Coyotes Ownership Does Not Control The Tempe Land Yet.
The National Hockey League’s Arizona franchise ownership group has not yet been given the approval to develop an arena-village complex in Tempe but Sky Harbor International Airport officials are concerned. Some proposed buildings in the complex close to the Phoenix airport might be too tall. Jordan Feld, the airport’s deputy aviation director of planning and environment, made a presentation to the Phoenix Aviation Advisory Board about the Tempe plans and said that there “maybe 400 feet between roof and aircraft.” It is estimated that the planes would fly 460 feet over the proposed arena. That could be a problem except airports and stadiums and or arenas co-exist in Queens, New York, Inglewood, California and San Jose with similar numbers. Feld said there was more than just altitude concerns in landing a plane. “The thing that continued to be a problem for the airport and aircraft were the various building materials, the glare, the lighting, the way navigator equipment kind of would bound off surfaces. So it’s not as easy to just say, well, tell us your height and as long as you keep it under that we should be OK.”
Arizona ownership has not shared details about the arena-village plan with airport officials. In September, Arizona ownership submitted a plan after Tempe put out a Request for Proposals to develop land in the city. It was the only proposal. Tempe officials wanted a sports stadium or an arena and a practice facility on the property. They wanted a team owner to create a stadium or an arena village that would include 1,000 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and a large plaza with amenities. Name recognition for Tempe and an opportunity for Tempe public service announcements. Tempe is now reviewing the arena-village proposal that was crafted with the hockey team in mind.
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