1st Restaurant Opens in Tempe Innovation Corridor with Apartments, Hotel Still to Come

Article originally posted on AZ Central on October 23, 2023

On the heels of the first retail opening at the Novus Innovation Corridor at Arizona State University, a 300-acre site on the east side of the Tempe campus, more restaurants are gearing for opening and hundreds of apartment units are under construction.

The corridor near Tempe Town Lake is a mix of offices, apartments, a hotel and sports facilities.

Developments already completed in Novus include the Marina Heights office development, Mullett Arena and a newly opened apartment building that will include street-level restaurants.

A piece of the shuttered Karsten Golf Course has made way for an office building and parking garage, with more in the works to redevelop the former course, Charley Freericks, senior vice president of Catellus Corp. and the master developer of Novus, said.

Restaurants, hotel and apartments all coming

Near the Piedmont, two other apartment complexes are under construction. Vero, a 200-unit, “micro-unit” apartment complex is being developed by Transwestern Development Company. The smaller units have space-saving furniture fixtures that can convert or move for storage. Freericks said leasing for Vero is expected to begin in March.

East of Rural Road, a 330-unit apartment complex is under construction. That project will include 30 units of workforce housing, which will give preference to ASU employees who qualify, Freericks said. That complex is expected to open in mid-2025.

On the eastern side of Novus Place, west of Rural, there are plans for three restaurants from Fox Restaurant Concepts: Flower Child, Blanco Cocina + Cantina and North Italia. The restaurants will be built along the edges of a public park with lawn gathering space and shade structure.

A hotel developer planning a 184-room hotel is in escrow on the southeast corner of the site and is working on designing the project now. Freericks said the hotel site is expected to close escrow in the beginning of 2024.

One office building, directly south of where new Fox restaurants and park will be, has opened and is fully leased in Novus. There are plans for two other “sister” office buildings to be built on parcels near the first office, but construction on those was paused because of the slowdown in office leasing during the pandemic, Freericks said.

Long-term plans could include major corporate campuses

Some longer-term plans for the corridor include:

Relocating the track and field and tennis facilities from west of Rural to be near the existing softball field and intramural field. After those are relocated, another building is planned in front of Mullett Arena, which could include a team shop and other retail. That site is currently occupied by the track complex.
The former baseball stadium will be razed, and the site will be bisected by Novus Place, which will be extended. Mixed-use buildings with ground floor retail are planned on both sides of the street.
On the western side of the former golf course, two medical office buildings are planned along with a senior living complex. Freericks said there is almost no available medical office space in the Tempe submarket.
On the farthest east portion of the golf course, one office building in the “Rio Yards” development is completed and is open for leasing. Two more buildings are planned, and could be connected to one another with a bridge.
North of Rio Salado Parkway and west of McClintock Drive, there is room for two more large, campus-style developments that could be similar to Marina Heights, which was built as a campus for State Farm.
Adjacent to Marina Heights, along Rural Road, there are plans for three high-rise towers, with one planned to be an office building and two planned for residential.

In total, when Novus reaches buildout, about 10 million square feet of new buildings will have been added to the area.