Peoria has big plans to turn nearly 7,000 acres of land into a state-of-the-art innovation hub.
The Phoenix suburb is looking to purchase 834.5 acres at an Arizona State Land Department auction on Aug. 27, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. The bidding starts at $46.7 million, according to the Business Journal.
Last December, the Peoria City Council voted to sign an agreement with the Arizona State Land Department to develop 6,700 acres in the northern reaches of the city near Lake Pleasant. There, the planned Peoria Innovation Core would rise, bringing residential, retail, offices and open spaces to the shovel-ready land.
As part of the partnership with the Arizona State Land Department, the city of Peoria would lead the planning efforts for nearly 7,000 acres of future development. As master planner for the Peoria Innovation Core, the city will lead zoning and entitlement efforts as well as design and construction for public infrastructure like the arterial roadway system and underlying utilities for future development.
To kick things off, the city plans to invest $140 million into backbone infrastructure for the area. The goal with the Innovation Core is to attract commercial developers and major employers to Peoria, according to the Business Journal.
It wouldn’t be the only major development in the West Valley city. In April, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company broke ground on its $165 billion plant to the east of where the Innovation Core will be built. The $7 billion Halo Vista mixed-use development will eventually surround the factory.
To the west of the planned Innovation Core, Texas-based BNSF Railway is planning to build a $3.2 billion rail hub in Wittmann, much to the chagrin of many residents, according to the Business Journal. That project is intended to be an intermodal and logistics hub where freight is transferred between trains and trucks.
Whether or not the city of Peoria wins the land bid, the winning bidder is required to make infrastructure improvements as part of the intergovernmental agreement between the city of Peoria and the state land department. All told, the estimated cost to design and build out the public infrastructure for the 834.5-acre site coming up for auction would be nearly $212.9 million.
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