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Tempe is teaming up with private partners for several development projects in the city’s downtown area, including the Hayden Flour Mill.

Redevelopment plans are underway for some notable Tempe properties, including the Hayden Flour Mill and a vacant shopping center on Apache Boulevard.

Mayor Corey Woods says the city bought Apache Central Center, which formerly housed a Food City, two years ago “with the vision to create more housing, and add much needed amenities in this area.”

Woods said the City Council recently entered negotiations to build mixed-income housing, a grocery store, and two parking lots there.

“We wanted to make sure, when that Food City was going out of business back in late September of 2021, that we didn’t leave the folks along Apache Boulevard living in a virtual food desert,” Woods said. “We’re talking about now, for that area, bringing up to 400 units of mix-income housing.”

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Tempe Mayor Corey Woods says the city will still own the property that Hayden Flour Mill sits on and is entering a 60-year ground lease.

Tempe is also working with private partners to develop a place for business and recreation in and around the iconic Hayden Flour Mill.

John Graham with Sunbelt Holdings is one of those partners.

“We made a commitment to the city that we’d keep everything and basically just do restoration,” Graham said.

Lorenzo Perez with Venue Projects said they’re working to “base the approach in restraint, and really highlight the mill and the silos.”

The historical nature of those structures — and some of the equipment still inside — will also affect the timeline of the project.

“The idea is to renovate them and reuse them — creatively reuse and repurpose them,” said Perez. “What they are or what they’re gonna be is to be determined in some aspects just because we gotta understand what’s possible.”

Woods added that the city will still own the land.

“We’re entering into a 60-year ground lease,” he said.

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Lorenzo Perez with Venue Projects described the conceptual site plan for the Hayden Flour Mill and surrounding area as still being in the works, but said he looks forward to the space becoming a place accessible to everyone who lives in or visits Tempe.

Perez said they also want to keep the project considerate to the communities of the area by learning the site’s history.

For example, the Four Southern Tribes of Arizona and their long history with the Hayden Butte, also known as “A” Mountain, and the sacredness it holds.

Perez also noted the history of nearby towns founded by Mexican settlers hundreds of years ago, and the work many members of those communities did in the historic mill.

They’re hoping to break ground at the mill project sometime in 2025.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Corey Woods' name.

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