this is the land tempe was trying to steal from some private people that owned it. at the time i lived there it was a maricopa county island.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0201marketplace01.html

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0201tr-marketplace0201Z10.html

Work to begin on 100-store mall in Tempe

Erica Sagon The Arizona Republic Feb. 1, 2006 12:00 AM

The Valley's largest open-air shopping district will also be the brightest.

Tempe Marketplace, a 1.3 million-square-foot retail, restaurant and entertainment center will be topped with a laser canopy, lighting the way for more than 20 million shoppers in its first year.

Developers broke ground Tuesday on the retail hub, which is scheduled to open in summer 2007 at the southwestern corner of Loops 101 and 202. The interchange is becoming a crossroads for major retail development in the East Valley. A rival project, Mesa Riverview, is planned near Tempe Marketplace.

Vestar Development Co., the company behind Tempe Marketplace, said that mall staples including Gap, American Eagle and JC Penney will join previously announced retailers including Target, PetSmart, Sport Chalet and Cost Plus World Market.

Tempe Marketplace will have more than 100 stores and restaurants, and will resemble Desert Ridge Marketplace, the north Phoenix shopping center also developed by Vestar.

The huge shopping center project will also feature many restaurants including Claddagh Irish Pub, Cheeburger Cheeburger, the Keg Steakhouse and Bar, as well as King's Fish House and Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ, which are new to the Valley.

Dave & Buster's, a 55,000-square-foot restaurant and entertainment venue with a rooftop patio, and a 20-screen Harkins Theatres megaplex will round out entertainment options.

"The level of amenities . . . is something that will be unsurpassed in Arizona," said David Larcher, Vestar's executive vice president.

Assembling the 117-acre plot of land for Tempe Marketplace was a major battle that pit several private landowners against Vestar and city officials. Eventually, deals were struck with 51 of 52 of the landowners to turn the land over to Vestar.

"This is the kind of gateway that every city would love to have," Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0201tr-marketplace0201Z10.html

Shopping center off to rockin' beginning

Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Feb. 1, 2006 12:00 AM

Tempe's newest shopping center got a rock and roll start Tuesday to the tune of a Rolling Stones standard.

The band's thumping classic, Start Me Up, blared during Tempe Marketplace's official kickoff at the site southwest of the intersections of Loops 101 and 202. The music and free CDs were intended to bring an up-tempo feel to the multimillion-dollar mall's groundbreaking.

And the theme was appropriate for a project that has been much more rock than roll for Tempe leaders after a long battle to acquire the 117 acres needed for the mall behind them.

"Today culminates almost two years of hard work to bring a worthy project and worthy goals together," Mayor Hugh Hallman said as people were gathering. "To do so took solving political and legal issues that were very difficult. . . . Today, we get to finally focus on the success that's in front of us."

Now the city can reap the benefits, Hallman said, including an estimated $131 million in sales tax revenue that'll go into city coffers during the first 20 years, and a gateway into the city at one of the state's busiest intersections.

The ceremony included Hallman, developer David Larcher of Vestar Development Co., attorney and radio personality Tom Liddy, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Bryan Spain of tenant Dave & Buster's, and local movie theater mogul Dan Harkins.

Many made references to the long haul it took to gather enough land for the project and the accompanying environmental cleanup of three buried, unlined landfills.

It was a journey that has been as messy as it was public. For months, the developer and Tempe wrangled with holdout landowners who refused to sell their property, wanting a better price for relocating their businesses. There were threats of the city using eminent domain, a lawsuit and months of negotiations before the necessary land was assembled..

As of Tuesday, all but one of the 52 parcels that the developers want were acquired. Vestar is still in talks with the final holdout landowner and says the property isn't vital to the mall.

Right now, the parcels are being cleared and pollutants are being removed from the ground, and the cleanup is 75 percent complete, according to Larcher. Construction will start within two months, he estimated.

By summer 2007, the land will be transformed into a colorful $250 million shopping center featuring lights, lasers and outdoor fireplaces.

Some of the mall's attractions would include a Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Best Buy, Cost Plus World Market, a Harkins movie theater, Office Max, Payless Shoe Source, Pier 1 imports, Ross Dress for Less, and Target. Also planned are Arizona's first Dave & Buster's - a restaurant, bar, arcade combination - and King's Fish House, a California-based seafood restaurant, and Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-b-que, another California-based company.

The mall will have some competition from the Mesa Riverview project, a 250-acre development about two miles down the 202.

Developers broke ground on the project in May, a few days after the Riverview election. The first phase of the development, a 16-screen Cinemark movie theater, broke ground in July and is expected to open this summer.