Officials with Arizona Christian University have announced plans to build up to 1,400 new housing units in Glendale as part of a larger plan that is expected to see the private school’s enrollment more than double in the next decade.
The nearly 60 year-old school, based in Phoenix, moved onto the former campus of Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management last year after Thunderbird re-located its facilities to ASU’s downtown Phoenix site.
The Glendale campus is located at the intersection of Greenway Road and 59th Avenue.
Once that move was completed, Arizona Christian University officials said they wanted to build on some 85 acres of currently vacant land bordering the east and south side of that campus.
Those officials also envisioned the construction of well over six hundred new homes on the same land comprising what is being called the Thunderbird Village.
Now, members of the Glendale City Council have given their approval to a zoning change that will allow for the new residential construction.
The planned Thunderbird Village may also eventually include medical and childcare space, as well as restaurants.
Arizona Christian University’s move to the former Thunderbird campus has meant that the school has increased its campus size from the 20 acres it previously had in Phoenix to nearly 70 acres today, along with a structural footprint going from 150,000 square feet to 500,000 square feet.
Lee Munsil, Arizona Christian University president, has noted that the new move has also given to the school “an expansive library ten times the size of our current library,” as well as the addition of a campus store, coffee shop and student union.
The school’s new campus formerly servd as the site to a flight training school. During World War II, the Thunderbird Field Number One saw the training of more than 16,000 Air Force cadets.
By Garry Boulard
