A few years ago, Bill Gateshas announced plans to build a smart city outside of Buckeye inArizona. Through his subsidiary Mt. Lemmon Holdings, thebillionaire spent $80 million to purchase more than 24,000 acres ofland with plans to build a smart city, which will include housing,schools, offices and retail. Since the purchase, there has beenlimited information on the development of the project.

"In November 2017 the media reported that a company associatedwith Bill Gates purchased 24,800 acres in theSouthern Valley between Buckeye and Tonopah for$80 million," James DeCremer, principal atAvison Young in Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com."Gates' company plans to create a "smart city"called Belmont on the site, which will be similarin size to Tempe, Arizona. According to the Arizona real estateinvestment company involved in the deal, BelmontPartners it will be 'a forward-thinking community with acommunication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edgetechnology, designed around high-speed digital networks, datacenters, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models,autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs.'"

In addition, the company has also acquired additional acreage inBuckeye. "In October, Gates was also a recent investor in more than2,800 acres of land in Buckeye," says DeCremer. This could be anaddition to the firm's current plans in the market.