Please don't get me wrong, dear readers - Jeff McVay is a nice guy [so's the mayor for that matter] but what they're attempting to do with The New Urban DTMesa is open to questions made in good faith with good intentions.
The occasion took place on October 16, 2015 [during the time Mayor John Giles said in in his SOTC 2016 speech that he had been talking to ASU for more than a year about locating a satellite campus here in downtown]. The occasion that put a big smile on Mr. McVay's face was this announcement made at that time, after the city had spent $75,000 total paid to three consultants to come up with an idea for a certain parcel of city-owned land next to City Hall. . . OOps! One problem: it didn't happen. Now the "powers-that-be" and connections with them, are floating another idea for the same site with a sketchy proposal for a 2500-student ASU Campus - mebbe another "convincing anchor for the new city center"??? ... or is that just another Pie-in-The-Sky flat-fall at urban planning?
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| Rendering of Mesa City Center |
Colwell Shelor+West 8+Weddle Gilmore's design for Mesa City Center took the top award (Honor award) in the urban design category at the 2015 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Arizona Chapter Annual Awards Gala, which was held in the Phoenix Art Museum this October.
A jury of architects from San Francisco AIA met earlier in the year to assess the 2015 design award submissions. The jury included Joshua Aidlin (Aidlin Darling Design), Dominique Price (Gensler), David Baker (David Baker Architects), and Rosa Sheng (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson).
Of the winning design the jury commented the “The curious and captivating organic form is a convincing anchor for the new city center. The renderings evoke a futuristic spirit, combined with a familiar, humane scale. The balance of green and hardscape creates a desirable “there” factor, and a magnet for various scales of engagement and civic activity.”
John Giles, City of Mesa Mayor; Jeff McVay, Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation; Michele Shelor and Allison Colwell from Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture and Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore accepted the award on behalf of the project team.
A jury of architects from San Francisco AIA met earlier in the year to assess the 2015 design award submissions. The jury included Joshua Aidlin (Aidlin Darling Design), Dominique Price (Gensler), David Baker (David Baker Architects), and Rosa Sheng (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson).
Of the winning design the jury commented the “The curious and captivating organic form is a convincing anchor for the new city center. The renderings evoke a futuristic spirit, combined with a familiar, humane scale. The balance of green and hardscape creates a desirable “there” factor, and a magnet for various scales of engagement and civic activity.”
John Giles, City of Mesa Mayor; Jeff McVay, Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation; Michele Shelor and Allison Colwell from Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture and Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore accepted the award on behalf of the project team.
more information: Mesa City Center
Nice design for a City Center, huh?
Remarkably off the drawing boards in black-and-white using the same bird's-eye view high-in-the-sky is the new idea seen in the image to the left for the proposed $180 Million real estate development with less trees and less green space proposed and presented at City Council study sessions and meetings with little or any public comments and a lot of media-spin coming out of City Hall with nearly all mainstream local media say "this might be the site" or "ASU and Mesa are making progress".
The State Press in an article just a few hours ago noted [as typical of the mayor with details] "In early February, Mesa Mayor John Giles confirmed that ASU would be establishing some sort of presence in the downtown area of his city, though the extent of that presence was not initially clear. . . " HUH?? That's just four months after the big announcement that they wanted Mesa City Center for this same site! . . . readers might have guessed that after the residents of Mesa Royale put up a big commotion to not leave 644 W Main Street in a questionable "insider deal" land sale that would have removed them from their homes permitting the property to get cleared and bulldozed for a tentative ASU campus there, the city had to do a quick-think for other options for site selection, choosing where Mesa City Center didn't happen. This time there could be no scandal or dispute - the City largely owns the acreage.
There was another RFP in the meantime that did not work out: a privately-owned piece of land in a prime location diagonally across from City Hall, 1 West Main on the corner of Center Street directly across from the Mesa Arts Center.
All kinds of spin and hype and hoopla about that too - and a stock image of a sidewalk restaurant shown in the image to the right from mesaaz.gov.
It was for a 3-5 story mixed-use building for commercial, office and residential development. That didn't "fly" either, for reasons unknown.
Up now is the following site location and proposal for the NWC of Country Club Drive and Main Street on land that was in dispute over seizure by eminent domain that the City has for all intents and purposes recently purchased. Curiously enough, it's only one block east of 644 W Main Street on the Valley Metro Central Mesa Light Rail Extension that opened service in August 2015.
Just weeks ago it was publicized as about as many things the typical urban development planning tool box could produce - anything and everything anybody want.
Don't know about that "gateway" thing - but mebbe we'll be getting somewhere where the same mixed-uses for 1 W Main have been transferred to for this
Here's a press release from the Newsroom for the City of Mesa:
Meetings scheduled to get input for major downtown development
The State Press in an article just a few hours ago noted [as typical of the mayor with details] "In early February, Mesa Mayor John Giles confirmed that ASU would be establishing some sort of presence in the downtown area of his city, though the extent of that presence was not initially clear. . . " HUH?? That's just four months after the big announcement that they wanted Mesa City Center for this same site! . . . readers might have guessed that after the residents of Mesa Royale put up a big commotion to not leave 644 W Main Street in a questionable "insider deal" land sale that would have removed them from their homes permitting the property to get cleared and bulldozed for a tentative ASU campus there, the city had to do a quick-think for other options for site selection, choosing where Mesa City Center didn't happen. This time there could be no scandal or dispute - the City largely owns the acreage.
All kinds of spin and hype and hoopla about that too - and a stock image of a sidewalk restaurant shown in the image to the right from mesaaz.gov.
It was for a 3-5 story mixed-use building for commercial, office and residential development. That didn't "fly" either, for reasons unknown.
Up now is the following site location and proposal for the NWC of Country Club Drive and Main Street on land that was in dispute over seizure by eminent domain that the City has for all intents and purposes recently purchased. Curiously enough, it's only one block east of 644 W Main Street on the Valley Metro Central Mesa Light Rail Extension that opened service in August 2015.
Just weeks ago it was publicized as about as many things the typical urban development planning tool box could produce - anything and everything anybody want.
Don't know about that "gateway" thing - but mebbe we'll be getting somewhere where the same mixed-uses for 1 W Main have been transferred to for this
Here's a press release from the Newsroom for the City of Mesa:
Meetings scheduled to get input for major downtown development
Post Date: 05/24/2016 11:13 AM
The City of Mesa is hosting two public meetings to solicit input regarding a proposed development of approximately two and a half acres at the northwest corner of Country Club Drive and Main Street.
The meetings will be held Thursday, June 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, June 16 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Benedictine University, 225 E. Main St., in the Community Room.
The June 16 meeting begins with a presentation at 6 p.m. followed by an open house at 6:30 p.m.
Representatives from Chicanos Por La Causa Incorporated and Winslow + Partners will be giving a presentation about the proposed market rate, mixed use development and will be answering questions and soliciting input from the community. Individuals unable to attend may provide feedback online at www.mesaaz.gov/
The proposed five-story market-rate development includes 200 residential units, retail and commercial space and parking. It is designed to serve as a gateway entrance to downtown Mesa and provide easy access to light rail.
For more information, contact City of Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay at (480) 644-5379 or jeff.mcvay@mesaaz.gov.
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699 kevin.christopher@mesaaz.govDon't
The meetings will be held Thursday, June 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, June 16 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Benedictine University, 225 E. Main St., in the Community Room.
The June 16 meeting begins with a presentation at 6 p.m. followed by an open house at 6:30 p.m.
Representatives from Chicanos Por La Causa Incorporated and Winslow + Partners will be giving a presentation about the proposed market rate, mixed use development and will be answering questions and soliciting input from the community. Individuals unable to attend may provide feedback online at www.mesaaz.gov/
The proposed five-story market-rate development includes 200 residential units, retail and commercial space and parking. It is designed to serve as a gateway entrance to downtown Mesa and provide easy access to light rail.
For more information, contact City of Mesa Manager of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay at (480) 644-5379 or jeff.mcvay@mesaaz.gov.
Public Information and Communications
Contact: Kevin Christopher
Tel. 480-644-4699 kevin.christopher@mesaaz.govDon't
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