BizTucsonSpring2026-HSL

SPECIAL REPORT 2026

THE REGION’S BUSINESS MAGAZINE

HSL PROPERTIES

50 YEARS OF

COMMUNITY IMPACT

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HSL PROPERTIES at 50 Building a Legacy in Real Estate

By Jay Gonzales Ask Humberto Lopez about his vision for building the company that is marking 50 years as a regional real estate developer and a philanthropic force, and he has a series of starting points for the journey.

The actual founding of the company was in 1975 when he and his business partner, Glenn Toyoshima, formed HSL Properties in Tucson.

But it could be when Lopez and Toyoshima met by happenstance working at a “big eight” CPA firm in Los Angeles, starting their jobs on the same day in 1969. Lopez started buying and selling real estate on the side and the two ultimately quit their jobs together to do it full-time.

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You could even look back to the days when Lopez, as a 10-year-old living in Nogales, Ariz., started buying and selling newspapers and mowing lawns, sometimes earning $45 a week and keeping only $5 for himself, giving the rest to the family to pay bills.

From the start to today, the vision has remained the same. As HSL Properties was built into a company with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and properties, it has never lost sight of the fact that it also is a company that is leaving a lasting legacy in its community.

“I think it was a natural progression of always believing in integrity and treating people well,” Lopez said, reflecting on why HSL Properties has had

the sustained success to last 50 years in an industry – real estate – that is universally considered volatile.

“I believe in treating people as human beings,” he said. “We’ve all got to be respected. I believe in integrity. I believe in honesty. That’s what has gotten us to where we’re at today.”

It’s a way of doing business that Toyoshima was on board with from the beginning of the business relationship with Lopez. When the two left their Los Angeles CPA firm, they formed one of their own as the foundation of their business. But all the while, Lopez was dealing in real estate until it became fruitful enough to put 100% of their time and effort into the industry, eventually forming HSL Properties.

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& Community Toyoshima still lives in Los Angeles, always participated in the operation of the company as executive officer, and still does. He is in Tucson often to be a part of the company’s community and philanthropic activities. He still toils in the business.

A self-described “worker” with a penchant for detail, Toyoshima said his innate trust in Lopez’ business judgment has been the foundation for the business relationship between the two men since the late 1960s.

“I have had, and I still do have a lot of confidence in Humberto,” Toyoshima said. “The guy has a mind that is just geared to making deals. I’m more of a worker. I do a bunch of the detail stuff.

I get things done. But he has a kind of a genius mind for real estate. I always just trusted what he came up with and the deals he felt were good.”

As it turns 50, HSL Properties remains Tucson-based and is a company that employs more than 1,000 people – they’re called “team members” at HSL, not employees. Its portfolio includes 42 apartment communities, 11 hotels, four commercial properties and a host of other investments.

Lopez, who turns 80 this fall, turned over day-to-day operation of the business a decade ago to his wife’s nephew, Omar Mireles, who began living with the Lopez family when he was 10 years old.

Mireles, who attended St. Cyril of Alexandria School, Salpointe Catholic High School and Cornell University, didn’t go straight to HSL after college.

He built a career as a real estate analyst in New York before joining HSL in 2003 as an executive VP. He’s been president of HSL Properties since 2015.

Mireles, 49, said he recognized the responsibility of taking the reins of a company that was built from the ground up, already highly successful, and was having a massive impact on the Tucson community. His approach to running the business has been different from his uncle, who started the business by being aggressive – yet proficient − in the real estate market in Los Angeles. What continued on page 118 >>>

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TIMELINE

1975

2005

1980

HSL Properties launches its Community Impact Program, focusing on sponsorships, donations, and volunteer hours. This initiative highlights the company’s commitment to supporting and giving back to the communities where it operates.

HSL Properties is founded Humberto Lopez partners with friend and fellow entrepreneur Glenn Toyoshima to form HSL Properties.

Mr. Lopez moves to Tucson Within four years, the company had investments in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Georgia. With HSL Properties thriving, Humberto and his wife, Czarina, decide it’s time to move their family from Los Angeles to a smaller community. They choose Tucson, Arizona.

1985

First major apartment community acquisition

Launch of HSL Community Impact Program

2007

Building Success: HSLCS is created HSL Construction Services is founded to support HSL Properties by managing construction projects with efficiency and expertise, ensuring high-quality developments and renovations.

HSL Properties acquires its first major multi-family apartment community, significantly expanding its portfolio and establishing a strong presence in the Southwestern United States.

This acquisition marks the beginning of the company’s rapid growth in the multi-family housing sector.

The Heart Behind the H.S. Lopez Family Foundation

1990

2008

Expansion into commercial real estate HSL Properties diversifies its portfolio by investing in office and retail buildings. This strategic move allows the company to broaden its market reach and create more comprehensive, mixed-use developments.

1993

It’s about community!

As the company grows, so does its investment in the local community.

Passion for charity begins.

2002

HSL Asset Management Company is formed HSL forms its Asset Management Company to provide effective sitemanagement and quality resident services. This division enhances operational efficiency and ensures a superior living experience for all residents, solidifying HSL’s reputation for excellence in property management.

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Humberto and his wife Czarina created the H.S. Lopez Family Foundation with a deep desire to help the community by providing support to causes related to education, health and welfare.

Purchase of First Luxury Hotel HSL Properties purchases its first luxury hotel, the Hilton El Conquistador, expanding its footprint in the hospitality sector. This milestone marks the beginning of the company’s successful venture into hotels, resorts, and hospitality services.

2012

Encantada Living: Redefining Luxury HSL Properties establishes its signature luxury brand, Encantada Living, with the launch of Encantada at Tucson National. Since then, the brand has expanded to include multiple properties, setting the benchmark for “resort-style” living.

2015

Omar named President After more than a decade of significantly contributing to the success of HSL Properties, Inc., and remaining dedicated to the company’s growth throughout Arizona, Omar Mireles has been named President of the accomplished development company.

HSL Properties Co-Founder Glenn Toyoshima & his wife Marion continued from page 117 hasn’t changed is the company’s commitment to the community.

“I suppose it’s like getting a really nice car,” Mireles said. “Even though you want to get on the road and just open it up, you want to be careful as you’re getting out of the lot that you’re not going to get T-boned by that truck.

“I’ve always taken a relatively conservative approach to business,” he said. “I think Humberto has always been a bit more of that aggressive dealmaker, which has been absolutely great. I think it’s a good, complementary relationship.”

An approach Mireles took with the business was to bring many of the outside operations, such as property management, in-house, forming business entities under the HSL umbrella to run the various aspects of the business. Each segment of the business has its own commitment to the work HSL does in the community and how it represents.

HSL Asset Management was formed to operate and manage the apartment portfolio as well as the internal operation, including human resources.

Desert Hospitality Management operates the hotels, which has properties in Tucson, Marana, Mesa and Oklahoma City. Two of those properties are two of Tucson’s prominent resorts, the El Conquistador Tucson and The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, in which it is a partner with Cottonwood Properties. www.BizTucson.com

BizMILESTONE 2019

HSLopez Center of Opportunity: Shelter & Hope The HSLopez Center of Opportunity opens its doors, providing both short- and long-term shelter for Tucson’s homeless and those who need it.

2020

From left –

Omar Mireles President HSL Properties

Humberto Lopez Founder HSL Properties

The accounting, financials and investor relations for all of the assets are managed

by HSL Management Services. HSL Construction Services does all the building, serving HSL Properties as its only client, and has built more than $1 billion in properties.

“It was an evolution of seeing how the company had grown and seeing what the opportunities were,” Mireles said of the consolidation. “We could be a lot more nimble if we had one team that was steering in the exact same direction. That gave us a lot more direct impact into not only the service at the properties, but ultimately the physical attributes of the properties.”

An aspect of the business – the Lopez philosophy – that Mireles has embraced has been the way HSL treats its people, its investors and the community.

The H.S. Lopez Family Foundation, an entity separate from HSL Properties, has dedicated millions of dollars to the community through its three philanthropic priorities – education, welfare and health.

Lopez has committed to leaving his wealth to the Foundation to continue the family legacy into future generations. www.BizTucson.com

PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

The Premiere of The Flin

Those priorities, under Lopez, Toyoshima and Mireles, have extended to the employees who embrace a culture of teamwork and community as they go about their work at HSL. The list of organizations that receive philanthropic support from HSL and its team members is extensive, including Gospel Rescue Mission, Community Food Bank, El Tour de Tucson, Ronald McDonald House, Alzheimer’s Association, Tucson Pride, Angel Charity for Children, American Heart Association, Tu Nidito, the Jazz Festival, the Tucson Conquistadores, the University of Arizona, and any other organizations that individual employees support.

“What has really been a game-changer has been the engagement of our team,” Mireles said. “At the core of our team truly is that sense of community. As our tagline says, ‘It’s about community,’ it’s not just a tagline on a sign. It’s truly lived by our team members, and you see it in their giving of themselves, of their time, of their resources.”

This one-of-a-kind property is opened. Located in the heart of downtown Tucson, The Flin offers an unparalleled living experience.

As the flagship of downtown living, it combines modern luxury with vibrant city energy, making it the premier destination for those seeking the best of urban living.

2023

HSL Introduces Desert Hospitality Management Raising the standard in hotel management, HSL starts Desert Hospitality Management, a dedicated team of industry professionals delivering exceptional results, exceeding expectations and bringing a personal touch to HSL’s hotel portfolio.

2024

Giving back to the University of Arizona HSL’s founding family donates a generous gift to support the development of the HSLopez School of Business Analytics at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management and makes a major commitment to the university’s College of Medicine.

2025

50 years of Community HSL proudly celebrates 50 years of excellence in building communities and shaping the landscape of Tucson. From innovative residential properties to impactful community initiatives, HSL has consistently raised the bar in making a positive difference in the lives of Southern Arizonans.

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Nicole Garcia

VP of Human Resources HSL Asset Management

Maclyn Wilcox

Office Manager HSL Asset Management

PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

From left –

Chris Evans

President HSL Asset Management

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Doing the ‘Right Thing’ for the Community

Company Culture Stokes Return on Investment for All

By Jay Gonzales Nicole Garcia didn’t have to wait long to find out just how HSL Properties builds a culture in which team members are eager to contribute to the company and the community.

Garcia joined HSL as VP of human resources four years ago. Like all HSL team members, she had to go through an orientation process on her first day on the job.

“When I stepped into my first day at HSL, it was in orientation, even as a vice president coming in, I was sitting next to a maintenance technician. We were getting the same information,” Garcia said. “From a human resources standpoint, I loved that everyone was being treated equal. That really stuck out.”

As someone who has worked in other human resources positions, Garcia recognized that she was stepping into an organization that, for 50 years, has had a massive impact on Tucson from a business and community standpoint.

The culture of commitment and accountability is as much a component of the business as the expertise behind building apartment communities and operating hotels over 50 years, Garcia and other team members say. It’s not an accident that HSL continues to succeed. www.BizTucson.com

“Everybody has their titles. Everybody has their entities. But at the end of the day, when a problem needs to be solved, or when somebody needs help, everybody’s door is open,” said Maclyn Wilcox, HSL Properties’ office manager for the last 15 years. “You can reach out to just about anybody to get an answer. At the end of the day, everybody’s educated and trying to solve that problem.”

It’s actually a premise that sounds simple, but maybe isn’t, said Chris Evans, president of HSL Asset Management, the business entity that operates the company’s portfolio of rental properties.

“If there’s one message that kind of streams from Omar, it’s a simple message, but in practice, it’s not always easy,” Evans said, referring to HSL President Omar Mireles. “As a team, as an employer, as an individual, we always do the right thing, which sounds simple, but when you start putting it in practice, sometimes that’s very hard to do.

“Sometimes that’s admitting your failures.

Sometimes that’s doing some of the hardest things in your life. But it doesn’t matter how hard or easy it is, at the end of the day, we have to look at each other and always know that we have to do the right thing.” continued on page 124 >>> Spring 2026 > > > BizTucson 123

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At the end of the day, we have to look at each other and always know that we have to do the right thing.

– Chris Evans, President, HSL Asset Management

continued from page 123 With so much at stake, hundreds of millions of dollars in properties, over 1,000 team members, countless investors in the various assets HSL holds, and millions of dollars going into the community, maintaining a culture everyone believes in helps foster the return on investment everyone expects, said Jerry Fischer, president of HSL’s hospitality arm, Desert Hospitality Management. The business entity operates all of HSL’s hotel properties.

“One of our responsibilities is to have a return on investment for investors, make sure our associates are happy, etc.,” Fischer said. “But I think of all the important legs of the stool, one of the

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most important that we always concentrate on, is that we don’t lose sight of the culture. Because if we lose sight of the culture and not build it and not live it every single day, we lose our investors, we lose our guests, we lose our residents.

The culture is the foundation for us, and we live it every day.”

While defining a company’s culture can be difficult, or at least inexact, HSL asks new team members what they think it might be. It lends itself to helping team members understand what they are stepping into aside from the specific work requirements.

It’s a conversation that can be “scary” on any team member’s first day, Garcia

”

said. But it’s something the organization sees as important to their success and their acceptance of the responsibility that comes with being on the HSL team. And it helps ensure that knowing the company culture isn’t just for today.

It’s for the future of HSL and the community.

“We’ve taken a lot of time in ensuring that we have full on communication,” Garcia said. “Within that onboarding process, even if there is reluctance with the candidate becoming a new hire, they’re already starting to see that HSL is something different.”

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Czarina & Humberto Lopez

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A Gift for the Generations H.S. Lopez Family Foundation Creates a Legacy of Giving

PHOTO COURTESY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ANALY TICS AT THE ELLER COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

By Jay Gonzales As Humberto and Czarina Lopez look ahead to the generations in their family who will follow them, they’re certain the financial empire they’ve built through HSL Properties will give their family members every opportunity to build something close to what they’ve built.

But the benefits of the Lopez family success will not be exclusive to their descendants. The H.S. Lopez Family Foundation has committed to providing the same type of opportunity to those in need in the Tucson region through the success HSL Properties has had here over its 50 years of its existence.

“We have made a pledge that all our wealth is going to go to the foundation,” Humberto said. “Our children and grandchildren are going to be taken care of by trusts. They’ll be well taken care of but not as millionaires. If they want to become millionaires, they’ve got to do it on their own.”

When people ask why so much of the family resources are going out to charity and to help others, Czarina says the philosophy is engrained in the family.

“What good does it do to have more than you need?” she said. “We do have more than we need, but I think sharing it with the people that are less privileged gives you a satisfaction that does not equal any material satisfaction.”

“My wife adopted the philosophy with me that we’ve been givers all our lives,” Humberto said. “We help families and tons of people out there.”

Already one of the leading, if not the leading philanthropists in Southern Arizona, the Lopezes have a long list of major donations they’ve provided in three priority areas – education, welfare and health.

There have been multi-million-dollar donations to the University of Arizona Eller College of Management and similar donations to the UA Sarver Heart Center and the College of Medicine.

The foundation has supported smaller www.BizTucson.com

but no less important causes as has HSL Properties through its team members who give their time and their money.

The centerpiece of the foundation’s giving is the Center of Opportunity, a massive effort to address homelessness at a campus, formerly a hotel, that the foundation purchased and converted to a homeless shelter with extended services such as education classes, counseling, medical care, and simply a place to get back on one’s feet.

The foundation purchased the former Holiday Inn Holidome at 4550 S. Palo Verde Road in 2018 with a goal of creating a “one-stop shop” for those trying to turn their lives around. It has contracted with Gospel Rescue Mission to operate the facility with no government intervention and no public funding.

“It’s about giving opportunities to people that otherwise would not be offered to them,” Czarina said. “Not everybody has the clarity of mind to say, ‘Oh my God, this is an opportunity for me, let me take it.’”

With the Center of Opportunity and support of other foundation causes as an example, it’s easy for team members to follow the lead of the philanthropic couple, said Lisa Rosenfeld, executive VP at HSL Asset Management, one of the business entities that manages a segment of the business under the HSL umbrella.

“When people come to work for us, it’s very common for them to let us know that one of the things that attracted them to HSL was our commitment and involvement in the community and their ability to be part of that kind of team,” said Rosenfeld, who has been with HSL for 21 years.

“They come here expecting to have the opportunities to be a part of what we do and a part of our commitment to the community. They refer their friends for employment. And that’s a big part of it.”

Given the magnitude of the donations HSL has given over the years, the foundation board, made up mostly of Lopez family members, operates with a formal structure as with any other large foundation one might find anywhere. There are eight board members with Humberto as president, Czarina as secretary and HSL Properties President Omar Mireles as treasurer.

Clint Mabie, the former CEO of the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, is one of two non-family-members on the board and provides expertise gained over years of philanthropic and fundraising work throughout his career.

Since retiring from CFSA, Mabie joined Northern Trust Bank as senior relationship advisor to lead bank strategies in community giving.

“I know these nonprofits and can add my expertise beyond just reading what’s in black and white,” he said. “Doing homework is the No. 1 thing that I do for the board, and I would say No. 2 is just trying to stay current on what’s happening in the nonprofit community.”

Humberto Lopez predicts that there will be a day when the H.S. Lopez Family Foundation will be the largest, certainly the most impactful, foundation in Southern Arizona. It’s not a brag. It’s a statement on the success of the company, of the family’s priority to make lives better in the region, and of building a lasting legacy when the family’s wealth is in the coffers of the foundation for the good of the community.

“When that happens, it’ll be the biggest foundation in Tucson,” Humberto said. “Another reason we’re doing this is to keep the family together so they become members of the foundation.

I want all the family to be involved at some point to be able to give all that money we’re going to leave behind.”

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The ‘Quiet Engine’ HSL Management Services ‘Keep the Numbers Straight’

By Jay Gonzales

When projects and assets range into the tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars for a company, it comes with an ocean of numbers that have to be tracked and analyzed that can seem more like a tidal wave.

At HSL Properties, it’s no small piece of the business. In fact, HSL Management Services operates as its own company within the umbrella corporation, and for good reason.

With HSL’s multiple lines of business – apartments, hospitality and construction – it allows Management Services to keep itself and the numbers organized for everyone.

The team of eight accountants and financial professionals is the “quiet engine” that provides the financial bookkeeping, analysis, tracking, forecasting and, most importantly, discipline for HSL, said President Omar Mireles.

“They keep all the numbers together, and they do it very quietly,” Mireles said. “There is always the showcase of the project and the construction and the acquisition because it’s news. But they’re the ones that keep the numbers straight.”

An example of the magnitude of the work is one of HSL’s recent, high-profile projects, The Flin, an $80-million, 245-unit downtown residential development that literally is just a sliver of the HSL portfolio of 42 multi-family apartment complexes, 11 hotels, and four commercial buildings among other investments.

Managing the financials of those properties is only a piece of what the organization does for HSL, said CFO Michelle Howell, who heads the financial team.

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“We like to call ourselves the small but mighty team,” Howell said. “We pump out a lot of work month-in and month-out. We have over 200 entities that we manage and prepare financial statements for on a monthly basis.”

Management Services is where Mireles and the executive team go when they need financial analysis of a project they’re considering. That would involve projecting costs of labor, supplies, taxes, and anything that goes into determining the feasibility of a project − even the timing of a project.

“We need to make sure that we’re opening a hotel during the busy season,” Howell said. “You also have to take into consideration the investor interest level, depending on what type of asset we’re going to be building − whether that’s a hotel or apartment.

“We’re here to help with any sort of financial data analytics that they need, and then they are the ones at the end of the day that really to get to decide,” she said of HSL’s executive team. And even when all the data and projections are in front of them, some projects that seemed feasible might not be in the end.

“We’ve experienced where it’s just not feasible and we cut ties and put it on pause,” Howell said. “Then there are some times where we have to make adjustments. When supply chain issues happen, it may delay a project, or it may make a project more expensive than we initially anticipated.”

That is another place where Management Services steps in after a project is underway, said Controller David Arp.

“We’re handed the budgets on these projects, and it’s just a matter of seeing the subcontractors’ contracts and making sure that what we’re contracting for meets the budget,” Arp said. “It really is just kind of getting that budget, doing the analysis of our subcontractors, and making sure everything is built appropriately.”

If the project is big enough to need an outside investor, which Howell said is the case with “nearly all” recent HSL projects, it’s Management Services that works with that investor, providing the information they need to make a sound investment decision and to track it.

Management Services keeps the investors informed through a portal where investors can track their investment. And there’s always the good old telephone.

“We take phone calls from investors anytime they have a question about an investment,” said Howell.

The task also willingly falls to Mireles and company founders Humberto Lopez and Glenn Toyoshima who still are involved in the operation of the business.

That has helped HSL establish a loyal following of investors that can now be described as generational due to the trust that’s been established over the years.

“We have a lot of investors that have been with us since the beginning of HSL,” Howell said. “Their trust in HSL has now extended to their children, so their children have seen the success that their parents have had with our investments.”

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PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

From left –

Michelle Howell

CFO HSL Management Services

David Arp

PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

Controller HSL Management Services

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Hospitality with Heart

Creating a Culture of Genuine Care, Service and Community

By Tara Kirkpatrick Through its Desert Hospitality Management arm, HSL Properties is curating a premier guest experience at hotels across Arizona and beyond.

HSL owns or manages an impressive portfolio of hotel properties, including The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain; DoubleTree Suites by Hilton-Tucson Williams Center; El Conquistador Tucson, a Hilton Resort; SpringHill Suites

by Marriott, Tucson at the Bridges; Embassy Suites by Hilton Oklahoma City, Downtown/Medical Center and several more.

DHM is tasked with their daily operations and success, utilizing a people-first strategy to ensure guests feel genuinely cared for.

That strategy extends to the community for the business entity. Philanthropy is top of mind within DHM, inspired by the legacy set by Humberto Lopez when he started HSL Properties 50 years ago.

Every month, each of the hotels is tasked with putting together a list of local charities they want to support and then DHM adopts one of them. There’s also impromptu giving. Last fall, DHM fed the federal workers at Tucson International Airport during the government shutdown.

“Giving back to the community is what Mr. Lopez has always done in his life,” said Alexander. “And that really does resonate with everybody who works in the company. If you’re doing things in the community to make it better, to make Tucson better, we’re all richer for it.”

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HSL unveiled Desert Hospitality Management in 2023, bringing inhouse an exceptional group of industry professionals to enhance HSL’s hospitality mission, said DHM President Jerry Fischer. In addition to the guest experience, the company also oversees purchasing and building new hotels, as well as renovations to preserve brand standards, utilizing HSL’s own construction team.

“We handle everything,” explained Ghee Alexander, COO of DHM. “We are responsible for the day-to-day operations of hotels, staffing, the financial performance of the hotel, guest satisfaction at each of the hotels. The guest experience is really curated by us.”

Today’s hotel guests want authenticity and genuine connection in their hospitality, from aesthetic touches such as high-quality linens and locally inspired products to remembering a guest’s favorite room and preferences, or anticipating needs before they arise. Guests know when the efforts put forth are not genuine.

DHM only partners with Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt, which Fischer calls “the A-class of hotel brands.” Additional staff training is then layered on top, including the rigorous Forbes hospitality training, based on the respected Forbes Travel Guide. It aims for five-star standards across all aspects of the hotel experience and emphasizes service.

To be a Forbes-certified hotel requires a valiant effort. The only five-star rated hotel in Tucson is The Ritz-Carlton,

Dove Mountain, which DHM owns in partnership with Cottonwood Properties. The resort also received its first Michelin Key in 2025.

“What we really garner from them is they have a very robust sort of SOP (standard operating procedure) and standards that you have to meet,” Fischer said of the partner brands. “We layer that on top with Forbes training and property training. We make sure that we’re adhering to all those standards every day. It allows us to really create a consistent stay for our guest, and it also creates consistency for the associate.”

All of it is underscored by engagement surveys twice a year, distributed to the entirety of DHM. “Since we started, our overall associate engagement satisfaction is over 90%,” said Alexander.

“Our general managers have been with us for quite a long time. Most of them have been promoted from within the company.”

Added Fischer, “If you take great care of your associates, they are going to take great care of your guests, and as a result, they want to come back.” Take, for example, the Spring Hill Suites on Kino Parkway that HSL opened three years ago. Since the day it opened, the hotel is included in the top 10% of guest service scores within Marriott International.

“We don’t get those guest scores by chance,” he said. “It’s the hard work and the effort and the culture at that hotel.”

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The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain

Jerry Fischer

President Desert Hospitality Management

SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Tucson at the Bridges

Ghee Alexander

COO Desert Hospitality Management

El Conquistador Tucson, a Hilton Resort

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Mike Censky

President HSL Construction Services

Danny Casselberry

PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

From left –

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PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

Executive Vice President HSL Construction Services

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Building to Fit

HSL Construction Services Sees the Community Landscape

By Jay Gonzales It’s not lost on HSL Properties that what it builds – apartments, hotels or anything else that comes its way – has expectations that come not only from within but from the community where it has been building for 50 years.

Those expectations encompass more than the quality of the product. They carry the responsibility of leaving a lasting legacy, not only for the company but for the community.

“If we want to be part of a great community, we’ve got to act like a great community,” said Mike Censky, executive VP of HSL Construction Services, the construction arm within HSL Properties formed 20 years ago. “We don’t do things haphazardly.

“We give sound, intelligent advice on construction and marketplace when it comes to value.

We didn’t get to the top of the mountain without being able to look down the road and see what’s coming as well.”

As a separate business entity under the umbrella of HSL Properties, HSL Construction Services serves only one client. It builds for HSL and no one else. There are outside investors in HSL projects and properties. But what is built is solely from HSL’s short- and longterm vision.

“I think there’s a lot of vision that comes into an area and the larger impact on the community,” said Danny Casselberry, director of construction at HSL Construction Services. “We also take into www.BizTucson.com

consideration the history of that area. What does the local architecture look like? All those things go into creating the right space for the community.”

Censky cites Encantada Tucson National, a 368-unit apartment development at 8323 N. Shannon Road, as a specific example of how much surroundings impact what HSL builds. Encantada now has seven sites in its line of luxury apartments in Tucson. There are three in Phoenix.

Encantada Tucson National, which opened in 2016, is across the street from the entrance to the historic Tucson National development that includes the Omni resort and spa and the golf club with its long history of hosting professional golf tournaments.

“Each project in each location is specifically looked at and designed to fit that community,” Censky said. “We didn’t go in there with a product that looked different than its surroundings.

“When you start dividing Tucson into different areas, we’re responsible for reporting (to HSL management) what we see in those areas, give them our viewpoint, give them what we think it should look like.”

And then they build it.

One of the attributes of the construction services team and all of the business entities within HSL, said President Omar Mireles, is it understands itself, it understands the market and the community, and focuses on that.

“We stick to what we know and that’s where we have the most success,” Mireles said. “While we might see good opportunities here and there in some other lines of business, our focus is always going to be on what we know, and that gets solidified every time we do a deal.”

Inherent in all of that, is the relationships that HSL has built over the years and will continue to build into the future, Censky said.

“One thing that I learned from Mr. Lopez is it’s about the relationships,” Censky said of HSL Founder Humberto Lopez.

“Something we’ve done better than most is we foster those relationships, through thick or thin, through the good times and the bad times. We’re with basically the same group of people, not only in our team, but the same subcontractors.

“Keeping that tradition going forward, so that we’re good stewards of the community, so that we can look people in the eye and say, ‘Yes, we spend our money locally,’ is very important to us.”

Casselberry added: “By building and fostering these relationships and creating a community of subcontractors, they are able to get better at what they’re doing. The evolution over the last 20 years has been singularly to those points − building those relationships with those subcontractors, refining our product, and making it better based on real resident and community feedback.”

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VP, Commercial Sales Vantage West Credit Union

PHOTO: BRENT G. MATHIS

David Denos

From left –

Graham Swanson

VP of Operations HSL Asset Management

Chris Evans

President HSL Asset Management

Art Rocha

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Regional Asset Manager HSL Asset Management

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A Homegrown Housing Vision True Communities with a Taste of Hospitality

By Tara Kirkpatrick When you’ve built or own more than 40 apartment properties there’s an expectation that a community will have a sense of your vision.

With its signature Encantada brand, HSL Properties has built a line of apartments that is dominating the multifamily space and continues to eye future growth in luxury living.

From its first major apartment acquisition in 1985, HSL now owns and operates a total of 42 apartment communities in Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma and Casa Grande − all driven by an amenity-rich approach that helps create true communities, where pride of ownership is tantamount.

“What’s really special about the brand is that it’s cutting-edge innovation in the multi-family industry,” said Graham Swanson, VP of operations for HSL Asset Management. “It’s a hybrid of services delivered to our residents that really is unmatched. The level of customer service is more on the hospitality side than what you would see in the traditional multi-family space.”

Over the entire HSL portfolio, you can find a state-of-the-art fitness center that looks over Downtown Tucson, a professionally dressed concierge staff that greets residents, inviting, expansive pools with ledge loungers and cabanas, movie theaters, fire pits and more. Spacious floor plans are thoughtfully designed with chef-inspired kitchens and stainless-steel appliances, LED lighting, quality materials and sound insulation.

Encantada amenities are inspired by the “hybrid of multi-family and hospitality experiences that our ownership www.BizTucson.com

sees during their travels and stays at different hotels,” Swanson said. “We’re capturing those architectural elements from some of the greatest architecture that’s out there and bringing those ideas to the table during the development process.”

The Flin, for example, a 245-unit downtown development which opened in 2021, brings sophisticated, urban living and plentiful resident parking to a setting where there is great momentum.

“It’s just very refined and very polished as you walk through the front doors and you feel a sense of metropolitan city living, like you would in New York or San Francisco.”

Swanson’s division, HSL Asset Management, was formed in 2002 to provide next-level property management and resident services aimed at ensuring a superior living experience.

“HSL has created a culture that’s like no other,” Swanson said. “It starts with that experience of Encantada. The first time someone walks through the doors, that customer experience starts.

It’s having everything at that property, those amenities that allow the residents really not to have to leave and also get engaged, communicate and build relationships with other residents within the community.”

Chris Evans, president of HSL Asset Management, said the structure of the company lends itself to providing team members in the various business entities with a “common purpose” to ensure that everything the company does in business and in the community comes from a common vision.

“It ties us all together,” Evans said.

“We can argue, we can fight, we can be passionate, but we’re passionate about trying to have the best product at the end of the day, or the best service at the end of the day, or the best idea or solution.”

With its own construction services company, HSL has the ability to ensure that what it builds is in line with the company’s vision and quality standards even if it’s a project that is unique to the company, as was The Flin when it was built on a tight downtown site where the La Placita office complex stood for years.

“That process was the most collaborative we’ve ever had with a municipality and we’ve built in all of them,” said Mike Censky, executive VP of HSL Construction Services, the construction arm within HSL Properties. “Building in an urban environment downtown?

That’s not what we do so we teamed up with Tofel Construction, and they knocked it out of the park for us.”

Among the challenges of building The Flin was the fact there were a handful of historic buildings on the site that had to be preserved within the construction of the complex. It’s all part of a thoughtful approach that HSL takes anytime it builds something new with a look and a business purpose in mind.

“It’s a careful balance,” said HSL President Omar Mireles. “We have to build something that is attractive so that it’s sellable, and, of course, something that the team is going to be proud of, and proud to be employed there.”

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