Weekly Briefing

A town-gown spat in Tempe.

Rebecca Noble for The Chronicle

In Tempe, Ariz., businesses surrounding a retirement building are disturbing the “lifelong learners” who live on Arizona State University’s campus.

This isn’t the typical town-gown spat you’re used to. (You know, rowdy students, or an ever-growing campus invading the space of neighboring residents and businesses.) This is a case of a loud neighborhood and music venue versus a college-built and -owned senior-living community.

Here’s what happening: In 2018, ASU’s Tempe campus broke ground on a 20-story retirement complex to be called the Mirabella. The building is on ASU’s campus, located in a neighborhood known for the electronic-music venue Shady Park and other clubs, bars, and restaurants.

The pandemic shuttered Shady Park, but by mid-2021, it was open again. Mirabella residents and those in nearby hotels and apartments began to complain soon after. The businesses are too loud, residents say.

In April, a judge sided with residents’ complaints and cut the live-music venue’s hours so much that it stopped hosting the outdoor shows it’s know for. This month, Shady Park appealed the ruling.

Though specific data about campuses and retirement communities is hard to find, experts in that sector say university-based retirement communities are on the rise.

These projects obviously give an institution new revenue opportunities on college-owned land. At Mirabella, residents pay an entrance fee of about $450,000 up to $2 million, with about 80 percent to 90 percent refundable to the residents’ estate. They also pay a monthly fee that ranges between $4,500 and $5,000 for dining, utilities, programming, and housekeeping. At first, the Mirabella sold out, but now its occupancy rate is about 60 percent. The university received $7 million up front from Mirabella’s operators for the lease.

The community attracts residents who want an active life, want to keep learning, and are drawn to living near younger generations. Four students live with about 230 retirees in the building. Their room-and-board costs are covered in exchange for two music-related events per week. For many students, this comes in the form of music lessons and practices for coursework.

Meanwhile, the city of Tempe is caught in the crosshairs of this conflict. While the court ruled in Mirabella’s favor, the city council sided with Shady Park, saying that the court ruling would keep Tempe from enforcing its own codes for noise ordinances. And though the city of Tempe helped review the proposal for the complex, Mirabella is ultimately on ASU property.

Randy Keating, vice mayor of Tempe, says the dispute doesn’t effect the city’s relationship with ASU. They both need each other to succeed.

Read our story by Rachel Leingang, a freelance journalist who writes The Arizona Agenda newsletter, here.

Lagniappe.

• Learn. What fuels a lasting friendship? Attention, rituals, and imagination, among other things. (The Atlantic)
• Read. Meet the two brothers who are checking the authority of President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, just as he is set on acquiring more power. (Los Angeles Times)
• Listen. Unless you were involved in or have studied the 1990s Chicano student movement, odds are you haven’t heard of Oscar Gomez. This series explains his importance to the movement and aims to make sense of his unexpected and grizzly death. (Imperfect Paradise podcast)

— Fernanda