The City of Tempe continues to impress me with it’s forward-thinking attitude for downtown Tempe and Tempe Town Lake. In just the past year we’ve witnessed the future of this central valley city start to come to fruition. The first two of four of the Centerpoint Condominiums have been erected and residents will be moving in shortly. Some developments, like Mosaic and Lumina, are starting to take form (either in pre-sales or dirt movement) while others have been tabled given the current housing market.
But, through the current housing market comes the very optimistic Wolff Company with South Bank. Located on the south side of Tempe Town Lake roughly half-way between ASU’s Sun Devil Stadium and Tempe Marketplace will lie the very impressive South Bank.
With over 3.6 million square feet of mixed-use development on 27 waterfront acres, South Bank’s developer hopes to create a district that gives a SoHo (New York City’s SoHo district in Manhattan) feel. The City of Tempe has already approved the plan for South Bank allowing architects and designers freedom in their designs allowing for up to twenty uniquely designed high-rise buildings (up to 22 stories).
Over 2.2 million square feet of residential condos, lofts and townhomes will be built in the middle of what’s sure to strengthen one of the valley’s employment centers. A high-rise hotel and just under 900,000 square feet of commercial and just under 300,000 square feet of retail will only add to what is sure to be a destination for valley residents and tourists.
Is it stupid to be investing billions of dollars in times like these? Many would say yes. However, I think by the time the development is ready to sign leases and purchase contracts the valley’s housing woes will be behind us.
It’s fascinating to me to see the area around Tempe Town Lake start to rise up. Ten years from now it will be hard to remember what it looked like at the turn of the century.
Read more about South Bank here.
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