The wildly popular and economically beneficial Tempe Town Lake will soon be the home of one of the nation’s newest and most ambitious transit projects to date.
Tempe officials, along with their colleagues in Phoenix and Mesa, are about to create a way for desert dwellers to enjoy an amazing waterfront lifestyle along the shores of the expanding Tempe Town Lake.
In a blockbuster deal involving public and private funding sources, we are on the verge of creating a transit system similar to the CityCat ferry services in Brisbane, Australia.
Tempe Town Lake will be expanded along the riverbed further west into Phoenix and further east into Mesa.
Citing Tempe’s regional strength, Tempe officials say this will be a huge economic engine for Tempe and for the region.
“We all know that waterfront property is some of the most desirable property available. We’ve seen a tremendous amount of economic impact along our light rail line and our studies show that demand for lakefront property, along with a unique transit element, will far exceed what we have along our light rail line.”
CityCat transit service – Brisbane Australia
“As a landlocked city, Tempe has to be different. We have to think and grow regionally, upward and out of the box. Our partnership with CityCat will be one of the most exciting and economically stimulating projects we have ever seen.”
Working with the manufactures of the CityCat Transit Service, Tempe officials and private investors have traveled to Brisbane to see the amazing efficiency and the excitement that comes with lakefront developments. The time is now. As Tempe real estate continues to show very strong demand, we want to make sure that we have many options available to live, work and play in our great city. This type of project will boost tourism, grow enrollment at ASU, create more economic activity in our community and will continue to show people all over the world that Tempe is a world class city.
Not only have officials traveled to Brisbane, they traveled to a place called Blarney Island, a college-type restaurant and bar, only accessible by boat. The proximity to ASU and the relationships we have with them, will allow us to build an amazing restaurant and nightlife district along the south side of the lake. Look at the area from Hayden Ferry to where State Farm is building a regional headquarters. The headquarters will bring 6000 jobs to the area – it’s a perfect fit for creating the demand for a new urban, lakefront lifestyle. Just a mile to the west, the city of Tempe has a Tempe Town Lake development deal in place for land at Rio Salado and Priest, where the lake will be extended and boat docks will be installed for travel to new destinations accessible via the water.
“With job growth comes opportunity. These boats are far less costly to build and maintain. The huge construction cost of light rail is offset,
because we don’t have to deal with the expense of laying track, moving utility lines or buying homes or businesses that get in the way.”
A press conference with private investors, institutional fund managers and city officials is scheduled for 5:00pm Friday, April 1st to give us more details about this transit and economic development package. While it sounds good in theory, I certainly hope we get something more than pie in the sky theory, pronto.
Stay tuned…
** Yes, this was an April Fools Day post.
Well that’s pretty expansive of an idea but sure go ahead.
I laughed too because… that blarney island… I partied there in high school as its very close to where I grew up and went to school. only accessible by boat. 🙂
Yeah, I hope we get a Blarney Island in Tempe some day. It would be a lot of fun.
That place is perfect for a college town!
Maybe you and I should apply for the permits? We’d make a killing!
Wrong day for this post…it would be really cool, but it seems the lake is way too small for something like this. How long will they fill the river bed before this project gets a green light?
I thought the lake was already extended into Phoenix, that the lake in Phoenix is called Salt River.