TEMPE, AZ-Liberty Property Trust planned to break ground today on the first of up to 11 planned buildings at Liberty Center at Rio Salado business park here.

When completed in mid-2014, Building One, at 1850 W. Rio Salado Parkway will be a two-story 155,000 square foot class A office building. The speculative project is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.

Liberty Property says today's ceremony will be hosted by William Hankowsky, chief executive officer, and John DiVall, senior vice president of the firm with remarks by Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell.

“Today will mark the start of our largest project to date in Arizona, and we are excited to be getting underway,” said Hankowsky. “Our strategy is to create work environments that can make a difference in the quality of people's lives. We believe that Liberty Center at Rio Salado – with its sustainable buildings and commitment to amenities such as an outdoor amphitheater and Wi-Fi – will provide a terrific location for creativity, productivity and innovation. This location in Tempe will offer a live-work-play environment.”

In concert with the development of Building One, Liberty will develop the formal entrance to the park near the southwest corner of the intersection of Priest Road and Rio Salado Parkway. Well-known local sculptor and designer Kevin Berry is developing an iconic piece for the entrance and several more that will dot the park. Landscaping will feature native plants and the bike and walking paths will link into the City of Tempe bicycle paths.

Liberty is in the process of earthwork and installing infrastructure in anticipation of announcing the development of a sister building by the end of the year. These two buildings are part of Phase I, which when complete will include six office and one industrial building. Phase II, which will be located across the road, is slated to include a hotel, retail and additional office buildings. In total the park will offer more than one million square feet of office, industrial, flex and retail space.

In 2012, Liberty Property Trust was selected by the City of Tempe as the developer for the 100-acre site located at Priest Road and Rio Salado Parkway. Liberty Center at Rio Salado is centrally located in the heart of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, offers unparalleled visibility from Arizona Route 143 and Red Mountain Loop 202, and is within minutes of Sky Harbor International Airport and Arizona State University. The location is less than five miles from the company's fully leased 1.2 million square foot business park Liberty Cotton Center.

The company has launched a website featuring information about the park including the conceptual site plan, as well as information the surrounding area: www.libertycenteraz.com. Liberty Property Trust currently owns and manages 2.8 million square feet of space in Arizona.