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Bill Gates is Buying Land in Arizona to Build a "Smart City"
An investment firm run by Bill Gates has put down $80 million to develop a planned community in Arizona. The 25,000 acres of land is about 45 minutes west of Phoenix, in an area called the West Valley. The community, which Gates wants to turn into a "smart city," will be named Belmont.
"Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs," Belmont Partners, the Arizona real state investment company involved in the deal, said in a news release.
The proposed freeway I-11, which would connect the Belmont area to Las Vegas, makes the land an ideal spot for a new community, according to Ronald Schott, the executive emeritus at the Arizona Technology Council. Of the 25,000 acres, 3,800 will be used for office, retail, and commercial space. Another 470 acres will be used for public schools. That leaves enough space for 80,000 residential units.
Also at TheUSBPort, Fossbytes, CNET, and Real Estate Daily News.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 15 2017, @06:59PM
The thing is, $80 million isn't enough to build a town, much less a city. Back nearly 50 years ago a college dorm cost a couple of million, and we've had a few years of high inflation since then, so now it would probably be $10 million or so. So we're talking about the price of 8 college dorms without streets, plumbing, electrical supply, sewers, etc. It would buy more buildings if they were smaller, but then they'd hold fewer people. Dorms are built the way they are to get the most people/dollar.
Perhaps this is just the price of the undeveloped land. That would make sense. And he may have said it was going to be developed into this dream city. That would make sense, but believe it if you want to, I'd rate it as PR for something...possibly an industrial park. Unless there are zoning laws were he bought the land, and if there are, it's probably zoned agricultural, in which case he's going to need to lobby to get the zoning changed, and this story would help that.
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