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Councilman Greg Stanton's
Arcadia News
December 2004
Education is key to a community’s success
Investing in education has long been recognized as one of the major keys to a community’s successful future. If that’s still the case – and I am convinced it is – then the cities of Phoenix and Scottsdale are certainly headed for some pretty good times.
Both cities have made higher education critical components of major revitalization and renovation projects that they have undertaken this year.
In Phoenix, it is the revitalization of the downtown. In Scottsdale it is the redevelopment of a former mall site.
We at Phoenix have partnered with Arizona State University and are taking an active part in their exciting plans to develop a downtown campus that will begin accepting students in 2006 and grow to as many as 15,000 students and 1,800 faculty members in 10 years. The colleges, schools and programs that will move to the Capital Center Campus include the College of Public Programs, the Cronkite School of Journalism, KAET, the School of Health Management and the University College.
And, we are working closely with the University of Arizona on its plans to open a medical school downtown that will include the participation of the ASU College of Nursing and the UA College of Pharmacy.
Additionally, we have partnered with the Arizona Board of Regents for the development of several medical research facilities by ASU, UA and Northern Arizona University. The plans call for the construction of three new buildings and the renovation of three existing buildings at the city-owned Phoenix Bioscience Center in the downtown.
Maricopa Community Colleges also is considering locating a research and educational facility at the Bioscience Center, which is a 15-acre site that already houses the TGen/IGC (Translational Genomics Research Institute and International Genomics Consortium) research facility and is expected to attract additional research companies.
As the chair of the City Council’s Knowledge Economy and Education Subcommittee, I have been closely involved in our work with the Board of Regents and three state universities on these exciting projects and look forward to seeing them successfully completed in the months and years ahead.
In Scottsdale, the city is redeveloping the former Los Arcos Mall property at Scottsdale and McDowell roads in cooperation with ASU. The city acquired the 42-acre site from the ASU Foundation for the ASU-Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation, which will focus on technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and business development.
The development is looked at by city officials and others as the cornerstone for the rebirth of the southern portion of Scottsdale.
Under a plan being worked out by Scottsdale and the ASU Foundation, the city will lease 37 acres of the property back to the foundation for development of the center and keep five acres for future development by the city. The foundation then will develop about 1.2 million square feet of space, using about 90 percent of that for research facilities and offices and the remainder for retail.
A plan for the center is expected to be completed in January, and a designer, contractor and manager are expected to be selected soon.
The investments Phoenix and Scottsdale are making in higher education should set the stage for even more partnerships later, assuring our two communities and their residents of an even brighter future.
If you have any questions about these or any other issues, as always, please feel free to call my office at 602-262-7491, send an e-mail to greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit my Web site at phoenix.gov/district6.
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