Featured image credit: Arizona Coyotes/Gensler
The Arizona Coyotes NHL team has detailed plans to purchase 110 acres of state-owned land in the City of Phoenix with the intention of building a sports and entertainment district that would be anchored by a 17,000-seat arena.
Following the release of a public land auction notice from the Arizona State Land Department for the land at the northwest corner of Scottsdale Road and the Loop 101 in Phoenix, the Coyotes have announced their commitment to win the auction and develop the land into an “unrivalled” sports, lifestyle and entertainment district without taxpayer funding.
The Coyotes said the district could house the team for years to come. In buying the land, the Coyotes aim to fund public education across Arizona through the auction proceeds. The team is working with Gensler and AECOM Hunt on the plans. The auction will take place on June 27.
The Coyotes said the move will unlock thousands of acres of land around the property, with the team committing to more than $100m (£79m/€92m) worth of infrastructure improvements that can be sold by the Arizona State Land Department at a later date.
The arena would have 17,000 fixed seats for NHL games and capacity for roughly 1,500 additional temporary seats for non-ice hockey events. The arena complex would also include a 150,000-square-foot practice facility and headquarters, a live music theatre with a capacity of 3,000, retail space, and a multi-purpose watch party plaza.
The main entertainment district would be fully covered by a 170,000-square-foot roof canopy extending from the arena to the theatre. The Coyotes’ plans also include around 1,900 luxury residential units, 400,000 square feet of class-A office space, dining spots, bars, a farmer’s market, dog park and other gathering spaces.
The Coyotes said the development would create 10,800 new permanent jobs and generate $15.5bn in new spending over the next 30 years. According to the team, the project would generate $581m in new tax revenues for the City of Phoenix and $232m in new tax revenues for Maricopa County.
The announcement comes after voters in the city of Tempe, Arizona last year rejected the development of a $2.1bn arena and entertainment district for the Coyotes, placing the long-term future of the franchise in doubt once again.
The 46-acre project would have included a 16,000-capacity arena designed by Manica Architecture. The team is currently playing at Mullett Arena, a 5,000-seat facility in Tempe that is home of Arizona State University’s ice hockey team, the Sun Devils.
The Coyotes previously played at the 17,000-capacity Gila River Arena in Glendale but the team’s lease deal expired following the 2021-22 season. The Coyotes signed a deal to play at Mullett Arena while the search for a permanent home continues, with the team potentially playing at the ASU facility until the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
In August, the Coyotes’ ownership issued a letter of intent to purchase land in Mesa that could house an arena and entertainment district, but the team has now set its sights on Phoenix.
Coyotes chairman and governor Alex Meruelo said: “My family and I are committed to winning this land auction and building a transformative entertainment district that will not require taxpayer funding for the first time in Arizona history. We will buy this land, build this development and finish a project that will incur the cost of more than $100m in infrastructure improvements with no burden placed on taxpayers.”
The Coyotes relocated from the Canadian city of Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996.
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