A project aimed at converting a piece of land along Tempe Town Lake into a multi-use space fell through. It’s the second major development in the area to fail. The Tempe City Council will discuss this evening what to do with the space.
Pier 202 is a lot on the northeast corner of Rural Road and Rio Salado Parkway. The city of Tempe said in a statement that real estate company TrendEx failed to meet contractual deadlines and deposit funds into an escrow account.
This is the second major development to fall through in less than a month in Tempe. An ASU mixed-use lease project also failed for similar reasons. University of Arizona Finance lecturer Michael Bond said these types of failed agreements are not unusual.
“Commercial real estate went through just a horrendous downturn," Bond said. "So, to the extent that that market is growing now, we’re seeing some recovery here but these are long cycles and especially in Arizona where the real estate downturn was so much more severe.”
Pier 202 is part of Tempe’s plan to fully convert the area along Tempe Town Lake into a combination of commercial, business and residential.
