Tempe Marketplace: The $286 Million Shopping Center Built on Top of Arizona’s Worst Toxic Dump — And Nobody Talks About That Part
Before you buy a pretzel at Auntie Anne‘s or catch a movie at Harkins, maybe consider that you’re standing on what the EPA once classified as one of the most contaminated pieces of land in Arizona. The ground beneath Tempe Marketplace’s water features and outdoor fireplaces spent decades as a landfill, junkyard, and foundry so polluted it got put on the federal Superfund list in 1983.
Buried 50-gallon drums full of oil. Explosive methane gas pockets underground. Land so compromised it was condemned. And today it’s a 1.3 million square foot open-air mall with Lululemon and a 16-screen movie theater.
That’s a genuinely wild story that deserves to be told properly.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
| Address | 2000 East Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, AZ 85281 |
| Opened | September 28, 2007 |
| Developer/Owner | Vestar Development Company (Phoenix-based, privately held) |
| Project cost | $286 million |
| Total size | 1.3 million square feet on 130 acres |
| Stores | 100+ retailers and restaurants |
| Parking | ~6,000 spaces |
| Cinema | Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16 (16 screens) |
| Location advantage | Sits at the intersection of Loop 101 and Loop 202 — Arizona’s busiest freeway interchange |
| Previous site history | Former landfill, junkyard, and metal foundry; EPA Superfund List 1983 |
| Environmental cleanup cost | $40 million; nearly 2 years |
| Brownfield federal grant received | $1 million from Brownfield Economic Development Initiative |
| Land acquisition | Required negotiations with 52 individual property owners |
| Environmental distinction | Largest brownfield cleanup in Arizona history |
| Awards | Silver Sustainability Award from ICSC |
| Architecture | HTH Architects; flying rooflines, laser and light elements, outdoor fireplaces, misting systems |
| Mall hours | Mon–Sat 11am–9pm, Sun 11am–6pm |
| Phone | (480) 966-9338 |
The Toxic Past Nobody Brings Up at the Food Court
Let’s spend a real minute on this because it’s genuinely remarkable.
The 130 acres where Tempe Marketplace now sits spent decades as one of the most problematic industrial sites in the Phoenix metro. It housed a landfill. A junkyard. A metal foundry. The contamination was severe enough that the EPA designated it a Superfund site — that’s the federal government’s way of saying a location is so dangerous it qualifies for special cleanup assistance because it poses genuine health risks to the surrounding community.
That designation came in 1983. The site sat on that list for twenty years. Two decades of federally recognized toxic contamination, sitting in the middle of a rapidly growing metropolitan area, doing nothing useful for anyone.
When Vestar Development first looked at the land in the early 2000s, environmental investigators found buried 50-gallon drums filled with oil. Active methane gas pockets underground — the explosive kind, not just an inconvenience kind. Buildings constructed to pre-annexation county standards so inadequate they were considered unsafe. The cleanup crew was essentially doing archaeological excavation on an industrial disaster site.
The City of Tempe had to negotiate with 52 separate property owners to assemble the land for development. Fifty-two. That’s not one stubborn holdout — that’s a fractured patchwork of industrial parcels that took legal battles, condemnation proceedings, and years of negotiation to stitch together.
See also “SolarMovieFree.com: The Site That Refuses to Die (And Maybe That’s the Problem)“
Why Vestar Bothered at All
Here’s the thing: cleaning up a Superfund site before you can build anything is expensive and slow. So why would any developer voluntarily sign up for that?
The answer is location. Pure, unadulterated location. That 130-acre parcel sits right at the intersection of Loop 101 (the Pima/Price Freeway) and Loop 202 (the Red Mountain Freeway). Vestar’s own people described it as the crossroads of vehicular traffic encircling the entire Phoenix metro. The two busiest freeways in Arizona, right there together. Every commuter going around the east and north Valley passes within sight of this property.
No amount of brownfield premium erases location that good. Vestar paid $40 million in cleanup costs alone — nearly two years of environmental work before anyone could pour a single foundation — on top of a $286 million total project price tag. They also received a $1 million federal grant from the Brownfield Economic Development Initiative, which is essentially the government acknowledging that brownfield development creates economic value from what was previously a public health liability.
The gamble paid off. By 2009, while other shopping centers around Phoenix were struggling through the recession, news reports noted that Tempe Marketplace was thriving. The location math worked.
What’s Actually There Now
Tempe Marketplace operates on what it calls a hybrid model. The outer perimeter of the site functions as a traditional power center — the big-box anchor stores that draw volume traffic. Target anchors the whole thing. Best Buy, JCPenney, Sam’s Club, Old Navy, and Ross round out the major anchors. These are the stores that justify a special trip. You need something specific, you drive here.
Then there’s The District. This is the inner open-air pedestrian area — the part that functions like a proper outdoor lifestyle center. The District is the 500,000 square foot interior grouping of buildings and common areas that includes Barnes & Noble, Dave and Buster’s, and the Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16 cinema complex. It’s where you wander, not just shop. Central stage. Plaza. Live entertainment.
The architecture is deliberately loud. Flying rooflines. Colorful accent panels everywhere. Outdoor fireplaces scattered around for winter evenings. Misting systems throughout for when it’s July and 110 degrees and you’ve made the ill-advised choice to be outside. A massive signature sign arc that’s visible from the Loop 202 freeway, specifically designed to catch freeway traffic. Dramatic light and laser shows. The whole thing is built to be seen and to announce itself.
The Freeway Visibility Is the Secret Weapon
You have to understand Phoenix geography to fully appreciate what Tempe Marketplace’s location actually means. The Phoenix metro is a massive, sprawling car-dependent metro area. If you’re in Chandler heading northwest on the 101, or in Mesa heading west on the 202, or connecting from either direction — you pass this intersection. It’s unavoidable if you’re doing any serious cross-Valley driving.
That sign arc Vestar put up visible from the Loop 202? Not decoration. It’s advertising at highway speeds for tens of thousands of drivers every single day. The location does marketing work that no ad campaign can replicate. People see the signs constantly and unconsciously add it to their mental map of “places to go.”
This is why the hybrid power center and lifestyle center format makes sense here specifically. The power anchors pull the necessity shoppers. The District pulls the experience shoppers who want to browse, eat, see a movie. Together they capture traffic from different intent states. You get them on the Target run and keep them for dinner.
The Dining Lineup Has Gotten Genuinely Interesting
Tempe Marketplace’s restaurant selection has evolved significantly since the 2007 opening. The early tenants were pretty generic. What’s there now is more thoughtful, with a lineup that actually reflects the local market demographics.
GEN Korean BBQ is exactly what it sounds like — tableside Korean barbecue, high energy, popular with the ASU crowd and young professionals in the East Valley. Barrio Queen is a Scottsdale-founded Mexican concept with genuinely elevated Sonoran cuisine rather than the generic Tex-Mex you’d expect in a mall setting. Lou Malnati’s brings Chicago deep-dish pizza to a market with a substantial transplant population that grew up eating it.
The Keg Steakhouse and Bar, Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, and King’s Fish House cover the premium casual dining segment. Portillo’s — another Chicago institution — hits the Midwest transplant market that makes up a significant portion of the Phoenix-area population. These choices aren’t accidental. They’re calibrated to a specific consumer base in a specific location.
The Summer Reality Nobody in the Brochure Mentions
Let me be real with you for a second. This is an outdoor mall in Tempe, Arizona. Tempe, Arizona, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit and the pavement radiates heat long after sunset.
Every single review that’s been honest about Tempe Marketplace includes some version of “if you go in summer, prepare for the heat.” The misting systems help. They genuinely help. But you’re still walking between buildings in direct desert sun, and that’s simply a different experience than a climate-controlled enclosed mall in July.
The flip side: October through April in Tempe is legitimately pleasant. The outdoor fireplaces that seem decorative in summer become actually functional in a way that surprises people who only visit during Phoenix winters. When Phoenix winters are good — and they frequently are — an outdoor shopping center with that kind of landscaping and common area design is genuinely appealing.
The center has cozy fireplaces for winter evenings, unique water features including a splash area for kids, lush landscaping, and shaded corridors throughout The District. The summer-winter experience gap is real and you should plan around it.
The Water Features and Family Stuff
There’s a splash area. Kids run through it. Parents sit nearby and recover their composure. On a 95-degree October evening — welcome to Tempe — this is not a small amenity.
The central plaza in The District is also a functioning community event space. Live music happens regularly. Seasonal programming runs throughout the year. The stage setup means actual performances, not just a speaker playing background music. Laser and light shows run on evenings. This is the part of Tempe Marketplace that earns the “entertainment” part of “shopping and entertainment destination” — the cinema alone doesn’t do it.
A farmers market presence has also been noted by visitors. Fresh local produce, local bread, hummus, organic food and vegetables — not what you typically associate with a major lifestyle center anchored by a Target, but Tempe has an educated, health-conscious consumer base that supports it.
Final Words
Here’s where I land on Tempe Marketplace after going through all of this. It’s an easy place to be snarky about — outdoor mall in the desert, chains you can find anywhere, enormous parking lot, the whole format that retail analysts spent a decade declaring obsolete.
But the backstory genuinely earns some respect. This specific piece of land sat toxic and useless for twenty-four years before anyone figured out what to do with it. The EPA had it on the Superfund list. It was generating explosive methane. Buried drums of industrial waste were being unearthed during the construction process. Getting 52 different property owners to agree to anything is a minor miracle of negotiation.
The fact that there is now a functioning, successful, busy shopping and entertainment center where that was — generating tax revenue for the city, employing people, giving the community an amenity — is a legitimate environmental and development success story. Vestar’s $40 million cleanup turned a public health liability into a community asset.
My opinion: visit in October through April. Eat at GEN Korean BBQ or Barrio Queen rather than the chains you’ve had everywhere. See a movie at Harkins. Let the kids run the splash pad. And maybe walk around knowing that the ground you’re standing on is cleaner now than it’s been since before anyone alive today was born.
That’s actually a good story, however many times you’ve been to a Target.
FAQs
1. Where exactly is Tempe Marketplace located?
At 2000 East Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe, Arizona 85281, right at the junction of Loop 101 (Pima/Price Freeway) and Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway). It sits along the Salt River near the border where Tempe meets Mesa and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
2. When did Tempe Marketplace open?
September 28, 2007. The development took years longer than originally planned due to the environmental cleanup requirements, land acquisition from 52 property owners, and legal disputes that pushed the opening back from an earlier projected date.
3. How big is Tempe Marketplace?
1.3 million square feet of retail and entertainment space on 130 acres of land. The property includes approximately 6,000 parking spaces and 100+ retailers and dining options.
4. What happened to the land before Tempe Marketplace was built?
It was an industrial brownfield site — a combination of landfill, junkyard, and metal foundry — so contaminated that the EPA added it to the federal Superfund list in 1983. The land sat designated as a toxic site for twenty years before Vestar Development undertook what became the largest brownfield cleanup in Arizona history, spending $40 million and nearly two years on remediation before construction could begin.
5. Who owns and runs Tempe Marketplace?
Vestar Development Company, a privately held California-based real estate firm. They developed it, own it, and continue to operate and manage it.
6. What are the anchor stores at Tempe Marketplace?
The major power center anchors on the outer ring are Target, Best Buy, JCPenney, Ross Dress for Less, Sam’s Club, and Nordstrom Rack. The inner District area is anchored by Barnes & Noble, Dave and Buster’s, and Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16.
7. What’s The District inside Tempe Marketplace?
The District is the interior pedestrian lifestyle section — roughly 500,000 square feet of open-air buildings, plazas, restaurants, entertainment venues, and common spaces at the heart of the center. It includes a central performance stage, water features, outdoor fireplaces, and is where most of the dining and entertainment options are concentrated.
8. Is Tempe Marketplace good to visit in summer?
It’s manageable but genuinely hot. The entire center is outdoors, and Tempe summer temperatures regularly exceed 110°F. Misting systems throughout the property help considerably, but you’re still walking between buildings in direct Arizona sun. Fall through spring — October through April especially — is when this center shines as an outdoor destination.
9. What movies theaters are at Tempe Marketplace?
Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16 — a 16-screen Harkins cinema complex. Harkins is Arizona’s dominant movie chain and this location is one of their major Valley properties.
10. What dining options stand out at Tempe Marketplace?
GEN Korean BBQ (tableside Korean barbecue, popular with ASU and East Valley crowd), Barrio Queen (elevated Sonoran Mexican cuisine), Lou Malnati’s (Chicago deep-dish pizza), Portillo’s (another Chicago transplant favorite), The Keg Steakhouse, Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, and King’s Fish House. The dining lineup is more interesting than typical mall food courts.
11. Is there parking at Tempe Marketplace?
Yes — approximately 6,000 parking spaces across the property. Given the size of the center and the freeway accessibility, parking is rarely a major issue compared to urban shopping destinations.
12. Has Tempe Marketplace won any awards?
Yes. The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) awarded it a Silver Sustainability Award for the overall development. The recognition specifically acknowledged both the environmental remediation work and the sustainable construction practices Vestar incorporated throughout the project.
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