As you are aware, we need to move the NPBA luncheon from its current location at Catch 22. To that end, Julie Wong and Gary Smith have spent the latter part of last week and today hunting down a new venue. Our criteria for the new venue are:
1. We need a standing commitment from 11:30 – 2:00 every 2d Wednesday
of the month.
2. The room needs to be quiet and private.
3. The room needs to accommodate 30-50 people.
4. The venue needs to be in the geographic boundaries of the NPBA and
convenient to the NPBA members.
5. The venue needs to give us lunch within our budget, inclusive of tip, tax,
and room rental.
Julie Wong and Gary Smith looked at several potential locations:
1. Embassy Suites on Paradise Valley Parkway;
2. Stonecreek Golf Club;
3. Moon Valley Country Club;
4. Hilton Garden Inn on 19th & Pinnacle Peak;
5. Dave & Busters at Desert Ridge;
6. Orange Tree Golf Resort;
7. Rock Bottom Brewery; and
8. The Musical Instrument Museum on Tatum Road.
In each instance above, we ran against some stumbling block or another. In most instances, the price we were willing to pay was too low. For example, Dave & Buster’s at Desert Ridge, which has a really great meeting room, wants nearly $10 more per head than what we currently charge you. I also tried to get us into the Musical Instrument Museum, but it wants $1,000/month room rental + food. Since we don’t want to raise the luncheon price to you, there is no work around.
The other most common stumbling block we encountered was the venues’ unwillingness to guarantee us the room each month. For example, we looked at the Embassy Suites on Tatum. It has a lovely facility, but they won’t allow us to book more than 2 months advance at a time. Plus, they already told us we can NOT have the room in November or December. Likewise, Rock Bottom at Desert Ridge does not have availability on the 2d Wednesday of the month.
We also looked at assorted restaurants. Surprisingly few have private rooms large enough to fit 30-50 people, and of the ones we contacted, they wouldn’t accommodate us. Likewise, we looked at the Orange Tree Resort, but it wanted far more money than our budget allows.
However, today Julie, Gary, Fred and I checked out the Tatum Ranch Golf Club. The facility is relatively new, nice, roomy and quiet. We at lunch there and the food was decent.
This location can generally accommodate us on all of our aspects. Tatum Ranch Golf Club meets our price, our time commitment requirements, menu variety, etc. Plus, the facility is private, quiet and gorgeous. The only catch is that the facility is several miles further north from Catch 22.
As several NPBA members office near Shea or Cactus, we want to be sensitive to that fact and ask if anyone has a strong objection to relocation to Tatum Ranch Golf Club. The whole point of NPBA is group participation. So if the extra 8 minute drive time is a deal killer for too many of you, then we will need to find another accommodation (fast).
Since we are running very close to our next CLE luncheon, we need to know ASAP if any of you are strongly opposed to relocating to Tatum Ranch Golf Club. If you are opposed to the move to Tatum Ranch Golf Club, please email us at info@northphoenixbarassociation.org and let us know immediately.
However, if you are opposed to Tatum Ranch, WE NEED YOU TO OFFER UP AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION; even an inconvenient location is better than none at all. One thing is for certain, and that is that the facility at Catch 22 is just not conducive to our needs.
