we are in the middle of tempe town lake. the interesting thing about this is most people don't have lakes that are brand-new. our lake will be 17 years old very soon. >> tell me why it was built. very this used to be a barren stretch of the salt river. the salt river once quite a ways through arizona. it was dammed up when roosevelt dam was built. this beautiful stretch of river fish in water flowing in it was dry, they used to do all kinds of horrible things to this and we worked with the army corps of engineers -- engineers, to get everything out that had been here for decades, and we have turned it into a lake. the lake is responsible for 1.5 billion dollars of economic development in our community. >> what changes have you seen? pretty much nothing you see was here with the exception of the two bridges that you see. we are talking about all of this, all the shops and restaurants, nothing was here before 1969. so pretty much as farce the eye can see is new and the lake is responsible for all of this. is,reason our city ex

we are in the middle of tempe town lake, what's interesting is that most people don't have lakes that are brand new. our lake is going to be 147 year's old very soon. >> tell me why it was built? >> this used to be a stretch of the salt river. salt river runs quite a way throughout arizona and it was dammed up in the 1930's when roosevelt dam was built. people used to dump garbage in here. we worked hand-in-hand with the army corps of engineers. we took everything out of here that has been here for decades, and we have turned this into a lake and this lake is responsible for $1.5 billion worth of economic development in our community. >> what changes have you seen? >> pretty much nothing that you see here was here with the exception of the two bridges that you see. we are talking about the buildings around here, we are talking about all of this, all the shops, the restaurants. >> nothing was here before 1999. pretty much as far as the eye can see is all new and the lake is responsible for it. the reason that our city exists is this is a really great place to cross the river and where

inwe are at tempe town lake him the arizona. less than two years ago, this helped to revitalize the city's downtown. up next, we have a closer look at the growth of the tempe area. arizona areae, the which takes us from world war ii and that and of world war ii and that population explosion. it brought so many folks here to the valley which encompasses many different cities, including tempe. you have a lot of folks who travel here or stationed here that were looking for a new way of life. what really was a game changer. people were taking advantage of cheap housing and you had planned communities where you had multiple houses being built on what was farmland and converted to a planned community. and buy ald move here house much cheaper than they could elsewhere. and it had the benefit of being a house you had custom-built for you with the tweaks and up charges that you wanted in your house. in a position to control your life in a much different way. that is one of the interesting lot of the valley is suburbia. everything around i

we are in the middle of tempe town lake, what's interesting is that most people don't have lakes that are brand new. i like is going to be 17 years old very soon. >> tell me why it was built? >> this used to be a stretch of the salt river. salt river runs quite a way throughout arizona and it was dammed up in the 1930's when roosevelt dam was built. this beautiful stretch of river bed that has fish and water flowing again it was dry. people used to dump origin here, they used to do horrible things to this. we worked hand-in-hand with the army corps of engineers and we took everything out of here that had been here for decades and have turned this into a lake. 1.5 lake is responsible for billion dollars worth of economic development in our community. >> you lived here before this was here. what changes have you seen? >> pretty much nothing that you see here was here with the exception of the two bridges that you see. >> we are talking about the buildings around here, we are talking about all of this, all the shops, the restaurants. >> nothing was here before 1999. pretty much as far as

we're in the middle of tempe town lake. the interesting thing about this is most people don't have leaks that are brand-new. our lake will be 17 years old very soon. >> tell me why it was built. >> this actually used to be a very barren stretch of the salt river. the salt river runs quite a way throughout arizona and it was damned up in the 1930s when the roosevelt dam was built. this beautiful stretch of river bed that had fish and water flowing in it was dry and people actually through garbage and you. to in all kinds of horrible things to this end we worked hand in hand with the army corps of engineers. we took everything out of your that have been here for decades and we are turn this into a lake. this lake is responsible for 1.5 million dollars worth of economic development. >> you lived here before this was a. what changes have you seen while pretty much nothing that you see here was here, with the exception of the two bridges. we're talking of buildings, talking about all of the shops, restaurants. the restaurants. no

part of it is people want to play in tempe town lake. if you're working at this building right behind you, a lot of people have standups paddle boards in their office. they grab their board, walk out, hit the water in there they are. we have a lot of tech companies here. we have go daddy a few miles down the road. this is the lifestyle that no one else want. our average age is 28 years old for cities. this is a really active community. >> do you think that reflects in the community with new ideas and a lot of energy? >> students play a huge role not only in our community, that the world in general. one of the things is a huge amount of research that has been said that college students are a paradise. they have a cure for ebola threat originated out of the institute at arizona state university two miles down the road from here. they have built components for the mars rover part of asu. again, using students who live here. the inventions committee eight years, new companies created here over time. >> why tempe? why do they want to open in

town in america. >> wow. >> we are doing amazing things. tempe is known for being innovative. turning a lakento a river -- we had to create a like to become a river again because there's water that runs from the salt water and comes down this way. and it's not we are going to put a wall. we actually have a working dam, when it rains, this lake becomes a river, we can let it as much water as we need to and we can raise up the dam again and have a lake. >> now, how is it utilized recreationally, you is young population, does it draw people? >> this lake has 24.4 million visitors every year. the second largest tourist destination in all of arizona. second to grand canyon. our population has grown quite a bit. we have condos. we have condos that are here and across the lake, so just the sheer building of those has resulted in a lot of new residents but beyond that, the companies that you see we have fortune 500 companies that have located here and that's because people want to play in tempe town lake. a lot grab their board, walk out, hit the water in lunch hour or right after work and there the

tempe. >> we visited town lake to know more about the city's growth from public information officer chris baxter. >> ok, chris, we are typically in a van not driving around not on water in a boat, where are we right now? what is the significance of the water? >> we don't do things the normal way.