Tempe Looking To Build Sports Arena Near Tempe Town Lake

TEMPE, AZ — The city of Tempe has put out a request for proposal to build a mixed-use sports and development complex that would include an arena, 1,000 apartment units and 200,000 square feet of retail space.

The city released the following statement on the arena development:

"The City of Tempe has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a project incorporating a professional sports franchise and entertainment district for two parcels of city-owned land totaling 46 acres at the northeast corner of Priest Drive and Rio Salado Parkway. While the RFP is open, the city will not discuss the matter beyond providing this statement. The statement should be attributed to the City of Tempe as the sole official statement on this matter.

"Any professional sports franchise or entity partnered with the franchise can respond to the RFP; it is open to all qualified organizations, locally and nationally. It is customary for cities or towns to issue RFPs in order to get specifics that can be analyzed and evaluated. On occasion, cities like Tempe issue RFPs after being approached with unsolicited, informal proposals; the RFP is a tool to solidify and examine such proposals as well as all other responsive proposals. In this instance, the city determined that this 46 acres of land is underutilized and desired to open up this RFP process."

On Thursday morning, The Arizona Republic reported that the city of Tempe and the Arizona Coyotes were in discussions to move from the team's current arena in Glendale to the location on Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive.

Coyotes spokesperson Rich Nairn sent the following statement on the arena development to Patch:

“Based on the site’s location, the Coyotes are highly interested in this development opportunity and will be responding to the City of Tempe’s request for proposal. Given our determination to remain in the Valley for many years to come, we are actively working to identify the best long-term home for the Coyotes, our devoted fans and this great community.”

Patch obtained a copy of the city's RFP, which lays out the following vision for the site, which is currently home to the Tempe Solid Waste Compost Yard.

In Tempe's RFP, the city includes the following items:

• Development of a mixed-use Sports and Entertainment District that is home to a professional sports franchise
• 1,000 residential units
• 200,000 SF retail
• Sports stadium/arena and practice facility
• Large plaza area with numerous amenities and shaded, which will be made available for public gatherings and events
• Thirty percent (30%) of tenanting with LOIs/MOUs
• Strategy and uses to activate the district allowing for large public gatherings and a proposed schedule of activities.
• Name recognition for Tempe and an opportunity for Tempe public service announcements
• Open space and walkability connecting to Innovation Discovery Education Arts (IDEA) Tempe, the Tempe Center for the Arts and Tempe Town Lake trail system
• Appropriate parking and transit options for multi-modal transportation
• Conceptual designs to meet urban trends
• Local retail tenants
• Preference for green sustainable building practices. Developer agrees to use its commercially reasonable efforts to register and utilize apprenticeship and highly skilled worker programs.

The Coyotes have played their home games at Gila River Arena since it opened its doors in 2003.

No timeline is given in the RFP as to when the team plans on starting construction on the mixed-use development.

The RFP was issued on July 22, with a due date of Aug. 19