SunCor, ASU Jump-Start Project After Complaints From Tempe, Airport: Towers on Lake Irk Nearby Operations
By Garin Groff, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.
Jun. 1–The massive Marina Heights development on the shores of Tempe Town Lake appears to be back on track after running into trouble just a week ago.
The project’s roughly 300-foot towers near Hayden Butte triggered a backlash from Tempe, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tempe-based US Airways officials.
That prompted Arizona State University, which owns the land, to consider putting the project on hold while working out the problems. But an official with ASU’s development partner, SunCor, said Thursday the company is confident it can make everybody happy in the next few weeks.
The 26-acre project went before the City Council for the first time Thursday and is up for final approval June 28. Sun-Cor should have a solution on building heights by that time, company Vice President Randy Levin said.
SunCor is meeting with officials from the city, the airport and the airline while the Federal Aviation Administration is evaluating whether the buildings would pose a hazard.
If a deal can be worked out, ASU would finally develop the land after six years of studies and delays. And SunCor would have developed the lake’s entire south shore from Mill Avenue to Rural Road.
SunCor is also building the Hayden Ferry Lakeside project near Mill Avenue.
Also on Thursday, Tempe gave final approval to three prominent projects:
–The Pier at Tempe Town Lake, formerly called Pier 202. This $1 billion project sits on 27 acres of city-owned land that the Peabody Hotel failed to develop in the 1990s. The Pier includes condos, offices and shops. Tempe will sell the land — in stages — for $42.5 million.
–The Farmer Arts District, north of University Drive between the railroad tracks and Farmer Avenue. The city is selling this mostly unused land to a developer who will build condos, shops and the city’s first branch library.
–A CVS pharmacy on the southwest corner of Mill Avenue and University Drive. The brick building won’t resemble a typical suburban drugstore.
The pharmacy fills a big void for all the downtown workers and neighborhoods nearby who have to drive to a drugstore now, said Chris Salomone, Tempe’s community development manager.
The CVS will be the only store in the chain to have two entrances — one off a small parking lot and another on the street.
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