium would go, but they needed the freedom to adjust each unit as needed, moving it up or down or angling it left or right. The city worked with the development team to make sure everything went according to plan and that everyone had what they needed.