A piece of the Valley’s technology history came down last Saturday to make room for a business campus targeting high-tech and innovative companies.

The old Motorola radar tower at Elliott Road and the Loop 101 was demolished. Rising in its place will be the Discovery Business Campus, a 136-acre mixed-use office park designed for today’s companies with an eye to the future. View a video of the future site.

“A piece of the tower will be preserved on the campus to honor the legacy of the scientists and innovators who fundamentally changed how we share information,” said Jim Wentworth, Jr., principal of Wentworth Property Company. Wentworth is developing the site where Motorola Government Electronics Division employees tested and refined military communication technology. Freescale Semiconductor now occupies the Motorola facility.

“The Discovery Business Campus will attract the next generation of companies working to make their marks,” Wentworth said. “We’re designing the campus to be appealing not only to the companies, but also the community around us. The campus will be bike-commuter friendly with direct access from the canal path and our neighbors will be welcome to enjoy the future lake. An interior ring road can host charity walks and other community events.”

In addition to Freescale, the site also has three existing buildings with room for 1.6 MSF for Class A office, flex office, hospitality and retail development. Wentworth and its partner, Northwood Investors purchased the property from Freescale Semiconductor for $53.7M in 2011.

The tower was built in the mid-1970s to test Motorola’s radar technologies. Large military communications trucks would come to the site for system and equipment testing. Motorola stopped using the tower as a testing site in the mid-1980s. Since then the tower has been used by a Motorola amateur radio club, a Freescale HAM radio club and as a T-Mobile cell phone tower.

Dickens Quality Demolition of Phoenix did the job.