For the week, attendance is expected to top 200,000 with at least 50,000 hitting the streets, and rail on Saturday.   Riding the rail will be free on Saturday.

WeKnowUrban will be in a booth at the Urban Experience Tent at the College Avenue and Veteran’s Way rail stop, just west of ASU Sun Devil Football Stadium.  We’ll be conducting twenty minute WeKnowUrban 101 classes at the top of every hour during which we’ll discuss what “urban living” is, why it’s the way of the future, where the deals are (if any), and whether or not now is a good time to buy.

Please visit the Tempe Urban Experience sponsors.

The site is located directly east of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. DMB has teamed up with some major names such as Westcor, who will be handling the retail portion of the project. They have also brought on Tom Fazio’s Florida based company to design a golf course and Gaylord Entertainment will handle the large-scale resort. Details on acreage for each use, number of hotel rooms, number of homes, and retail square footage are unknown for now, as General Motors still plans to occupy the site until summer of 2009. DMB plans to start construction soon after GM leaves to site.

As the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport has grown popularity from several aerospace and aviation companies who have invested and plan to invest in the airport, economic and development forecasters vision this area to be a major business hub in the foreseeable future. Some even claim the immediate region will turn into an aerotropolis, where the airport is at the center core of the city and everything surrounding it is very densely planned. With the major investments going into the airport, coupled by the potential growth of ASU Polytechnic Campus, DMB realized this piece of land was a great opportunity. Now that a well-known, prolific developer has announced big plans for that area, others will soon follow, and according to many planners at the city of Mesa, we could potentially see high-rises surrounding the airport in the next decade or so.

Fortunately, the source of the problem has been identified and sounds like it will be contained to relatively few areas along the rail route. After laying rail, construction crews used high temperature “plasma torches” to cut sections of the rail to install drainage openings. The torches are too hot for the rail and alter the metallurgical qualities of the metal making it prone to cracking with temperature fluctuations (like 120 degree summers and 30 degree winters). The fix is to remove and replace the sections of the rail that had been cut by the torches. The City of Phoenix is looking to the design firm of the system to reimburse her for the cost of the study to determine the problem and the costs to rectify it.

Mesa is still growing rapidly, now 38th overall in population in the country, with plans to continue growing exponentially if the visionaries have their way. They plan to create an internationally-known destination with high-rises, resorts, and a sustainable and efficient mix of transportation and residential centered around the airport, which will become an Aerotropolis. John Karsada, a professor at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill is credited with visioning and creating this Aerotropolis idea, which utilizes the airport as the hub of the new urban core.

In-depth studies have been done and are currently analyzing this region to really prove it has the potential for this growth. The Urban Land Institute, which researches and analyzes projects, cities and regions, did an initial study. Some of the raw statistics are up to 65,000 students, 5,000 new hotel rooms and seven new golf courses to start. Mesa recently contracted with HDR Engineering Inc. for another in-depth study of the Gateway Area.

It is far too early to predict the future for this region, but the facts are this: the Phoenix-Mesa Airport is commercial now, serving mostly smaller markets and freight transportation; the former General Motors Proving Grounds was recently bought by DMB Associates with plans to build a master-planned community; and Cessna, one of the world’s leading aircraft companies, plans to build a major Service Center at the airport. As soon as more information is released on this potential new High-Rise city, we will let you know.

Over the course of the 20-mile track that runs through Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa, seven mysterious cracks have been discovered. According to Marty McNeil, the marketing manager for METRO, it is unknown why the flaws occurred, which process caused the cracks, and most importantly, whose fault it was. While it could be several weeks before anything is determined, I’m sure many of the Light Rail’s contractors are runnin’ for the hills even as we speak.

METRO hired Zeta-Tech Associates of Cherry Hill, NJ to assess and analyze the problem. The company has consulted for cities with similar projects such as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the Bart system in Northern California’s Bay Area. Aside from these mysterious cracks, the rail is still on schedule to carry its first riders in December of this year. Either way, the light rail has spurred development along its route, increasing the prices of land all along the 20-mile track. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zones have been placed over the areas closest to the stations, hopefully increasing mixed-use development with residential above retail.

The seven areas where the track cracked are as follows:

• First Avenue and Fillmore Street
• 26th and Jefferson streets
• 15th and Washington streets
• 44th and Washington streets (two breaks)
• First Street and Ash Avenue in Tempe (four breaks)
• Third Street and Mill Avenue in Tempe
• Apache Boulevard & Martin Lane in Tempe

For full story go hear: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/01/14/daily37.html

AquaTerra will be located on the northwest corner of Grove Avenue and Westwood just east of Fiesta Mall. AquaTerra will include over 300 condos, 15,000 square feet of retail space and a 128 room hotel. The plan originally included four 25 story towers, but the developers now are planning to build three low rise buildings.

There will be condos ranging from 600 to 3000 square feet. Since the sales office opened people have been lining to reserve some of these homes.

The project will be close to the future home of the light rail by the Fiesta Mall in Mesa.

Developers will start construction some time next year and hope to finish in about 24 months.

Communities such as AquaTerra make me excited to be here in Arizona. I am now part of the growth I witnessed back in 2004 when I was just a naive New Yorker. I am now proud to call Arizona home.