Bill Gates purchases Arizona land to build future ‘smart city’

Bill Gates is developing the City of the Future in Arizona

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has chosen Arizona to build his future ‘smart city’ by purchasing a plot of 25,000 acres of land in the south western region of the United States.

The area, which is a 45-minutes drive from west of Phoenix in an area called the West Valley off I-10 near Tonopah, costs $80 million, said Belmont Partners, a real estate investment group based in Arizona who closed the deal for the plot of land from one of Gates’ investment firms.

The proposed community, planned to spread across 25,000 acres, will be called ‘Belmont’, and the goal is to convert the land into its own “smart city,” according to Belmont Partners.

“Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs,” the group says in a news release.

Of the 25,000 acres, 3,800 acres will be used for office, retail, and commercial space, while another 470 acres will be used for public schools, which would leave enough space for 80,000 residential units.

“Comparable in square miles and projected population to Tempe, Arizona, Belmont will transform a raw, blank slate into a purpose-built edge city built around a flexible infrastructure model,” Belmont Properties said.

They even added that the future smart city will enjoy tomorrow’s technologies such as an autonomous vehicle infrastructure, autonomous logistic hubs, and more upon completion of the project.

Arizona Technology Council’s Executive Emeritus Ronald Schott said the land Gates’ company purchased is in a good spot,which is in part due to the proposed I-11 freeway, which would run right through Belmont and connect to Las Vegas.

“Bill Gates is known for innovation and those kind of things, and I think he picked the right place,” said Schott, which is in part due to the proposed I-11 freeway.

“He’s coming to Arizona. Finally Arizona’s being recognized for being a place for innovation,” Schott added.

As of now, there’s no word on when construction of the project will start. This is a developing story and we will keep you updated.

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Source:KGW