Arizona State University, ASU Foundation and Scottsdale announced on Thursday that the long-vacant Los Arcos Mall site is envisioned to become a major research institution that will create high-paying jobs, homegrown companies and new economic vitality in aging south Scottsdale.
Under the terms of the three-way partnership, ASU, the foundation and private partners would invest about $300 million in the proposed ASU Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation at Scottsdale and McDowell roads. Scottsdale would contribute up to $86.5 million for the land and infrastructure, while reaping the rewards of 4,000 high-paying jobs and a revitalization in one of the oldest portions of the community, just a few miles from ASU, according to academic, business and city leaders.
They stressed the deal is not a "development project," but rather a long-term partnership that will spawn new jobs, innovative companies and attract entrepreneurs over the next decade as it gets built out.
"This is not a short-term solution just to fill the empty real estate at that intersection," Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross said.
The plan calls for up to 1.2 million square feet of research lab and office space on the site in a campus-like setting complemented by a business hotel and retail uses. The first 150,000 to 250,000 square feet would be built within two years, and build out is expected over six to 10 years. Scottsdale would own the 42-acre site, allowing ASU to use 38 acres through a long-term lease.
For ASU, the Los Arcos site provides a setting where business, academia and the public-sector can congregate to accelerate development of Arizona's knowledge economy.
"An academic center for discovery in isolation is an insufficient element to make the economy work. You also need places where business, discovery, innovation, venture capital and creativity can assemble," said ASU President Michael Crow. "You will create a product of academic discovery and from that it will incubate and spread out."
