Bill Gates’ firm buys $104 million plot of land to create ‘smart city’

CO-FOUNDER of Microsoft Bill Gates wants to develop a “smart city” and has just dropped $104 million on a plot of land to do so.

A REAL estate investment firm owned by Bill Gates recently bought a giant plot of land in Arizona for $A104 million to be developed into a “smart city”.

Arizona-based Belmont Partners, one of Gates’ investment firms, purchased close to 10,000 hectares of land in Tonopah, around 80 kilometres west of Phoenix, to create a “smart city” called Belmont, KPNXreported.

“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 centres, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs,” Belmont Partners said in a press release.

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 190 hectares for public schools and 1500 hectares 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.
This story first appeared on Fox News.