As part of the $80-million project, all the trash and non-indigenous plants are being cleared; 76,000 pieces of vegetation and about its 60% of trees are being planted on the side of the 200-foot wide, 10-foot deep channel, which will one day carry flowing water. A 10-mile loop of trails will be built for walkers, runners, bikers and equestrians along the outer banks. The project will also feature an education center, golf course and decorative columns that will shade the walkways leading to the river.

Now that restoration project, which is slated to be completed by 2003, has attracted the first significant commercial investment. A Tempe-based firm, Chamberlain Development LLC, has purchased a 33.8-acre parcel along the edge of the waterway at 16h Street and University Drive for $3.2 million. The company plans to build a business park, the University Center Business Park, which will have up to 400,000 sf of industrial flex space. The project is near Interstate 10 and 17 and less than a mile from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The company began construction recently on a 31,000-sf speculative building and an 18,400-sf built-to-suit building for Canteen, a Phoenix vending machine company. The land was sold by CalMat Properties Co. of Phoenix. The Phoenix office of CB Richard Ellis, with broker John Werstler, negotiated the transaction for both parties.

Over the years, the Salt River has become more of an eyesore than vibrant waterway. A series of dams long ago dried up any water flow, an it's become a trash dump since the founding of the state. Consequently, development flourished in the Valley, bypassing the Salt River area in Phoenix. But now Valley cities have recognized the value of the river.

Tempe spent more than $50 million to build a twp-mile long lake near its Downtown in the riverbed of the Salt River. The city expects to attract billions of dollars of commercial and residential development to the area around the new lake. It's already worked: earlier this year the Tourism and Sports Authority picked a site just northwest of the lake as the site of a $375-million football stadium for the Arizona Cardinals.

Phoenix has come to recognize the value of restoring the river and creating an amenity out of it. The city is spending $36 million on the project, with the remaining funds coming from the Federal Government and the Army Corps of Engineers. When completed, a vibrant wetlands will be in place from 32nd Street to 19th Avenue.