Sun Devil Stadium and other Arizona State University athletic facilities could benefit from future mixed-use development, which is beginning to take shape near the venue.
ASU has broken ground on an initial phase of mixed-use development in the Tempe Novus Innovation Corridor, a 350-acre stretch located near Sun Devil Stadium. Under the terms of an Arizona law approved in 2010, state universities can create athletics facilities districts on university-owned land if they receive county-level approval, allowing them to then enter into ground leases with developers to build within the districts. Assessment revenue from the districts can, in turn, be used for the purposes of funding athletic facilities. In this case. Arizona State did some land deals that affected some college programs (the baseball program moved to Phoenix Municipal Stadium, with Packard Stadium torn down; as part of the deal the university took control of a golf course that ended up being part of the district). This may be one of the biggest university-driven developments we’ve seen in the United States.
In ASU’s case, it is planning a large-scale development that will be built out over several years in conjunction with Catellus. While all athletic facilities stand to potentially gain from the district, revenue from the area will be key in covering the ongoing Sun Devil Stadium renovation. More from the Arizona Republic:
ASU’s Sun Devil Stadium, near the middle of the corridor, is near the finish of its $307 million renovation. It is also part of the Novus Corridor, but not part of the special district that will help fund its overhaul.
National real estate analysts call Novus one of the biggest and most well-planned public/private projects underway in the United States.
“It will be a major economic driver for Tempe, there’s no question,” said Charley Freericks, senior vice president of Catellus Development Corp., ASU’s private partner on Novus. “We’re going to take land that is currently, and was basically for generations, fallow, and create an amazing economic engine for Tempe and the surrounding region.”
The initial phase of development in ASU’s athletics facilities district will include a luxury apartment building, upscale office building, and an eight-story, 260-room hotel. It will be completed in either late 2019 or in 2020.
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