Glendale is saying goodbye to Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management because the program is moving to Phoenix.
A new building will go up near ASU’s downtown law school near First and Polk streets.
The plan is to move Thunderbird downtown by 2019, then into the new building by 2021.
“We think the long-term success of the school, Thunderbird School, will be enhanced greatly by this ability to be on an academic campus,” ASU President Michael Crow said. "And we're very excited about the Glendale project where that can be fantastically developed to the benefit of that city”
The Glendale campus will be redeveloped by ASU’s nonprofit revenue generator ASU Enterprise Partners for mixed-use real estate, then sold.
Glendale officials in a statement said they will work with the university to help develop the 140-acre site.
The site of the school was originally a military aviation training base during World War II.
ASU Enterprise Partners CEO Rick Shangraw says he spoke with Glendale officials Tuesday morning.
“This is absolutely a collaborative dialogue with the city of Glendale," Shangraw said. "We’re actually going to them saying, we have the property, let’s sit down and begin thinking about, imagine it’s a blank sheet of paper, what would you like to do here.”
Ideas being suggested were residential or commercial. ASU plans to open a new charter school there as well.
