Bill Gates has purchased a giant plot of land in Arizona for $80 million in order to develop the world’s first ever “smart city.”
Belmont Partners, one of Bill Gates’ investment firms, purchased 25,000 acres of land in Tonopah, and will begin construction of the smart city immediately.
Fox News reports: “Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs,” Belmont Partners said in a press release, according to KPNX.
The community “will transform a raw, blank slate into a purpose-built edge city built around a flexible infrastructure model,” according to Belmont Properties.
It’ll reportedly include space for 80,000 residential units, in addition to 470 acres for public schools and 3,800 acres designated for offices, commercial buildings and retail outlets.
The purchase is a smart move, Arizona Technology Council’s Ron Schott told KPNX. He said the projected city’s location is the right place — near the newly opened Interstate-11 freeway, which is expected to expand its route to run through Belmont, to Las Vegas.
It remains unclear when Belmont would be built.
Gates’ “smart city” would follow in the footsteps of a similar metropolis being built in Columbus, Ohio.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai