Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has purchased nearly 25,000 acres of land in southwestern Arizona for the construction of a brand-new "smart city," AZ Central reports. In conjunction with Belmont Partners, who holds the property, Gates's investment firm Cascade Investment LLC has committed $80 million to build a community composed of offices, stores, schools, and homes. The community will be known as Belmont. Roughly 3,800 of the 24,800 acres will be devoted to office, commercial, and retail space, according to Belmont Partners, while 470 acres will be set aside for public schools. The new community will feature 80,000 residences, giving it a population of about 182,000, comparable to that of Tempe, Arizona. Belmont Partners expects its development to feature all the trappings of a futuristic city: high-speed internet embedded in the built environment, accommodations for self-driving cars (such as traffic lights that communicate with one another to minimize congestion), and smarter manufacturing technology.

Bill Gates is set to build a new "smart city" with a population of almost 200,000 people. Belmont Partners, an investment firm run by the Microsoft co-founder has invested $80 million (£61 million) in the project, which will be "forward-thinking" and have "cutting-edge" technologies at its core. It has purchased 24,800 acres of land, which will be used for schools, housing, offices and commercial and retail space. Mr Gates' futuristic city will be built in southwestern Arizona, and will be called Belmont. It will have 80,000 residential units, says Belmont Partners, which will give it a population of around 182,000.

A real estate investment firm owned by Bill Gates recently bought land in Arizona for $80 million to be developed into a "smart city." A real estate investment firm owned by Bill Gates recently bought a giant plot of land in Arizona for $80 million to be developed into a "smart city." Arizona-based Belmont Partners, one of Gates' investment firms, purchased close to 25,000 acres of land in Tonopah, around 50 miles west of Phoenix, to create a "smart city" called Belmont, KPNX reported. "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 centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs," Belmont Partners said in a press release, according to KPNX. 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 470 acres for public schools and 3,800 acres designated for offices, commercial buildings and retail outlets.