Scottsdale to begin building preserve’s Gateway

Construction of the main access area to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, known as the Gateway, is set to begin this year, while plans for the multimillion-dollar Desert Discovery Center will continue to be refined.

The Scottsdale City Council this month approved a $4.3 million contract with Valley Rain Construction Corp. to build an educational amphitheater, a restroom and office building and a preserve maintenance building at the Gateway on 543 acres east of Thompson Peak Parkway between Bell Road and Union Hills Drive.

Plans also call for a desert interpretive trail, watering stations for pets and horses, bicycle racks and parking for about 200 vehicles and 20 horse trailers.

The work constitutes the second phase of construction at the Gateway, the main trail head and parking area for the proposed 36,000-acre preserve. The first phase, expected to be done in August, involves salvaging native plants.

The third phase involves building the Desert Discovery Center, an interpretive nature facility for the preserve. This month, Scottsdale unveiled two options for the facility: a small “McDowell Portal” version and a larger “Exhibition Sonora” version, which is twice the size.

The smaller option would be geared toward local and regional visitors, while the larger version would be aimed at having a high national profile, with the potential to create jobs and attract tourist dollars to Scottsdale, city officials have said.

While previous estimates dating to the late 1990s put costs to build the facility at about $15 million, the latest proposals estimate the price at $20 million to $50 million.