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Peoria Area Guide: Innovation Core and Old Town
An objective comparison of two Peoria areas that are easy to confuse and are not equivalent: Old Town, the city's established historic core, and the Peoria Innovation Core, a planned employment district in far north Peoria. The same title that links them also corrects the label: only one is a neighborhood today.
By Andrew Texidor Realtor · Founder, Clearly Sold Updated October 7, 2026 
The direct answer
Old Town Peoria is the city's established historic core in south Peoria: operating, built, and service-rich, with a planning area of roughly four square miles near Grand Avenue, 83rd Avenue, and Peoria Avenue. The Peoria Innovation Core is a planned employment district of roughly 7,000 acres in far north Peoria along Loop 303, where infrastructure work and one anchor campus are underway but the district is not yet a place to live. The two are compared here on objective factors, with the labels corrected before the comparison starts.
Key takeaways
- Old Town Peoria and the Peoria Innovation Core are not two versions of the same thing. Old Town is the city's established historic core in south Peoria, roughly four square miles centered near Grand Avenue, 83rd Avenue, and Peoria Avenue; the Innovation Core is a planned employment district of roughly 7,000 acres on former state trust land in far north Peoria along Loop 303 and Lake Pleasant Parkway. One is operating and built; the other is mostly planned and under development.
- The biggest labeling correction this guide makes is in its own title: the Innovation Core is not a residential neighborhood today. It is a planned employment district with infrastructure work and one anchor under construction, and comparing it to Old Town as a neighborhood choice is only useful if the difference is stated first.
- Location and transportation differ completely: Old Town sits at the Grand Avenue corridor with established streets and city services, while the Innovation Core runs along the Loop 303 freeway corridor from Lake Pleasant Parkway north toward State Route 74, with infrastructure and access still in development.
- Housing in Old Town spans older, established homes on smaller lots with mature services and amenities; the Innovation Core is not a housing market yet, and any future residential component is part of a planned mixed-use vision in a zoning process, not an operating choice today.
- This guide ranks nothing. It compares objective characteristics: location, current built form, planned uses, transportation, services, and amenities, and it deliberately makes no ideal-resident, family-fit, or best-area claims. Boundaries and labels come from city planning documents, and place labels are corrected transparently where common usage overstates them.
Where is each area, exactly?
Boundaries are the first thing to get right, because the two names are attached to shrinking and growing versions of themselves in everyday use. The city's 2011 Old Town Specific Area Plan describes Old Town as a redevelopment area of roughly four square miles centered near the intersection of Grand Avenue with 83rd Avenue and Peoria Avenue, in the 85345 area of south Peoria.
The Peoria Innovation Core sits in far north Peoria: an area of nearly 7,000 acres (later master-planned at roughly 7,341 acres) of former Arizona state trust land along the Loop 303 corridor, running from Lake Pleasant Parkway north to State Route 74. The city acquired and planned the land through a process with the State Land Department, and the district is organized into three subareas with the anchor campus near Lake Pleasant Parkway and Loop 303.
How do the two compare on the factors that matter?
Location
Old Town: South Peoria, ZIP 85345, centered near Grand Avenue, 83rd Avenue, and Peoria Avenue, per the city's Old Town planning area.
Innovation Core: Far north Peoria, roughly 7,000 acres of former state trust land along Loop 303 from Lake Pleasant Parkway north toward State Route 74.
Current built form
Old Town: Established: older homes, storefronts, and city services along the Grand Avenue corridor.
Innovation Core: Mostly open, planned land: infrastructure work underway and the Amkor campus under construction as the anchor tenant.
Planned uses
Old Town: A redevelopment area within an operating city, with an established specific-area plan guiding incremental improvements.
Innovation Core: A planned employment district divided into three subareas, zoned through the Peoria Innovation Core Planned Community District process, with future residential components part of the broader vision, not the current built reality.
Transportation
Old Town: Surface streets and Grand Avenue connections, with the established local street grid.
Innovation Core: Freeway-oriented: the Loop 303 corridor with Lake Pleasant Parkway access, and infrastructure still in development.
Services and amenities
Old Town: Mature: shops, services, restaurants, and the everyday infrastructure of a long-settled area.
Innovation Core: Under development: services and amenities are part of the plans, not yet present for residents because the district is not yet a residential place.
Why does this guide correct the labels out loud?
Because the names invite a false equivalence. A neighborhood guide with both names in the title implies two comparable places to choose between, and that framing is wrong, so the guide says so in its own copy: the Innovation Core is a planned employment district, not a residential neighborhood today. Old Town is an operating, built place. Correcting the label in the visible text is not a correction of the route or the title; it is the substance of the article.
The same discipline applies to the Innovation Core itself: the district's future vision, as presented in the city's planning process, includes employment, infrastructure, and eventually mixed-use components, and its zoning is moving through the Peoria Innovation Core Planned Community District process. None of that means the residential pieces exist, and this guide keeps plans and operations in separate columns.
What should you verify before choosing an area?
Official boundaries
Use the city's planning documents and zoning maps for boundaries, not marketing language, for both Old Town and the Innovation Core.
Commute reality
Test the drive at the times you will actually drive: Grand Avenue and Loop 303 feed different parts of the region at different speeds.
Stage of development
Ask what exists today versus what is planned, and read the city's planning pages and the district's public information site for current status.
This guide makes no ideal-resident claims, no family-fit verdicts, and no best-area ranking, because fit is personal and each area's facts are on the table above. The verification work is where the choice gets made honestly.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Innovation Core a neighborhood you can move to?
Not today. It is a planned employment district with an anchor campus under construction and infrastructure work underway. Until residential components are built and occupied, the honest answer is that the Innovation Core is a development in progress, not a neighborhood with homes to tour, and this guide says so instead of describing plans as reality.
Where exactly is Old Town Peoria?
Old Town is the city's historic core in south Peoria, in the 85345 area. The city's own planning documents describe an area of roughly four square miles centered near Grand Avenue, 83rd Avenue, and Peoria Avenue, and official neighborhood boundaries come from those documents rather than from marketing materials.
Which area is better for my family?
This guide does not rank areas or assign ideal residents. The honest comparison is objective: Old Town is built, established, and service-rich with older housing stock; the Innovation Core is a planned employment district in development. Which fits your family depends on your priorities, and the verification steps in this guide are how you answer it.
Can I visit the Innovation Core today?
You can drive the Loop 303 corridor and see the planned district's geography, and infrastructure and construction activity are visible along parts of it. What you cannot do is tour it as a finished place, because most of it is not built. City planning pages and the district's public information site are the current sources for what exists and what is proposed.
Sources and dates
Geographic labels, boundaries, sizes, and planning status verified October 7, 2026 against the City of Peoria's 2011 Old Town Specific Area Plan, the city's Innovation Core planning and economic development pages, and reporting on the Innovation Core Planned Community District zoning process. Labels are corrected in the visible copy where common usage overstates what exists, and the exact route and title are preserved. Boundaries and development status change; verify current conditions with the City of Peoria before relying on them.
Educational note: this article compares two Peoria areas on objective factors and makes no rankings, no ideal-resident or family-fit labels, and no claim that any area suits anyone specifically. The Innovation Core is described as a planned employment district in development, and Old Town as an operating historic core; plans and operations are kept separate. Boundary and development details change, so verify them with the City of Peoria and current market data before any decision.
Next step
Trying to sort Peoria's areas for a move?
A strategy call can walk through the neighborhoods, commutes, and market data for the Peoria areas you are weighing, with the labels kept honest. No pressure, just the current picture.
- Phone
- 623-400-5957
- andrew@clearlysold.com