Arizona State University to add campus in downtown Mesa
Feb 4, 2016, 10:14 AM
PHOENIX — Arizona State University will have another place to call home. The university is planning a campus in downtown Mesa, Mayor John Giles said.
Giles, who announced the move during his State of the City address on Thursday, called the university’s addition of a fifth campus a “game-changing expansion.”
The campus will be a “great addition to our city” and will “add vibrancy” to downtown, Giles said during his breakfast speech at the convention center.
ASU already has one campus in the city — the Polytechnic (or East) campus is home to interdisciplinary science, engineering, management, technology and education majors.
“Our relationship with the city has been fantastic,” university President Michael Crow said in a video. “After years of discussion, (we) are committed to ASU having a presence in downtown. … We’re all in.”
In the absence of Crow, Sparky, the Sun Devil mascot, joined Giles onstage to announce the news.
The move could further establish Mesa as a growing city in Arizona. Valley Metro expanded its light rail through the East Valley’s largest city last August, increasing traffic through the town by nearly 100 percent.
Last February, technology giant Apple announced it would establish a command center in Mesa, which would bring more than $2 billion over the next 10 years and 500 jobs to the city.
