In Glendale, the forward march of urban development has hit a roadblock as a Superior Court of Arizona has pulled the brakes on the city's plans to build a substantial parking garage near the State Farm Stadium—home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals—without the nod from the football franchise; under a judge's recent decree the city's hands are tied unless they hold the Cardinals' playbook, ABC15 reported.
The clash between municipal vision and private interest spotlights the $1 billion VAI Resort development hinged to the city's black lot—a project now seeing its tempo set not by city planners but by a Maricopa County judge's order on March 14; the ruling puts a stop sign on the issuance of construction permits, alterations to parking, or any operating agreements that lack the Cardinals' signature, this coming as the city declined to comment on the legal binder they now find themselves in, their grand scheme a field of legal landmines, according to the Business Journal.
The parking accord at the crux of this judicial punt dates back, requiring Glendale to hold down the fort with thousands of parking spaces for stadium events and to advance any alterations past the Cardinals—who, following the city's reveal of its $71 million parking garage blueprint in November, along with the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, flagged their concern on potential interference with major sporting events at the stadium, subsequently launching a legal Hail Mary that has since found success.
Back in 2016, to hammer out a previous spat over parking, Glendale agreed to pay $17 million in damages and to cobble together new parking lots after the development of the Tanger Outlets bulldozed over 5,000 spots promised to the stadium; the plaintiffs now bask in the afterglow of a legal triumph as they safeguard their rights and the fan experience—with the ruling emphasizing that infrastructure for traffic and pedestrian safety is not only a bone of contention but also key to hosting mega-events like the Super Bowl or Final Four, “Plaintiffs desire to preserve the stadium's ability to win these competitive bids; therefore; it is essential they be included the approval process to ensure that proper precautions, including a traffic study are conducted," the judgment laid out.
As murmurs of favoritism in contractor selection for the stalled project buzz, the dispute hangs a question mark over the fate of the parking garage while the VAI Resort and Mattel Adventure Park polish their opening plans for later in the year. With an original construction timeline that envisioned a 2024 start and a November completion, the city now finds itself in the red zone without a clear play to score the much-needed parking infrastructure, stresses the Civic hold, given they once assured the Cardinals they would have a stake in any decisions that might run interference with the stadium parking playbook.
