Wentworth Property Company, LLC was seeking to redevelop a 135 acre property located across from Arizona State University’s Research Park and along the Loop 101 Freeway corridor in Tempe. The site adjoins single-family residential neighborhoods. Wentworth was proposing to improve the site with the addition of 4 office buildings, 2 hotels, 1 flex use building and 3 retail pads ranging in height from 1 to 8 stories, plus the addition of a 3-level parking garage and parking courtyards containing a combined total of 7,600 parking spaces. The Project, which will be branded Discovery Business Campus, will consist of approximately 2.5 million square feet of building area at build-out.
To accommodate the site’s redevelopment, the zoning and land use team at Gammage & Burnham, led by Grady Gammage Jr. and Manjula Vaz, secured zoning, use and design entitlements. The entitlement process required extensive negotiations with adjoining residential neighborhoods and City staff, as well as approvals from Tempe’s Development Review Commission and City Council. The Tempe Development Review Commission and City Council approved the Project during the fall of 2011.
As a result of Wentworth’s vision and the work of the zoning and land use team, an aesthetically pleasing corporate business park and employment center designed to respect adjoining residential neighborhoods, bring additional employment opportunities to Tempe, create a recognizable place to work and stay, complement the site’s existing industrial use and ASU Research Park, and stimulate economic activity will be coming to Tempe’s Loop 101 Freeway corridor in the near future.