Now a "Contributing Writer" for The East Valley Tribune, Gary Nelson who has been covering Mesa and the east Valley far longer than your MesaZona blogger, hits the pulp pages again in the paper print version of Sunday's Tribune with three articles about Fiesta Mall, Fiesta Village and the Fiesta District in its current reincarcarnation called the Southwest RDA by the City of Mesa Office of Economic Development [OED] shown in opening image for this post.
Back on November 16, 2016 there was a feature on this same area - to save you the time of closing this window and scrolling down, here's a link that will open in a new tab >>.https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2016/11/keeping-you-informed-this-has.html
KEEPING YOU INFORMED This has consequences...
There are more related links to official public access for Redevelopment Areas [RDAs] from the Mesa OED following the main body of this post.
If readers want to see a list of Gary Nelson's news reports during his time at the AZ Republic you can go >> right here/hit this link
Your MesaZona blogger was one of a very few members of the public who attended a meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Board meeting where this presentation was made the first Tuesday in September by Sara Sorenson, a staff member in the Office of Economic Development, to promote a plan for establishing certain "incentives" called GPLETs.
The landing page for Mesa OED RDAs can be found here with information about the study done by a group called Zion Public Finance, a Utah-based company that was selected in a plan for a Redevelopment Area [RDA] that would also apply to an expanded Central Business District. Although the item slated on the meeting's agenda was listed for discussion, surprise action was taken for a vote by EDAB members, with one nay.
That happened two months ago... where Utah-based Zion Public Finance [what? No company based here in Arizona could do this? And what was ZPF paid?] trained City of Mesa employees how to do the photographs and site selections
NOW Gary Nelson gives his take in three articles that appeared just yesterday
1.Party time for fiesta again?
Posted: Monday, November 21, 2016 10:52 am
Mesa exploring ways to turn area from blight to success
"It's almost a ghost mall now. Once a powerful draw for shoppers and diners,.. the Fiesta mall now features empty storefront after empty storefront,... parking lots are vast, empty fields of pavement.... but Mesa is in no mood to let one of its signature neighborhoods slowly drown in a sea of blight. The city is in the early stages of an aggressive redevelopment project aimed at restoring some of the shone to the Fiesta District and nearby neighborhoods.
After spending tens of millions of dollars on new streetscapes and other infrastructure the city is making its BOLDEST MOVE YET - government intervention is necessary.
2. Southwest Mesa 'blight' - a look at the numbers
Posted: Monday, November 21, 2016 10:24 am | Updated: 10:51 am, Mon Nov 21, 2016.
3. Fiesta Village - 'the worst of the worst'
Back on June 26, 2016 when Gary Nelson reported for the AZ Republic
Rehab of Mesa's Fiesta District begins
Hard-hit area to get new police station
"Mesa's Fiesta District might as well be the Chernobyl of Valley retail areas.With the exception of Fiesta Mall itself, most of the centers near Alma School Road and Southern Avenue are either dead or nearly so, relics of a boom that flickered and then died as shoppers fled to newer, glitzier venues.
Mesa has fought for years to revive the area, though nobody at City Hall thinks it ever will return as a retail mecca. The thinking now is urban mixed-use, with new buildings hewing to design standards that Mesa laid down several years ago but seldom used. . . "
That a police station would occupy the site was the last thing anyone dreamed of six years ago.
Back then, a Chicago developer was wowing City Hall with promises of a glitzy high-rise called Fiesta Towers, two buildings of 19 stories each and two with 10 stories, that would transform southwest Mesa.
As the recession dug in, Fiesta Towers was progressively downsized, renamed and repurposed before becoming just another piece of economic virga.
Meanwhile, after voters OK'd the police station and its projected $15 million price tag in a 2008 bond election, Mesa began looking for a place to put it.
In 2009, the city targeted an empty shopping center on the northwestern corner of Southern Avenue and Longmore.
But Councilman Alex Finter choked on the price -- more than $7 million -- and asked staffers to keep looking. Last year, they bagged the Fiesta Towers site for about $5 million less than the previous one..
Dan Withers of D.L. Withers Construction, the general contractor, praised Mesa for helping shore up the construction industry with this and similar projects. Withers also has built Mesa's last two fire stations, funded with a combination of local bonds and federal stimulus money.
"You guys are creating jobs," Withers told Mesa officials, noting that the recession wiped out about 50 percent of Arizona's construction workforce.
Mesa's next big splash in the neighborhood is likely to be a multimillion-dollar streetscape along Southern Avenue between Dobson and Alma School roads. It will narrow traffic on Southern to two lanes in each direction and is designed to make the area more suitable for the mixed-use developments that Mesa believes will replace obsolete retail sites.
HERE IS THE OFFICIAL REVISED RE-BRANDING PLACE
http://www.mesaaz.gov/business/economic-development/business-districts-maps/fiesta-district
FIESTA DISTRICT: An Important Economic Force with Abundant Opportunity
Encompassing 1.15 square miles, the Fiesta District is reemerging as one of Mesa’s important business districts featuring cutting-edge industry clusters, skilled workforce, easy market access, extensive infrastructure and ample executive hotel accommodations. Over the last several years, the area has seen or is in the midst of more than $439 million of redevelopment efforts. With new Class A office space coming online and strategic redevelopment and adaptive-reuse opportunities available, the district is ripe for business locations and expansion.
KEY INDUSTRY CLUSTERS
- Advanced Business and Financial Services – The Fiesta District includes companies such as Esurance, Santander Consumer, USA; National General Lender Services (corporate headquarters), Iveda, Bacus Foods Corp. (corporate headquarters), UTi Inventory Management Solutions, and Tax Credit Co.
- Healthcare and Medical Services – The Fiesta District is home to Banner Desert Medical Center (549 beds) and Cardon’s Children’s Medical Center (206 beds), as well as numerous medical services providers such as Synergy Homecare, Banner iCare, Sonora Quest Laboratories and Progressive Medical Associates.
- Higher Education – More than 25,000 students attend classes at Mesa Community College, NAU Mesa Campus, DeVry Institute and Carrington College, all located in the Fiesta District.
- Retail and Entertainment – More than 40 restaurants, 50 retail stores, 5 hotels with more than 700 rooms and several entertainment venues are located in the Fiesta District.
ABUNDANT SKILLED WORKFORCE
Labor Market| Labor Force (age 18+) | 20-minute commute | 30-minute commute |
| 2015 | 1,039,833 | 1,766,499 |
| 2020 | 1,103,114 | 1,884,704 |
| Educational Attainment (highest level completed) | ||
| Associate's Degree or higher | 41.1% | 41.3% |
QUICK MARKET ACCESS
Freeways – Strategically situated at the crossroads of US 60 and Loop 101, the Fiesta District has quick access to the entire Phoenix-Mesa metro area and is within a 6-hour drive from most Southern California markets.
Airports – Located just 18 minutes from Sky Harbor International Airport and 24 minutes from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, the District has convenient access to locations throughout the world.
| Flight Time | ||||
| San Diego | 1:05 | Dallas | 2:25 | |
| Los Angeles | 1:15 | Chicago | 3:40 | |
| San Francisco | 1:55 | Miami | 5:10 | |
| Salt Lake City | 1:30 | New York | 5:15 |
EXTENSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE
- Electric Power – Provided by Salt River Project (SRP).
- Water/Wastewater – Provided by the City of Mesa.
- Natural Gas – Provided by the City of Mesa.
- Fiber Optic Telecommunications Network – Redundant telecom fiber in place with Cox, Centurylink and Zayo as service providers.
REAL ESTATE
Office Space – More than 1.3 million SF of office space in the Fiesta District. Class A buildings include:- Mesa Financial Plaza – 306K SF - SEC, Alma School Rd. & Southern Ave.
- Mesa Fiesta Center – 200K SF - 1361 S Alma School Rd.
- Centrica – 110K SF - 1550 W. Southern Ave.
- Mesa Corporate Center – 105K SF - 1001 W. Southern Ave.
- Desert Medical Pavilion – 87K SF - 1432 S. Dobson Rd.
- 827 W. Grove – 70K SF
- Fiesta Corporate Campus – 158K SF (Expected completion: Q4 2016) - 1465 W. Southern Ave.
MAJOR EMPLOYERS
More than 7,000 people are employed in the Fiesta District at organizations such as:- Banner Healthcare (1876 employees)
- Mesa Community College (686)
- Synergy Homecare (250)
- Hilton Hotel (123)
- Sears (112)
- Banner iCare (100)
- Sonora Quest Laboratories (94)
FIESTA DISTRICT DESIGN HANDBOOK
The Fiesta District Design Handbook includes development of a District Brand, Vision and identified improvements to define a unique sense of place while improving transportation and pedestrian linkages.
Ch 1: Introduction & Vision
Ch 2: Strategic Branding Plan
Ch 3: Private Realm Design Guidelines
Ch 4: Public Realm Design Guidelines
Ch 5: Implementation & Action Plan
Ch 2: Strategic Branding Plan
Ch 3: Private Realm Design Guidelines
Ch 4: Public Realm Design Guidelines
Ch 5: Implementation & Action Plan
STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS
The City of Mesa has invested more than $12 million dollars into the Southern Avenue Streetscape Program to define the Fiesta District as a uniquely identifiable area that is an economically-vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, active urban destination.FIESTA DISTRICT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
The Fiesta District Implementation Plan includes the narrowing of Southern Ave. and the construction of parks and paseos, streetscape and landscape enhancements/improvements, and district branded identifiers, as well as the installation of furnishing and fixtures – all aimed at molding the Fiesta District into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, active urban destination.Implementation Plan
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