Phoenix Hopes to Kickstart Development Along Salt River

Looking down from above, the land running along the Salt River is a hodgepodge of service yards, sand-and-gravel operations, and vacant desert that often serves as a dumping ground. The city of Phoenix wants to change that. The Phoenix Business Journal reports that it’s firming up land-use policies and identifying key sites within a 4,000-acre parcel along the Salt River, where it’s aiming to attract new investment and development.

The city only owns one of the sites – a 30-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Park Drive, which is near a light rail station and a future pedestrian bridge. A mixed-use campus with businesses and a community building are envisioned there. A similar development is proposed at another targeted site off 7th Avenue.

The other two sites are proposed to include a recreation center, while an “ecological hotel,” a research campus and multifamily housing are proposed at the other.