Tempe Development Thread

[Obadno]

I know this is not downtown but what a monstrosity this will become.

Tempe City Council has approved Swire Coca-Cola’s request to build the equivalent of a 16-story production and storage facility on 42.5 acres northeast of Interstate 10 and West Elliot Road.

Editor’s Note: AZBEX was the first outlet to report on this project when it was publicly introduced earlier this year. (AZBEX, June 7)

The redeveloped Coke plant will now be the tallest building within a 7.5-mile radius stretching to downtown Tempe. A planned area development modification of height standards to 160 feet from 90 was sought. The plant already fits the location’s zoning requirements.

Redevelopment is being requested as the plant’s production massively outweighs its storage potential. This project will allow the site to expand vertically and technologically, implementing more energy-efficient structures as well as new equipment.

The property will also receive more landscaping than is required by code to compensate for the height and scale of the new building.

Tempe is not incentivizing or funding the project. Public improvements to the street are a part of the developer’s costs.

Swire Coca-Cola is the owner. The design firm is Hixson Architecture, Engineering, Interiors. The general contractor is Whiting-Turner

https://azbex.com/planning-developme...ant-expansion/

[Raymie]

I could see Rural because of the large dorm agglomeration east of campus or Apache with Paseo del Saber. Mill would not make sense because most of what is west of campus, besides the stuff on Mill itself, is residential.

That said, this makes some sense. It's one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the Valley. Clearly they want to improve the transit connection for pedestrians from campus to the light rail station and car flow on University. University Bridge and "Second Bridge" serve different groups altogether, and the former is not ADA-accessible.

[CBar]

Originally Posted by muertecaza

The public meeting process is starting for a proposed pedestrian tunnel under University at College:

https://azmag.gov/Portals/0/Document...22-BPB-001.pdf

https://bowman.com/news/bowman-award...ated-crossing/

This is an excellent location for a tunnel.

There are at least two academic buildings (BYENG - School of Computing and AI and CAVC - Del Webb School of Construction) and two classroom areas (BYAC and CAVC - now called Helmick Center) north of University Av and students (with back to back classes) going from one of those areas to another in South of University Av or vice versa often get delayed crossing University Av.

There are two overpasses east of this location.

[cdfif030]

I'm not saying there isn't a case for Rural, but someone has collected evidence and presented a case for this intersection. Further, Apache and Mill have street car platforms slightly above grade in the center of the roadway. This arrangement adds a layer of complexity, inefficiency, or redundancy in the implementation of tunnel/bridge projects.

This study does not include crossings on Apache and Rural roads. It covers nine major intersections in the downtown core. Interestingly, it observed the NW corner of College & University, recording over 2000 crossings during one hour starting at 2 pm on October 16, 2016! No other crossing got close to this total in one hour.

Totals for busiest crossings ranked by 2016:
5 hours of observation (spaced throughout day) * 3 days (throughout week) * 4 (each quarter) = 60 hours
1) Fifth & Mill: 19,854 (2015) & 21,818 (2016)
2) University & College: 22,500 (2015) & 19,319 (2016)
3) Seventh & College: 17,715 (2015) & 16,071 (2016)
4) Seventh & Mill: 13,786 (2015) & 15,808 (2016)
-https://ctycms.com/az-tempe/docs/2016-pedestrian-report---reduced-size.pdf

The same group that did this study was behind the groundwork for the upcoming crossing project. You can find their letter to MAG advocating for funding on page 20:
-https://azmag.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Transportation/TIP/2021-08_Aug/Bike-Ped/TMP-22-BPB-001.pdf

Given the substantial development in the downtown core since and the expansion of the ASU campus/population, I would recon that those numbers are even higher now.

[stutteringpunk]

Originally Posted by CBar

This is an excellent location for a tunnel.

There are at least two academic buildings (BYENG - School of Computing and AI and CAVC - Del Webb School of Construction) and two classroom areas (BYAC and CAVC - now called Helmick Center) north of University Av and students (with back to back classes) going from one of those areas to another in South of University Av or vice versa often get delayed crossing University Av.

There are two overpasses east of this location.

I'm honestly surprised they haven't thought of doing something similar sooner. The stoplight on University near Manzanita always seemed like a good for a tunnel given how many students use that crosswalk constantly.