Crossing the Mill Avenue Bridge over Tempe Town Lake, the construction cranes are unmistakable--not that ASU students need any help recognizing construction equipment or anything.
Hayden Ferry Lakeside is rising from the sandy earth of Tempe like the Phoenix rising from the ashes of the old to grow anew.
It's a sign that times are changing in Tempe, and the focus is turning from earthier pleasures to, shall we say, loftier pursuits.
After losing the Fiesta Bowl and Arizona Cardinals games to Glendale, Tempe snagged the Insight Bowl to keep football fever in town. Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said Tempe will brand itself as a mecca for "amateur athletic sports."
We smell a little bit of bitterness.
But never fear. The city is working on reinventing itself as a better place for sushi and wine than hot wings and beer.
Pricey condos and loft-style apartments are the newest trend in planning for Tempe. So are high-rise buildings, raising Tempe to a much greater scale.
We at The State Press can only cringe as we hear Tempe's new theme song in our heads, Creed's "Can you take me higher?"
While the city of Tempe has avoided Christlike poses for the most part, Hallman leapt into the air with excitement during a groundbreaking ceremony last Wednesday.
He and other city officials were celebrating the future opening of Centerpoint Condominiums in Centerpoint Plaza, just off Mill Avenue.
If the design of the event tent was any indication, Tempe is in for yet another upscale development. White-clad chefs prepared plentiful pastries and foods with names we can barely pronounce. The phrase "twenty.four.seven" was scattered everywhere to not-so-subliminally convince attendees that Tempe is getting an extreme makeover.
You can just see the city of Tempe waiting with excitement to celebrate the coming of more wealthy people into the town.
With light rail coming to Tempe in about 2008, the city is going to become sexier and sexier. We like tall buildings and feeling like we're in a big city. As long as affordable housing doesn't become a thing of the past, we're excited too.
The planned Cosmo building, scheduled to go up near University Drive and Ash Avenue, hopefully will bring a grocery store so we no longer have to hear the same overdone stories about the olden days when Stabler's Market sat in the current spot known as Tempe Center -- and when students had to walk 10 miles to campus in the snow.
Recent political science graduate Kevin Bondelli's run for city council, successful or not, should give students and young adults a greater say in their community.
We can only hope that student interests will be taken into account and that affordable, high-quality housing will be available once the city's lofty goals have been achieved.
